FAQ: Learn More About Broad Street Staff (pt. 1)

Having a little fun, here are a few staff members’ answers to 9 frequently asked questions we get.

Responding to the questions are:

• Kathy Kelly Long, Director of the Food Pantry
• Ann Palmerton, Pastor
• Brittany Porch, Director of Mission and Education
• Bill Boggs, Director of Music Ministry
• Jim Hildreth, Organist
• Amy Miracle, Pastor

What’s your favorite part of the job?

• • Kathy – The people
  • Ann – Helping people experience how loved they are by God.
  • Brittany – Trips with youth, I just love how relationships deepen while traveling together. Some of the best laughs of my life have been on these trips.
  • Bill – Laughing with the choir (in rehearsal ! )
  • Jim – Preparing and practicing music for worship.
  • Amy – anything and everything related to baptism.

Favorite Restaurant in Columbus?

• • Kathy –  Alqueria
  • Ann – A family favorite is The Top.
  • Brittany – Commune, I’d be a vegetarian if I could have their chef be my personal chef
  • Bill – Currently, Tupelo Honey
  • Jim – Olive Garden
  • Amy – Bonifacio

Do you still get nervous before leading in worship?

• • Kathy – Yes on the rare occasion I am involved
  • Ann – Mostly no longer nervous, but energized – after all these years the butterflies fly in the same direction!
  • Brittany – About half the time, I look down and my knees are shaking, keeps me on my toes
  • Bill – I absolutely get nervous.
  • Jim – Yes! (A concert pianist once said: “Only 2 kinds of people don’t get nervous: children and idiots.”)
  • Amy – Not really

One weird fact about you?

• • Kathy – I once brought home a snake as a pet from Girl Scout camp
  • Ann – I enjoy having oatmeal for breakfast.
  • Brittany  – I broke my elbow in middle school and still can’t bend my left arm all the way, no funky chicken dance for me!
  • Bill – My great grandmother told my mother I would grow up to be a preacher.
  • Jim – When I was a kid, I often had popcorn in my lunch, so my class mates called me “Popcorn.”
  • Amy – For the last 30 years, I have only lived in cities that are state capitals. (Denver, Des Moines, Columbus)

How many years have you worked in ministry?

• • Kathy – 12 as paid staff – over 20 if you include volunteer time
  • Ann –  37 years in ordained ministry
  • Brittany – Coming up on 15 years in ministry this summer at 3 different churches, but at BSPC the longest
  • Bill – on and off for 45 years
  • Jim – 49 (my first church job was at age 15)
  • Amy – 30 years

Vacation preference… mountains, beach or city?

• • Kathy – Beach
  • Ann –  I like the beach, but my spouse and I are happy wherever our adult kids might want to go.
  • Brittany – This is a tough choice, but the beach in the end I think beach wins out
  • Bill –  Anywhere with old friends
  • Jim – Mountains
  • Amy – Don’t make me choose! I enjoy all three.

Favorite Scripture Verse?

• • Kathy – Micah 6:8 – Eugene Peterson translation

Do what is fair and just to your neighbor,
be compassionate and loyal in your love,
And don’t take yourself too seriously—
take God seriously.

• • Ann – Romans 8:38-39

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

• • Brittany – Revelation 21:3-4

I heard a loud voice from the throne say, “Look! God’s dwelling is here with humankind. He will dwell with them, and they will be his peoples. God himself will be with them as their God.He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more. There will be no mourning, crying, or pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

• • Bill – Micah 6:8

Act justly, love mercy, walk humbly with your God.

• • Jim – I have hundreds, but for today I’ll choose Nehemiah 8:10

“The joy of the Lord is your strength.”

• • Amy – My current favorite: Psalm 139:7-12

Where could I go to get away from your spirit?
Where could I go to escape your presence?
If I went up to heaven, you would be there.
If I went down to the grave,^[a] you would be there too!
If I could fly on the wings of dawn,
stopping to rest only on the far side of the ocean—
even there your hand would guide me;
even there your strong hand would hold me tight!
If I said, “The darkness will definitely hide me;
the light will become night around me,”
even then the darkness isn’t too dark for you!
Nighttime would shine bright as day,
because darkness is the same as light to you!

A favorite work memory?

• • Kathy – Playing with the children waiting for their parents to go through the produce giveaway
  • Ann – The first memory that came up was a time from years ago. I was preaching and a bat started to dive-bomb people in the pews.  Few remembered the sermon but lots of worshippers remembered that Sunday!
  • Brittany – Moving rocks in Peru, lawn visits with kids in the pandemic, and the anthem Breathe the choir did for our son after his cancer diagnosis, treatment, and his transition remission.
  • Bill – Watching kids who are too young to read sing hymns with their parents.
  • Jim – My 30th anniversary Sunday at BSPC.
  • Amy – An airport layover on the way back from a summer trip to Peru. We had been together for 10 days and we should have been sick of each other by then! Instead, we all sat on chairs and on the floor in a small circle delighting in each other’s company for a few final hours before we returned to our regular lives.

A book, movie, or show that has shaped your life?

• • Kathy – A Wrinkle In Time
  • Ann – Oh, too many to count, from Hill Street Blues to West Wing to Downton Abbey to Ted Lasso and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
  • Brittany – Recently the book Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi really reshaped my antiracism journey through the power of storytelling
  • Bill – Siddhartha
  • Jim – The Bible!
  • Amy –  I have so many favorite books, movies and shows. If forced to pick one, I choose The Book of Awakening: Having the Life you Want by Being Present to the Life You Have by Mark Nepo. It’s a book of daily devotionals that I return to again and again and again.

In the comments, answer any of the questions you’d like to!

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