Rev. Dr. Elizabeth LeMaster
Pastor
Sedona United Methodist Church is pleased to announce the appointment of Rev. Dr. Elizabeth LeMaster. Rev. LeMaster comes to the Desert Southwest Conference from the Baltimore-Washington Conference. “I am pleased to be part of the Sedona UMC family since I have felt a call to ministry in the southwest for many years,” Rev. LeMaster said. “While I am experienced in many different church settings, I am especially interested in finding new ways for the church to engage and serve the community.”
Rev. LeMaster holds a Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry in Leadership from Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C., and is trained in grief and trauma care. She has also served on mission teams to Bosnia-Herzegovina and Nigeria.
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“I believe my greatest gift for ministry is compassion, especially for the outcast, hurt, and misunderstood people of the world. I love to meet people where they are and simply build a relationship with them – seeking to find out how the church support them, encourage them, and empower them. This is what Jesus calls us to do.”
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Lauren Riffle
Church Adminstrator
A native of The Central Coast of California, Lauren spent much of her youth in the local UMC. She & her husband Bryan began travelling to Sedona nearly a decade ago, the place they got married and now call home. Lauren oversees just about everything at SUMC from web master to building management & beyond. She is honored to be part of all the exciting new things happening at SUMC where she can share her heart for the care of people, planet and the fostering of inclusive community spaces.
George Dorado Blanco
Artist in Residence
Retired UMC Pastor
George Dorado Blanco, a native of Guantanamo, Cuba, studied painting at the renowned San Alejandro Academy of Fine Arts in Havana. He graduated in 1977, and taught Design and Composition for Painting and Sculpture at the School of Fine Art Jose Joaquin Tejada in Santiago, Cuba, where he developed his own curriculum. His methodology incorporated avante guarde concepts from the Bauhaus School of Design and the drawings and designs of Frank LLoyd Wright.
In 1988, he graduated from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary with a Masters Degree in Divinity and introduced the concept of Art and Healing to many churches and communities in the Chicago area. “I deeply believe that art, in general, is the best deterrence against violence and spiritual bankruptcy. I have committed to the production and promotion of artwork as a way of bringing healing through personal and communal transformation.” In 2002, he began his pursuit of a Doctorate of Ministry in Art and Theology at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington D.C.
He traveled to France to study Impressionist and Post-Impressionist, then to Italy to study the Renaissance and the Frescos of the Dominican Order. George has been teaching art in the United States since 1989. George first visited Arizona in 1996 and became captivated by the Spirit of the West, and the unique plethora of colors and shapes that Arizona offers. in these landscapes, he directs his artistic focus, allowing the colors of Cuba to emerge through the images of the Grand Canyon. His paintings of the Grand Canyon stand as a tribute to the many women and men that courageously struggle to protect and preserve it.