Ken was born and raised in Sacramento, California, where he attended Sacramento Community College and California State University majoring in Criminal Justice. Shortly before application to law school, he experienced a life altering conversion in a little, country Pentecostal church and decided to pursue religion and biblical studies.

He graduated from Warner Pacific College in Portland, Oregon , with a Bachelor of Arts in Religion. There he discovered his gift for preaching and has since committed almost thirty consecutive years to pastoral ministry. Ken has also completed the Master of Divinity degree from Anderson School of Theology and the Doctor of Ministry degree from San Francisco Theological Seminary. He has served rural and urban churches in California, Oregon, and Indiana, and also served as adjunct professor of Bible and Religion at Anderson University. He has certificates of completion in Clinical Pastoral Education and is certified in the “Prepare/Enrich” marriage assessment program and as a Stephen Ministry leader. In 2002 he suffered a near fatal motorcycle accident and with the loving support of the friends, family, and the congregation has fully recovered. Next year, he will celebrate his ten year anniversary as Senior Minister at the Chapel.

Ken’s approach to spirituality is inclusive, holistic, and eclectic. He believes that ministering to the “whole person” includes addressing not only their spiritual, but their physical, emotional, and psychological needs as well. In his various parishes, Ken has initiated and developed community-based lay outreach programs including after school enrichment and latch key programs for children, teen mother mentoring programs, lay counseling training programs, divorce recovery groups, prison outreach programs and senior friendship, and support programs.

Although a Christian by choice, Ken highly values the insights and wisdom of other religious traditions and the interfaith approach represented at the Longboat Island Chapel which embraces truth wherever it is found. He likes to tell people, “Wherever you’re at on your spiritual journey, there is a place at the Chapel for you.”

Ken is married to Connie Buckler-Gill , his ministry partner and a well-respected muralist and artist in the Sarasota area. He has three children, Vanessa, Adam, and Austin. He lives on Longboat Key.

Dan is from the St. Paul/Minneapolis metropolitan area. He completed his BA at the University of Minnesota , Morris, with a double major in history and German. Having been baptized and raised within the fold of the United Methodist Church (UMC), he attended Drew Theological Seminary in Madison, New Jersey, graduating in May of 1988. He was subsequently ordained as a deacon by the Wyoming Annual Conference UMC, and simultaneously served four rural congregations in northeastern Pennsylvania.

In 1991 Dan relocated to Long Island, New York, where he worked for the Diocese of Rockville Centre coordinating a dental program for persons with HIV/AIDS and helping to establish the first free-standing dental clinic for the HIV community in the State of New York. In consideration of his ministry among persons living with HIV, Dan was ordained in the United Church of Christ (UCC) in 1996.

In 1998 Dan accepted a position with the Northeastern Region of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). As the Administrator of the Regional Office he maintained communication and fellowship among 63 congregations throughout New Jersey, New York, and all of New England . During this time he also received a call as the pastor of Victoria Congregational Church (UCC), a multicultural church in Jamaica, New York.

In 2004 the Dan served as the Administrator of New York Disaster Interfaith Services, which provides continuing 9/11 recovery work and disaster planning for houses of worship.

Dan relocated to Florida in 2005, and was initially hired as the Church Secretary. However, when the former associate minister resigned, Dan was approached to serve in this expanded capacity. He also serves as the Dean of local UCC clergy fellowship, and was instrumental in establishing a welcoming church movement in the Sarasota/Bradenton area. In December of 2008, he was admitted into the program for the Doctor of Ministry at Hartford Seminary in Hartford, Connecticut.

MiMi received both her Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees from Boston College , Boston, Massachusetts. Her major is in nursing, and minor in Counseling. She is also a graduate of the Management Development Program from Boston University.

Nursing positions held while in Boston included: Vice President for Patient Care Services, Director of Nursing at a 200 plus bed tertiary teaching hospital affiliated with Tufts University School of Medicine and Tufts New England Medical Center, adjunct professor at Massachusetts School of Pharmacy and Allied professions and Tufts University School of Medicine. She was also on the guest speaker’s roster for Boston College School of Nursing and other affiliated schools of nursing, guest speaker and out-placement counselor for members of both the Massachusetts Nurses Association and the Massachusetts Hospital Association.

When MiMi relocated to Bradenton , she accepted various nursing positions which fulfilled her desire to experience a variety of nursing positions in different healthcare settings. These included: Director of Maternal-Child Services, Coordinator of service excellence at Blake Medical Center, Staff Nurse responsible for home visits and nursing homes on East Team of Hospice of Southwest Florida ( now known as Tidewell Hospice and Palative Care), Nursing Supervisor at Freedom Village, and staff nurse positions at facilities specializing in caring for persons with Alzheimer’s and other dementias.

MiMi presently facilitates the Shifting Sands Support Group and the Caregivers’ Support Group at the LBIC. Additionally, she provides counseling sessions related to health care issues, and assumes the advocate role for our community residents in hospitals and/or other health related facilities when warranted.  For the LBK and surrounding areas, MiMi provides scheduled memory screenings for those concerned about their memory, educational presentations related to health care and a telephone lifeline to those in need of pastoral care.

Russell moved with his family to Sarasota from Rochester, New York , in 1972. After graduating from Sarasota High School and Booker High School' s Visual and Performing Arts Center, studying voice, trumpet, theory, and musical theatre, he attended  the Crane School of Music in Potsdam, New York , studying voice. He transferred to New College of Florida in Sarasota , graduating in 1990 with a degree in music history and piano. Besides his regular course work, he studied jazz piano, conducting, and sacred choral music.

His college years included winning second-prize in the Manatee chapter of the Polish-American Club’s Chopin Competition, giving two full length recitals and attending summer music festivals. He then started graduate studies in piano and prepared for the Law School Admissions Test. He did well, but after working as a paralegal in Atlanta , decided not to become an attorney. He returned to Sarasota and started teaching classes of adult beginners at a music store and teaching kids privately in his studio while continuing to play popular and classical music at La Champagne French restaurant in Sarasota . There, he learned to sing a dozen popular standards in French well enough to fool not a few Canadians.

In 2000, he took his first position as music director at the Unitarian-Universalist Congregation of Venice, where he played piano and led the choir until 2003. He then began writing his most ambitious project to date, a musical based on the life of Lady Jane Grey, the nine-day Queen of England who lost her head to Bloody Queen Mary in 1554. It is not strictly a comedy. He wrote the music, lyrics and script and has twice performed the role of the villain. Russell has written and recorded radio, TV, theatre and film scores for local productions in his studio and finds work arranging and transcribing music scores. In 2006, he began studying organ in earnest as supply organist at All Angels by the Sea Episcopal Church on Longboat Key. He then took a position as Director of Music at Saint Mary Magdalene Episcopal Church in Lakewood Ranch.