Tree of Life UU Congregation Welcomes Kevin DeBeck as Minister

Kevin DeBeck.

Tree of Life Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 5603 Bull Valley Road in McHenry, will welcome its new contract Minister Kevin DeBeck this Sunday, August 19 at 10:45 am services.  He will discuss his call to ministry and what he hopes to accomplish in his time with the congregation. 

“I’m looking forward to my time in McHenry and at Tree of Life. My ministerial formation seems to be tied to Illinois, as my chaplaincy training was in Normal, and my internship was in Evanston.  I’m excited about this opportunity to serve Tree of Life in an effort to bring full time UU ministry back to McHenry County,” Rev. DeBeck said.

DeBeck was born in Bangor, Maine, in November of 1972 and graduated from Brewer High School in Brewer, Maine, in 1991. He met his UU Minister wife Amy in 1996 when cast in the same community theater show. They were married in August of 1998 and they have two children, Henry and Eliza.  He has been communicating his whole adult life, starting with his days as being a DJ in several central and eastern Maine radio stations.  He then moved on to television production and worked for the oldest television station in the state of Maine, WABI-TV in Bangor.

DeBeck got his BS in Education from the University of Maine in 2002 and worked as a middle school teacher in Maine and Annandale, Virginia.  In 2008 his wife’s call led her and the family to move to Elkhart, Indiana where she serves the UU Fellowship of Elkhart. He heard his call to ministry in 2013 and graduated from Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago this May. Tree of Life UU Church will be his first congregation.

Congregation Board President Carrie MacDonald wrote in his introduction to the membership, “One thing that really stood out to us in the interview process with Kevin is his fervent commitment to social justice. He considers his personal theology to be based in the lesson that comes from James 2:14-26, which can be summarized as ‘faith without works is dead.’  We believe he is someone who will encourage us all to truly live our Unitarian Universalist faith through our works and deeds.”

Tree of Life has been lay led since the resignation of the Rev. Sean Parker Dennison two years ago.  DeBeck will serve half time and be in the pulpit twice a month. Other services will continue to be coordinated by the church Worship Committee.

For more information call the church at 815 322-2464, e-mail office@treefolifeuu.org  or visit https://treeoflifeuu.org/  .