TRINITY'S STAFF

Pastor Tracey Leslie, Senior Pastor

Pastor Tracey (She/Her/Hers) has been in ministry for more than twenty-five years, serving in senior and associate pastor positions and in urban and suburban settings. She is a native of south central Pennsylvania. She is a certified spiritual director, a life coach, and author of the spiritual formation resource  Companions on the Journey: Foundational Spiritual Practices ​available through Amazon and Wipf and Stock.  She is an inquiring Benedictine Oblate.  View her personal website: http://www.sacredgroundings.com​​ for information on coaching, spiritual direction, or her book.

Her primary duties as lead pastor at Trinity involve preaching, teaching, visioning, staff supervision and leadership development.

She is married to Rev. Britt Leslie, PhD.  Britt is also an ordained clergy and Bible professor and Dean of the Course of Study for Indiana Conference. They have a rescue dog, Mr. Wiggles. Tracey enjoys exercising with her dog, playing piano, and cooking (and eating!) healthy meals.

Contact Pastor Tracey at tracey@trinitylafayette.org.

Pastor Suzanne Clemenz, Associate Pastor

 Pastor Suzanne Clemenz (She/Her/Hers) has been a licensed local pastor in the United Methodist Church since fall 2017. Prior to coming to Trinity, she served as Associate Pastor of Children, Youth, and Families at St. Andrew UMC in West Lafayette. Before entering pastoral ministry, Suzanne pursued a career in higher education with concentrations in American literature and culture and women's and gender studies. Her work in the academy, the community, and the church has social justice roots.  Originally from North Carolina, Suzanne has been an Indiana transplant for over 20 years and lives near downtown Lafayette with her husband Brent and their three teenage sons.   Suzanne oversees Trinity's Caring Ministries.  These involve visitation of our homebound and care facility members and supervision of their Friendly Visitors, as well as our Caring Fund.  For more about Trinity's Caring Fund ministry, a unique relational approach to empower and resource those in financial need, click here http://www.trinitylafayette.org/caring-fund.html 

Contact Pastor Suzanne at suzanne@trinitylafayette.org 

Mack Owings, Pastor of Youth and Family Ministries

Mack Owings (he/him or they/them) leads Trinity's children, youth, and family ministries. Mack is a native of Indiana and grew up in the Methodist Church. While studying Biology and Chemistry at the University of Indianapolis, they realized their passion for youth ministry and quickly changed their major to Religion. This led to Mack attending Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois, where they met their now fiancé, Monica McDougal. Mack just graduated with their Master of Divinity with a special focus on LGBTQ theology. Mack is also an Associate Pastor at the Wesley Foundation at Purdue University.  In their free time, Mack loves to play Ultimate Frisbee, watch TV shows like Doctor Who and Wynonna Earp, and play lots of board games and video games.

​Contact Mack at mack@trinitylafayette.org.

Monica McDougal, Administrative Assistant

​Monica McDougal (She/Her/Hers) is serving with Trinity UMC as our Administrative Assistant. As the daughter of a United Methodist Pastor, Monica has spent most of her life in church. Her first experience with leading in ministry was through campus ministry at Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas where Monica graduated with her B.A. in Mass Media in 2016. While working as a pre-school garden educator in Nashville, Tennessee, Monica first heard God calling her to ministry, leading her to Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois. Monica graduated from Garrett with her Master of Divinity with a concentration in Christian Education in May of 2021. At Garrett, Monica met her now fiancé,  Mack Owings. Originally from Eastern Kansas, Monica grew up on her grandparents' horse farm where she learned the value of hard work and community. In her spare time, Monica loves to crochet, paint, cook, and drink lots of tea. 

Monica handles management of the church office. For office/communications business, contact Monica at monica@trinitylafayette.org.

Monica Shaeffer, Music & Worship

Monica Shaeffer (She/Her) has been living in the area for over 20 years and adores this community and the thriving arts scene. A graduate of Anderson University, she is a private voice, piano and violin teacher in West Lafayette. She has worked closely with the Civic Youth Theatre as the music director for many shows and enjoys giving back to the community in this way. Her love for music runs deep as not only a teacher and director, but also as a choir member, special events vocalist/pianist and has served as a church musician for 19 years. She lives in West Lafayette with her husband, Craig, who is a teacher at the West Lafayette Jr/Sr High Schools and her three children, Jack, Juliet and Evana.

Monica will be directing Trinity's choir and serving as pianist and organist. If you are interest in music ministry or have any questions about music and worship arts at Trinity, contact Monica at music@trinitylafayette.org

Steve Hustedt, Communications

Steve Hustedt (He/Him) has been a part of the United Methodist Church (UMC) for most of his adult live and has had the privilege of working in the Illinois Great Rivers Conference as their writer/editor, the Desert Southwest Conference as their Director of Communications, and the Upper New York Conference as their Director of Communications. For a year now, he has been working for the Upper New York Conference remotely, while living in Lafayette so that he can be close to his extended family. 
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Experience and passion for the UMC aside, the most important thing about Steve (beyond being a follower of Jesus) is that he is a husband and father of five amazing kids: Page, Logen, Cole, Sayer, and Rex. They are a special needs family with Logen having autism, but are blessed with a great support system including his service dog, Lilac. That said, they have already formed ties to the special needs community in Lafayette, and are passionate about supporting these families that are often in great need, especially spiritually. 
Contact Steve at steve@trinitylafayette.org
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Robin Young, Wedding Coordinator

Robin coordinates weddings that take place at Trinity United Methodist Church.  She assists couples with all on-property planning, to include music and flowers.  Robin also works as a Receptionist at a local construction company.  She enjoys working with the public and has backgrounds in both accounting and insurance.

Robin grew up in Hamilton, Ohio and has lived in Maryland and Illinois before moving to Indiana.  Robin and her spouse, Kathy, live in West Lafayette with their cat and four dogs.

​Contact Robin at weddings@trinitylafayette.org

Emily Spilker, Volunteer Garden Coordinator

Emily Spilker (She/Her/Hers) serves as the Volunteer Garden Coordinator. At Miami University, she studied chemical engineering, mathematics, and trombone performance, and graduated in May 2020. She is thrilled to serve in the community garden, as it will combine her goals of getting to know the Trinity family and serving the local community. 

Emily is an environmental engineer for the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center in Dayton, OH. Fortunately, she teleworks and is able to live in Lafayette with her husband Robert Spilker while he is pursuing a PhD in chemical engineering at Purdue. In her free time, Emily loves mountain biking with her dogs, trying new vegetarian recipes, and rock climbing

Contact Emily at ekuehl20@gmail.com

TRINITY'S GOVERNING BOARD

Terms effective January 1, 2023
Chairperson: Dinah Dalder (boardchair@trinitylafayette.org)
Vice Chair: Kathy Manwaring (kmanwaring@purdue.edu)
Treasurer: Claudia Alenduff (calenduff@gmail.com)
Lay Leader: Kay Franscoviak (klrfranscoviak@centurytel.net)
Finance: Emily Spilker (giving@trinitylafayette.org)
Trustees: Steve Ash (trustee@trinitylafayette.org)
Staff Parish: Larry Fraser (staffing@trinitylafayette.org)
Secretary: Emily Sheetz (emsheetz10@gmail.com)
Endowment: Ryan Wynkoop (endowment@trinitylafayette.org)
Discipleship Team Leader: Kay Franscoviak
Missions/Outreach: Kathy Manwaring and Betty Jackson (jackbetty07@gmail.com)
At Large Member: Brooks Leftwich (brooksleftwich@gmail.com)​