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.

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.

 

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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