Rev. Renae Phillips has served as clergy in Metropolitan Community Churches since 1989. She was the Senior Pastor of MCC of Lubbock, Texas for 23 years. After moving to Florida in 2016, she served as Volunteer Clergy with SunCoast MCC, as the Transitional Pastor of Church of the Trinity MCC, and the Interim Pastor of King of Peace in St. Petersburg. Rev. Phillips has served on various committees such as the Board of Ordained Ministry, the South Central District Committee, and currently as a Mentor in the Thriving in Ministry Program.

She lives in Venice, FL with Terrie, her spouse of 33 years, and their cat, Gracie.

Chad is the Director of IT Program and Project Management at Centene Corporation. In this role he is responsible for a team of 10-15 Technical Program and Project Managers and overseeing that they manage their multiple programs andprojects through all stages of the Project Lifecyle, ensuring they are completed on time and within budget. This role regularly challenges me to think outside the box and come up with creative solutions to manage and eliminate obstacles; as well as personnel management.

He lives in sunny Tampa, Florida, USA with his husband of over 18 years, Samuel Asencio, and their two fur babies (cats), Bailey and Kailey.

He has been at MCC Tampa since 2006, and a member since 2009. He has served in a variety of roles, including as the Treasurer on the Board of Directors, a member of the Pastoral Search Committee; and served as the part time Bookkeeper from mid 2015 to mid 2017. Chad served as a Lay Delegate from 2016-2019 and was a member of the inaugural Pastoral Relations Committee at MCC Tampa. He has had an interest in the wider denomination since getting to work with many wonderful people through his various roles at MCC Tampa and that interest only grew after attending his first General Conference in beautiful Victoria, British Columbia, Canada in 2016. At the denominational level, Chad’s work includes him being a member of the Assessments Commission that was responsible for restructuring the assessments structure for UFMCC. The Assessments Commission’s proposal was approved by a vote of the body and took effect in January 2019. In addition, he served on the Programming Team and the 50th Anniversary Gala Planning Team for General Conference 2019; served as a member of the Core General Conference Team for both General Conference 2022 & 2025 as well as assisted with all AV needs at the last 3 General Conferences. He has been the chair of the Governing Board Finance Team since 2019, served as a member of the Human Resources Team and is on the Commission on General Conferences. 

Chad loves the mission and work of MCC and is dedicated to being a part of it.

Rev. Marie Alford-Harkey is currently a hospice chaplain in Florida, USA. Marie was ordained a pastor in 2016. She earned her Master of Divinity at Episcopal Divinity School in 2010. She also holds a Master of Arts in French. Marie’s career has always focused on social justice. As a high school teacher for 20 years, she supported LGBTQIA students by helping them to form a Gay-Straight Alliance. After seminary, Marie worked for and then was president and CEO of a national non-profit that worked in the areas of sexual health, education, and justice in faith communities and society. As a pastor, Marie participated, with congregants, in rallies at the capitol of Florida and in justice work with the local LGBTQ community center. In her current role, Marie supports patients and families at the end of life and continues to be active in social justice causes.

Originally from New Jersey, James grew up in the Presbyterian Church and was ordained as an Elder, leading the youth for just over three years. In addition, he served on the church board serving a congregation of more than 500 members.

Upon moving to Texas USA in 2003, James attended various MCC churches in Dallas and Fort Worth. Finally settling down in San Antonio, he found his church home at MCC San Antonio. In 2014, he became a member and began serving in the choir and helping in other ministries in the church. James was appointed to the church board in 2015, still continuing to serve, he has held the position of risk manager, and now vice moderator.

James brings various levels of work experience including business and human resources. Currently working in education with over 20 years experience, James has been a Teacher, Counselor, Coordinator, Director, Assistant Superintendent and now Superintendent of a charter school district. He currently holds a Masters Degree in Educational Administration and Supervision from University of Phoenix and a Bachelor of Science degree in Management from Park University.

