I’m Hank Fairman. I’m glad to make your acquaintance here, and hopefully face-to-face real soon!
I am a married to my amazing partner, Christina. We are proud parents to our daughter, who is a force for change and hope in the world. And through we are realists about the bumps in the road of life, we enjoy living it together.
For my first fifteen years, I made a ministry of sitting in the “Second Chair.” I have helped senior and executive pastors perform the delicate daily duties of ministry, serving as the other pastor in multi-staff settings. While centering on programmatic development in faith formation, I found that my real passion is in creating cultures of health and community. And that meant learning how to lead from my strengths, and with my weaknesses.
Now, in my second season, I serve as Senior Pastor to St. John UCC in Freeport, Illinois. I now enjoy putting my skills and gifts to the test of ministry in executive ministry and worship celebration, among the many other joyful duties of day-to-day ministry.
Church work is kind of a family tradition, but it also skips a generation or two. I found my place in “this life” of church leadership when my mom dropped me off (kicking and screaming) at church camp. I was thirteen, ready to enjoy the world at its fullest–but not at church camp. From that first week, though, I found a perspective on living. I found that following the way of Christ changed how you encounter the world.
You start seeing peace, and beauty, and love. You start hoping and acting to change the things that destroy those–hate, prejudice, the many -isms. You start living as one called “Beloved,” and start treating others as beloved, too.
I began my undergraduate years studying clinical psychology, thinking my career would take me down that road. Soon, though, I found myself taking classes in religion, philosophy, and art in the Hellenistic and Roman periods. I found my path turning towards “this life” of serving God’s people. And when I graduated, I found myself at seminary. Nobody seemed too surprised–except me!
Since then, I’ve had the pleasure of serving in five different congregations and many ministry opportunities in wider church leadership in the United Church of Christ. Each setting has had its costs and joys, but all have sought to find where God was–and is!–calling their ministry to grow. And truly, it is because of these places of ministry that I found my passion: helping leaders to live out their calling in honest, healthy ways.
Thanks so much for listening, and I hope that we can continue sharing in conversation.
If you want to go a little further along the journey, take a moment, and check out my latest Posts. And to see what I’m working on , check out my Projects Portfolio (this is a new thing!). And check back often! There will be more resources and things for developing ministry as time goes on!
– Hank