Welcome to Our Interim Senior Minister

The Interim Minister Search Committee was delighted to recommend Doug Moore to the Executive Council to serve as our Interim Senior Minister, and the Executive Council approved a contract with Doug at its June 18 meeting. Doug brings a wealth of experience to the position. Upon completion of high school, he attended Yale University. After college he attended Vanderbilt Law School and started his career as a trial attorney.  Doug was a practicing attorney for 22 years before he decided to pursue a career in ministry. He received his Bachelor of Divinity from the University of Edinburgh.

Doug began his ministry in Sharon Vermont. From there he accepted the Senior Minister position at Norwich Congregational Church in Norwich, Vermont. Doug and his family still call Vermont home. When he decided to retire from the ministry, Doug found a new calling in interim ministry. His first interim work was done in New Orleans, facilitating the union of two churches in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. One was a traditional African American congregation and the other a German heritage Evangelical and Reform church. His most recent position has been in Downers Grove, Illinois, from October 2010-April 2012. 

Doug is married to Judy and they have five children. Judy is bilingual, English and Spanish, and has a Doctorate of Education degree. 

Doug makes this statement regarding his ministry: “Socially I have moved from a young and conservative Marine to a very different person with a very different sense of the world around me. I have come to love the church as that place where we, the people of God, can practice (experiment) what it means to love our neighbor as ourselves, to feed the hungry, and to care for each other in all the ways that are needed.” A colleague wrote this, “He is an excellent preacher, thoughtful and provoking, engaging and surprising, never leaving the hearer without food for thought and a call to a deeper engagement with the gospel as it intersects with the world. He is a builder of church community as a caring, learning and serving community. He has a heart for mission, inclusivity, justice and action.

We look forward to welcoming Doug and Judy to First Congregational UCC and Madison. He will begin his ministry with us in early August. When asked why he was looking forward to serving us he said, “Apart from its location in what I have always heard is a great city, I look forward to being part of a UCC church that appears to be doing everything a UCC church should and is doing it boldly. That sounds exciting to me.”

Melissa Baumann, Dorothy Brown, Dana Chabot, Sue Jones (Chair), Katie Petykowski, Eldonna Hazen (Advisor)

 Interim Sr. Minister Search Committee