Staff

Dora is a native of Atwood, IL and moved to Mattoon in 1987.  She is the mother of 3 children; Matt, Doug and Kylie and Nana to Will and Kyren.  She is in the process of working on a degree in Marketing and Management and certification in Small Business Management and Professional Sales at Lake Land College.   Dora  is Food Service Management certified.  She graduated from Atwood-Hammond High School.  

Dr. Jiafeng Yan is active as a solo and collaborative pianist and has performed in piano and chamber music festivals in Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Oregon, California, and major cities in China. He has been the recipient of many performance awards, including the Hebei Youth Piano Competition (1st prize), the Pearl River National Young Pianists Competition (outstanding performer), the First National Duo-Piano Competition (top prizewinner), winner of the Concerto Competition at the University of Illinois. Dr. Yan is currently a faculty member at the University of St. Francis. He also teaches part-time at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His students have won numerous competitions at the regional, state, national, and international levels. Active as a competition adjudicator, he served on the jury of Mid-America Chinese Music Festival, Chandler Starr Miller Scholarship Competition, National Federation of Music Clubs Festival (Bloomington District), and Chambana Music Competition. Dr. Yan’s performance has been heard frequently on WILL (90.9 FM) and WCSF (88.7 FM). Dr. Yan is a recording artist for Pacific Media label and his most recently released CD titled “Fantasia” including Schubert Wanderer Fantasy Op. 15, Beethoven Sonatas Op. 27, Medtner Sonata Reminiscenza, Op 38 No 1, and Scriabin Etude Op. 2 No. 1. Jiafeng Yan completed his DMA degree in piano performance at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and MM and Performers Certificate at Northern Illinois University. He lives in Champaign, IL with his wife, Jing Hao, and their two boys: Jason and James.

Pastor J. Michael Smith is a graduate of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and Wesley Theological Seminary (Washington D.C.)  His academic degrees are in psychology, history, and theology.  He is married to Jie Wu.  (Jie is the director of Chinese Ministry based at the Wesley Foundation at the University of Illinois in Urbana.)  They are the parents of three grown daughters:  Mindy, Alison, and Scarlette.  And they have one grandchild, Sean.   Pastor Smith has served churches in West Virginia (Harpers Ferry) and Illinois (Olney, Madison, Carmi, Carbondale, Granite City, Glen Carbon, and Urbana.)  He is an ordained elder in the Illinois Great Rivers Conference of the United Methodist Church. You can read his writings at his website:  jmichaelsmith.net

Jordan graduated from Greenville College in 2016 with degrees in philosophy and pastoral ministry. He grew up in Springfield, IL where he went to Springfield High School. He was the children's ministry intern at Hope Church in Springfield, worship pastor at Cornerstone Community Church in Auburn, IL, worship/youth intern at Hope Church, and worship pastor at New Hope Church in Edwardsville, IL. He has served missions internships in South Africa and Romania. You can follow his blog at: https://jordanthomasword.wordpress.com

Melissa graduated from Millikin University in Decatur with a degree in instrumental music education. She taught instrumental, vocal, and general music in the public school system for 36 years, 31 of which were in Mattoon. She and her husband, Steve, have been married for 37 years and have two children (Tyler and Audra) and two grandchildren (Jack and Charlie).

Marilyn is a graduate of Indiana State University with a bachelor's degree in music education and a master's degree in education from Eastern Illinois University. She retired from the Mattoon School District after 24 years of service. During her career she taught choir at Mattoon High School and general music as an itinerant teacher at various grade schools in Mattoon. Later she taught language arts, reading, and 6th grade before returning to her first love: teaching music. She and her husband, David, have two grown sons, Craig and Aaron, three grandchildren, and three great grandchildren. Serving the church while her children were growing up, she led Sunday school singing, directed youth and bell choirs, and taught Bible school.

Phyllis was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. Church and school were her favorite places to be. She knew from preschool that she wanted to teach school and become a minister's wife, and she became both. Her careers were dual in that sense and she loved both pursuits. She also learned to play the piano, which enabled her to be more supportive over the years in churches - singing in music groups, ringing and directing for bell choirs, playing for various things, leading children's choirs and just generally loving music overall. This is why she has chosen to lead the adult bell choir at Mattoon First UMC. Phyllis is married to Ron Dickinson, and Colby and Markus are their two grown sons.

Tammie has a Master's Degree in clinical psychology from Eastern Illinois University.  She has bachelor's degrees in psychology and zoology, also EIU.  She is a graduate of Mattoon High School.  She is married to Dan and is mother of Luke and Xandra.  Tammie's mother Pat was a long time secretary at First UMC. Tammie worked for the Central-East Alcoholism and Drug Counsel for ten years.  She did counseling and had supervision for the Drunk Driving program.  She has been on the staff at Mattoon Church doing counseling since 1997.  She provides a wide variety of counseling for all ages, including marriage and family counseling.  She leads a support group at the church for women each Tuesday night.

Pastor Todd N. Krost was appointed pastor of the First United Methodist Church of Carrier Mills in July 2018. A native of Chillicothe, IL near Peoria, he is an Elder of the Illinois Great Rivers Conference and has previously served appointments in Tiskilwa, Sheffield, Neoga (Grace), Etna, Toledo, and Carrier Mills before arriving at Carrier. He also served as Intergenerational Minister at Warren First UMC in Warren, MI. He is a graduate of Illinois Valley Central High School; holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and a concentration from the Gerald Ford Institute for Public Service at Albion College in Michigan; Master of Divinity (MDiv) from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL with coursework completed at Ecumenical Theological Seminary in Detroit, MI. Pastor Todd is passionate about local mission work, church history travel, camping ministries at Little Grassy Camp, dad jokes, and movies. Todd is married to Christina, and together they have three children: Madeline, Ava, and Harper.