Rev. LaVerne Gill

Rev. LaVerne M. Gill is the Chaplain Administrator for the Chautauqua United Church of Christ Society, Inc. She is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ and a trained Spiritual Director. Rev. Gill recently retired as the senior pastor of Webster UCC in Dexter, Michigan. She is currently the founder and president of the Life Transformation Foundation, Inc., a Not-for-profit foundation committed to enriching the spiritual and physical quality of life both in the US and in developing countries. The foundation was inspired by her work in Ghana, West Africa where among other things, she led a yearlong campaign to construct a well a month in remote villages. She has trained teachers in Ethiopia and worked with improving the lives of residents in the Sanzule Refugee camp in Ghana.

Rev. Gill is the author of four books, including African American Women in Congress (Rutgers University Press) which was nominated for a New Jersey Humanities Award. Her most recent publication is a chapter in the book, This is My Story: African American Women in Ministry, their Testimonies and their Sermons (Westminster Knox Press). Her other books are: Vashti's Victory (Pilgrim Press); My Mother Prayed for Me (United Church Press) and Daughters of Dignity: African Biblical Women and the Virtues of Womanhood (Pilgrim Press). Gill is the author of numerous articles and the subject of a number of newspaper stories. She is the recipient of the United Church of Christ's Antoinette Brown Award for excellence in ministry and most recently received the Olivet College's: Leadership for Individual and Social Responsibility Award.

LaVerne Gill is a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary where she earned a Masters of Divinity and a Masters in Theology. She also holds a MBA from Rutgers University and a BA from Howard University. Rev Gill has taught on the faculties of Princeton Theological Seminary, University of California at Berkeley, University of the District of Columbia, Howard University and the Ecumenical Theological Seminary in Detroit.

Prior to her call to the ministry, Rev. Gill owned a media company and was a member of the U.S. Senate Press Gallery and the National Press Club. As a television producer, she received a Capital Area EMMY nomination for her public television production, Straight Talk, Sex, Teens and the 90's. She was also a member of the award-winning public television news commentary panel of WETA's Metro Week in Review. She has hosted and produced both television and radio programs. This year she produced the DVD Webster Wells along with the UCC Office of Proclamation, Identity and Communications.
Rev. Gill is married to Dr. Tepper Gill, a mathematician and physicist who is a professor at Howard University in Washington, DC. The Gills are residents of Reston, Virginia and are the parents of three grown children, Jennette, Dylan and Tepper.