Staff

Directory

Pastor | Administrative Assistant | Youth Director | Organist | Nursery Attendant

Pastor: Reverend William Clay Knick

Reverend Knick or Pastor Clay as he is most commonly referred to has been at Kernstown UMC for over three years and has been full time pastor for over 20 years. Clay has been serving the United Methodist Church in both part time and full time roles since 1982.

Clay focuses his role at Kernstown UMC on preaching, teaching, guiding, listening, caring, and leading. His passion for the position comes from studying and preaching sermons but his drive comes from seeing people getting excited about following Jesus. In his free time he enjoys Civil War History, Reading, most all sports and spending time with his family!
cknick@kernstownumc.org

Administrative Assistant: Deirdre “Dee Dee” L. Schneider

Dee Dee has been at Kernstown UMC for over five years, but previous served in a church setting for seven plus years, including serving as a Director of a Christian Preschool of a 120 children. In her current role Dee Dee feels that she is the bridge between our community and the church. She is also called to serve the congregation and Pastor Clay Knick through the day to day administrative functions.

Dee Dee enjoys being part of the Kernstown UMC family. Furthermore she enjoys meeting new people, talking with old friends, and utilizing her creative talents to produce the needed materials for ministry of the church.
dschneider@kernstownumc.org

Youth Director: Heather Gomez

We are so excited to have Heather coming on board in ministry here at KUMC. Through her experiences with Voices of Youth, as both a participant and as a adult staff/missions educator, she has worked with youth who have heard a call to ministry so profoundly that they are now ordained elders and missioners in the church. She has served as the Assistant Director for the National Conference for Community and Justice in Atlanta. There, she learned that if we are to build community and break down walls of prejudice, we must first start with our youth who are eager to connect and more open to others’ unique perspectives. Through a local ministry serving Latino immigrants and citizens, she established a Latino young leaders group. Those bilingual youth began to serve as cultural brokers helping both worlds that they represented to understand each other better- a huge undertaking. She is experienced in administration in the non-profit sector and has worked with youth from UMC’s in Williamsburg, Fredericksburg, and the Richmond areas.

She sees her role here at KUMC as a guide, helping youth discern God’s call in their life and cultivating opportunities to answer that call. Her favorite aspect of youth ministry is witnessing remarkable, transformed youth who are willing to take risks, spread the gospel and help someone in need in a selfless, Christ-like way. She is looking forward to how the youth of KUMC will help direct the ministry and answer God’s call.
hgomez@kernstownumc.org

Organist: Marilyn K. Harper

Marilyn is a dedicated member of Kernstown United Methodist Church and has been the church’s organist for over nineteen years. She serves not only all of the aspects of the music program but also tries to make herself available to assist and support the programming at Kernstown.

Marilyn feels that her role is to share her talents with Kernstown while at the same time being part of the family of Christ at Kernstown UMC. It is her belief that that this is one of the most important roles she has as part of the staff and more importantly a member at the church.

Nursery Attendant: Vicky L. Maphis

Ms. Vicky as she is commonly referred to as by the children under her watchful eye has been Kernstown’s Nursery Attendant since 2001. Vicky believes her primary role is to provide care for God’s children and teach God’s love for them. Vicky is constantly amazed to see God working in children’s lives as they grow from infancy to 3 years and older. She thoroughly enjoys reading and playing games with the children at KUMC and considers herself blessed to have this position at Kernstown.