Rev. Beulah Dürrheim has been the solo pastor at Good Hope MCC, an inner city church based in Cape Town since 2012. She has a theology degree from the University of Southern Africa. She served as a pastor in the Methodist Church for almost 10 years, and was a Spiritual Director for Upper Room Ministries in South Africa. She has served in various denominational capacities in MCC: The moderator nominating committee, as a member of the judicial pool, and as an Africa Network Leader. Besides her 20 years of pastoral ministry she also worked at a bank, a paint sales company, a pre-school and a conference centre. She was often entrusted with managing these businesses and learnt to deal with finances, staff and clients.

Rev. Dürrheim initiated her own small businesses, establishing a Retreat Ministry and setting up a Bookshop. In all of these experiences she discovered she is a leader, skilled at working with diverse people, able to manage budgets, seeing creative angles to solving problems and being willing to learn from her mistakes. She loves the great outdoors and has walked the Camino in Spain several times. She enjoys running in the mountains and loves doing endurance sports that test her physical and mental strength. She was in a long-term relationship for 20 years which ended in 2019. She has learnt to navigate pain and loss and has become resilient when it comes to dealing with change. She values integrity, community, humour, empathy, commitment and paths that lead to healing and compassion.

Dr. Léo Rossetti has been a member of the Metropolitan Community Church since 2007 and currently serves as Associate Pastor at ICM Rio, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He is a historian and History teacher, holding a Ph.D. in Social History and a Master’s degree in History Teaching, both from the University of the State of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ). Since 2017, Léo has served on the Community Advisory Board of INI-Fiocruz—one of Brazil’s leading research institutions, internationally recognized for its work in HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, and a key partner of MCC in Rio de Janeiro.

Léo discovered and developed his special calling to global ministry within MCC. With extensive experience as a volunteer translator across the denomination, he has served—and continues to serve—MCC globally, contributing to various teams and committees, including the Governance Committee, the General Conference Core Team, and the Commission on Communications. He led efforts to develop guidelines for Metropolitan Community Churches in Brazil and served as General Secretary of the Brazilian Network from 2020 to 2024. In 2022, he was honored with the Jennifer Justice and Carlos Chavez Young Adult Award, which recognizes individuals who embody MCC’s values and demonstrate emerging leadership potential. In that same year, Léo was elected to serve on MCC’s Governing Board.

In addition to Portuguese, Léo speaks English and Spanish (as well as LIBRAS, the Brazilian Sign Language). He is also an actor, poet, and author of several books, including Tropical Butterflies: the Brazilian Way of Metropolitan Community Churches (Metanoia, 2016). Léo has been married since 2008 to Rev. Luiz Gustavo Silva, Senior Pastor of ICM Rio. They live in downtown Rio de Janeiro with their two feline children, Safira and Graphitte.

Rev. Joseph San Jose is currently the Pastor of Open Table Metropolitan Community Church located in the Philippines. He has been a member of MCC since March of 2010. He finished his Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary (Philippines) Summa Cum Laude, also receiving the Bishop Arichea excellence award for Biblical Studies. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in Communication from the University of Santo Thomas. In 2019, he was given the opportunity to join a leadership program by IREX under the US State Department where he spent 4 months of internship with Resurrection MCC in Houston, Texas. 

Prior to becoming a Pastor, Rev. San Jose worked in the sector of Financial Markets for 7 years, working for Thomson Reuters and ETrade Financial. He believes in the continuing mission of MCC to proclaim God’s love for all people; create and sustain safe spaces for queer people; and MCC’s participation in the wider work of justice in the world. He also strongly believes in the representation of peoples raised-up and living outside of North America and Europe, especially Asians living in Asia, in the governance of MCC. He is currently living in San Pedro, Laguna, Philippines, with his Partner of 7 Years, Lawrence, with their fur children, Duke and Duchess.

Charlotte was born and brought up in the United Kingdom and has attended church for most of her life. She attended a brethren church whilst growing up. When she went to university, she attended a house church and then an Anglican. She has also attended a Baptist and then another Anglican before coming to MCC. Whilst at the Anglican, she was a member of the Church Council and helped the treasurer and lead the building Fund, managing raising funds including grants.  She worked for the National Health Service as a GP Practice Manager during the COVID-19 Pandemic before retiring in 2021.