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About the Pastor
 Kimberleigh Buchanan (pastor@pilgrimageucc.org) has served Pilgrimage as its
pastor since June of 2001. While her denominational roots are
Southern Baptist, Kim has found the United Church of Christ to
be a very welcoming denomination and an excellent denominational
home.
After
completing her Master of Divinity degree at the Southern Baptist
Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, Kim moved to
Atlanta to pursue doctoral studies at Emory University. In May
of 2004, Kim received her PH.D. in Preaching and Education.
Kim's philosophy of ministry is firmly grounded
in the good news of God's love for every person. “Everything we
do as a church — from worship, to education, to missions work,
even to times of recreation — everything we do must be grounded
in belief in and practice of the radical inclusiveness of God's
love for ALL people,” Kim says.
Kim is married to the Rev. Dr. Allen Mullinax.
They live in Woodstock, Georgia.
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Minister of Christian Education & Youth
 Heidi Schuler
has served as Minister of Christian Education and Youth at Pilgrimage since
September of
2008. Heidi was born and grew up in North
Georgia. She was ordained in the Southeast Conference of the United Church of Christ
following her call to Pilgrimage.
Heidi grew up as an active
member in her church youth group, traveling over an hour each
Sunday to participate in the weekly youth program. She
continued her connection with Christian education while in
college, and it is there that she first felt called to work with
youth and young adults. After one summer as a camp counselor,
she realized what she missed most in her time with the campers
was the chance to see them grow in their faith journey beyond
their one week in the mountains of North Georgia. Therefore,
the following summer she accepted a position as Youth Director
for a medium-sized United Methodist congregation. She continued
working with this church for three years, increasing the youth
group attendance from six members to 25. She saw many of her
youth continue their spiritual formation at the college level
when she accepted a position as Religious Life Assistant at a
nearby two-year college. The collegiate setting presented her
with an opportunity to begin a spring break mission trip for the
college students to build houses in Juarez, Mexico. This became
one of the highlights of her work and spurred her to continue
working with missions doing home repair for families in Western
North Carolina and North Georgia. Heidi believes religious
education and outreach ministry are essential to the foundation
of the Church, especially with today’s young people, and very
much enjoys working with the children and youth ministries at
Pilgrimage UCC.
Heidi resides in Ellijay, GA.
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Director of Music
 Rev. Allen B. Mullinax (music@pilgrimageucc.org)
has served as Director of Music at Pilgrimage since October of
2006. He previously served churches in Indiana, Kentucky, and
the Atlanta area. He received a B.M. in music education from
the University of Georgia, a M.C.M. in church music and music
history from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a
Ph.D. in music history from the University of Louisville-the
University of Kentucky joint doctoral program. Allen has led
local and national workshops on music and worship, and he has
published articles on hymnology.
Allen sees church music, not
just as musical performance, but also as ministry. He assists
the other ministers with pastoral care. In addition to his work
as Director of Music, he also works part time as a hospice
chaplain and also works as a pastoral counselor. He is an
ordained minister of the United Church of Christ.
Allen is married to
Pilgrimage’s pastor, Rev. Kimberleigh Buchanan. They live in
Woodstock.
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