Minister
Rev. Mark Stringer
Extension 102
minister@ucdsm.org
The Rev. Mark Stringer was called as our minister in May of 2001 and began serving the following August. Mark, a native of Akron, OH, is a graduate of Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago and holds an MA degree in theatre from Bowling Green State University and a BA degree in theatre and English from Ashland University. Prior to discerning a call to the Unitarian Universalist ministry, Mark taught English composition at Chicago State University and speech at Ashland University, worked as a proofreader for Warner Books in New York City, performed in national tours as a professional actor, and facilitated diversity training workshops sponsored by the Anti-Defamation League. Mark has been an active leader in the central-Iowa Industrial Areas Foundation affiliate AMOS (A Mid-Iowa Organizing Strategy) and has served as a board member of the Interfaith Alliance of Iowa, an organization he chaired from 2004-2006. On August 31, 2007, in the front yard of his Drake neighborhood home, Mark had the honor of officiating Iowa’s first legal same-sex wedding. He received the UUA’s 2007 Westwood Grant, an award that “goes to a UU minister who has shown an exceptional entrepreneurial spirit in congregational leadership over a period of five years.” Some of his sermons have been published in the UUA’s Church of the Larger Fellowship publication Quest and on the website of the Human Rights Campaign. He has been the treasurer of the Prairie Star District UU Minister’s Association since 2003 and recently served as the chaplain and evening vespers leader for the inaugural session of the PSD’s new UU summer camp, Camp StarTrail in August of 2009. He resides in Des Moines with his wife Susan, and their daughter Leah. |
