Director of Youth Ministry

Tanner (he/they) is the Director of Youth Ministry at First Congregational Church. They received their Bachelor of Science in Business at DePaul University with a minor in theatre studies. Tanner has enjoyed working with youth since his first job lifeguarding and teaching swim lessons. He continues to work in recreation serving people with all types of special needs, flavors of the neurospicy, and LGBTQ+ youth.

Tanner grew up going to church multiple times a week at a non-denominational megachurch with contemporary music, an auditorium that seats thousands, and hundreds of kids. Around 8^th grade, Tanner chose to get baptized as he felt God’s call to love people simply because they are. Ironically, Tanner took what we will call a ten year “sabbatical” from the church. A few years after college, Tanner started to return to worship and found a church home here in Glen Ellyn where they have been a member since June 2021. Tanner would like to leave you with this message, “Welcome to a soft place to land, a nutritious place to grow, and a community where it is easy to do good.”