Northbrae's Leadership
The Northbrae Church Council is the governing body of the church. Members are democratically elected and serve for a period of three years. All church members are eligible to serve on the Council: The Council meets the third Sunday of each month, and all meetings are open to all members and meeting minutes available upon request. The Council oversees all matters of the church, ensuring its present and future care. Council members dedicate themselves to serving Northbrae's congregation in all capacities. To inquire or to give feedback to the Northbrae Council, contact: John Oldham, Council President.
Carolyn West, Interim Minister has been collecting stories since she earned a degree in Religion at Princeton University. She is a published poet and essayist, with an MFA from Warren Wilson. She "found a home" at Northbrae. Carolyn has been sharing world stories with the kids—and adults—most Sunday mornings since 2004. In 2020, she became Northbrae's Interim Minister, leading services on the 1st and 3rd Sundays. Her emphasis in Worship Service is to guide toward greater connection with the divine, with each other in the community, and with the deepest parts of ourselves. She balances teachings and insights from the Judeo-Christian tradition with those from other world religions.
Carolyn supports the children and youth programming at Northbrae, including the Sunday morning program, and she leads the Coming of Age program for middle-school youth. You may contact Carolyn at cbw@monocot.com or by leaving at message at the church office. You can also read a recent sample of Carolyn's writings in Huffpost Religion.
Rev. Elizabeth O. Hutchins, Chaplain is an ordained Interfaith Minister, Chaplain, and Spiritual Director. She received her Master of Divinity from Harvard in 1994 and Certificate of Interfaith Studies from the Chaplaincy Institute (Berkeley), In 2020, she became Northbrae’s Chaplain and is available to provide emotional and spiritual support to people in navigating life passages. She offers sermons and homilies in Sunday services, and organizes a team of Northbrae volunteers to cook for homeless youth at YEAH.
Before being called to the ministry, Elizabeth has been passionately engaged as a teacher, librarian and educational leader in schools and colleges on the East Coast, and in Asia and Minnesota. She has also served as a pastoral companion with persons living with HIV/AIDS, a chaplain in a women’s homeless shelter, and a lay religious leader with Episcopal, Unitarian, and Quaker communities. Her ministry is grounded in a deep, mystical connection with nature where she enjoys hiking and wilderness paddling. She honors an interfaith reality that celebrates the Divine spark in each one of us. Elizabeth can be reached at eohutchins@gmail.com or by leaving a message at the church office.
Debra Golata, Music Director. Debra's professional life has been dedicated to music. She grew up in a musical family, singing with her mother and four sisters, and performing in choral concerts in her youth. Her vocal performance experience includes solo recitals, opera, musicals, and professional choral singing. She sang with the acclaimed Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra Chorale for over 15 years and she has concertized throughout the United States and Mexico with classical guitarist Jon Harris. She recorded biographical songs about Bay Area women artists featured in Amy Gorman’s book “Aging Artfully.” For Oakland’s Rockridge Chorale she accompanied and performed as vocal soloist in India and England. A master’s degree in choral conducting deepened her interest in sharing the joy of singing. She has been accompanist, soloist and assistant conductor for SF Lyric Chorus. She has long been the Music Director and organist for Northbrae Community Church in Berkeley and has had a long and varied association with Berkeley Community Chorus and Orchestra. In previous years, she has been the accompanist for BCCO, was a soloist, and has recorded many of the vocal rehearsal tapes. She is currently part of the musical staff as the Vocal Coach and Guest Clinician, and she is the Director of the Berkeley Women’s Community Chorus. Her teaching includes private voice and piano, and classroom general music including directing youth musicals. Her bachelor’s degree in music is from Michigan State University and her M.A. in choral conducting is from San Jose State University. She has studied modern and flamenco dance, acting, and classical voice in San Francisco, New York City and Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
Deb’s life is “deeply and richly woven with music, but she also engages with the world in many other ways: she is an intellectual who loves to read, a feminist and social activist, an ardent animal lover, and a talented visual artist who loves to paint, and take photographs.” Deb appreciates nature, “especially the desert, and the fabulous night sky. “ She holds family, friends and her pets dear to her heart. Contact Debra at dgolata@yahoo.com or by leaving a message at the church office.
Deb’s life is “deeply and richly woven with music, but she also engages with the world in many other ways: she is an intellectual who loves to read, a feminist and social activist, an ardent animal lover, and a talented visual artist who loves to paint, and take photographs.” Deb appreciates nature, “especially the desert, and the fabulous night sky. “ She holds family, friends and her pets dear to her heart. Contact Debra at dgolata@yahoo.com or by leaving a message at the church office.
Kathy Oldham, Resident Lay-Minister was born in Berkeley, and first affiliated with Northbrae at a very young age when her parents were members of the church. Kathy attended UC Davis and majored in Anthropology. She later became an elementary school teacher while her husband John grew peaches, prunes and walnuts for fourteen years in Gridley, CA. In 1989, and with their children, Emily and Andrew, Kathy and John moved back to Berkeley. After a trip to Israel, Kathy then enrolled in an “Origins of Christianity” course at UC Berkeley. She continued at Cal for the next six years before transferring her course credits to the Graduate Theological Union's (GTU) San Francisco Theological Seminary (SFTS), receiving her MA in Theological Studies in 1999.
Since childhood Kathy has been fascinated by the varieties in Christianity, the different approaches to truth that people can have, and the role the Bible plays in peoples' sense of truth and faith. Kathy and John found their way back to Northbrae feeling that here they could find the freedom to explore such questions. In 2002 while Rev. Sebring was the pastor at Northbrae, Kathy started a Tuesday morning Book Group which has run continuously since. Kathy also provides occasional sermons and adult education classes on Sunday mornings. She is a member of the Jesus Seminar, an academic association dedicated to the scientific investigation of the historical Jesus. Kathy has also done extensive research on Mary Magdalene and the history of interpretation surrounding this figure. She is currently looking at oral culture and story telling as it pertains to early Christianity, and especially interested in how Christianity is changing and adapting to science, secularism, and globalization. Kathy and John are proud parents-and now grandparents! Kathy can be reached at jkoldham@sbcglobal.net or by leaving a message at the church office. You can also read Kathy's most recent sermon given here at Northbrae.
Since childhood Kathy has been fascinated by the varieties in Christianity, the different approaches to truth that people can have, and the role the Bible plays in peoples' sense of truth and faith. Kathy and John found their way back to Northbrae feeling that here they could find the freedom to explore such questions. In 2002 while Rev. Sebring was the pastor at Northbrae, Kathy started a Tuesday morning Book Group which has run continuously since. Kathy also provides occasional sermons and adult education classes on Sunday mornings. She is a member of the Jesus Seminar, an academic association dedicated to the scientific investigation of the historical Jesus. Kathy has also done extensive research on Mary Magdalene and the history of interpretation surrounding this figure. She is currently looking at oral culture and story telling as it pertains to early Christianity, and especially interested in how Christianity is changing and adapting to science, secularism, and globalization. Kathy and John are proud parents-and now grandparents! Kathy can be reached at jkoldham@sbcglobal.net or by leaving a message at the church office. You can also read Kathy's most recent sermon given here at Northbrae.
Dianne (Radosevich) McNenny, Acting Church Administrator As the Northbrae administrator for 20 years, Dianne oversaw the non-ministerial staff and the use of the Northbrae facilities. She retired last year but recently returned to help Northbrae during the Covid-19 closure.