A new senior pastor has been appointed
Dear Park Avenue,
We are honored and deeply grateful to share the good news that Bishop Lanette Plambeck intends to appoint the Reverend Shandon C. Klein as the next Senior Pastor of Park Avenue United Methodist Church, with her appointment beginning July 1, 2026, and her first Sunday in worship on July 5. As co-chairs of the Leadership Board, we celebrate Pastor Shandon and how she embodies the person we have been seeking and what our congregation named so clearly over the past year.
Remembering what we prayed for
Over the past year, our congregation, staff, and leaders engaged in listening, discernment, and honest conversations about the kind of pastoral leadership we need in this season. In our church profile, we named a set of gifts, skills, and commitments that would help us move toward deeper wellness, greater belonging, and a clearer, bolder witness to Christ’s love in our neighborhood and beyond.
We said we were seeking a senior pastor who:
Brings strong intercultural competence and cultural agility.
Is justice-oriented, with deep lived experience in multicultural, urban ministry.
Has lived experience as someone with a marginalized identity, with a strong preference for a Black or other pastor of color.
Holds a strong commitment to racial justice and LGBTQ+ inclusion.
Offers dynamic, Christ-centered preaching and teaching, grounded in deep personal faith in Jesus.
Can support and value staff, work collaboratively, and navigate conflict with courage and care.
Understands revenue development, including donor cultivation, stewardship, and diversified income streams.
Can lead us in congregational wellness and healing, building belonging, deepening cross-cultural competency, strengthening sustainable ministry systems, and communicating a strong vision and purpose for PAUMC.
How Pastor Shandon embodies these needs
From our first conversations with Pastor Shandon, it was clear that she is a Spirit-led disciple who loves Jesus and is passionately dedicated to leading a multiethnic, radically inclusive ministry of Christ. She prioritizes both personal and social holiness in the Wesleyan tradition, holds a deep passion for those who are unchurched, spiritual but not religious, and those who have suffered church harm, and carries a servant’s heart that centers compassion and justice together.
Her ministry experience reflects the kind of intercultural, justice-oriented leadership Park has been seeking. She currently serves as senior pastor for two congregations near the Minnesota–North Dakota border and previously spent over eight years at First United Methodist Church Richardson, a 6,500-member congregation in Texas, where she moved from Assistant Director of Welcoming Ministries to Associate Pastor. Throughout this journey, she has helped people discover their gifts, equipped them for ministry, and bridged multiple cultures and ideologies in ways that foster understanding, welcome, and belonging.
In our time with her, we experienced the very qualities we said we needed most. Board members named her wisdom, intelligence, and genuine caring; her affiliative leadership style; and her desire to work alongside staff so they can grow into their full gifts and advance the church’s vision and mission. We heard her describe herself as a bridge-builder, curious about people’s stories, gifted at discerning others’ gifts, and committed to not putting people in boxes. We also saw her willingness to engage hard conversations, be quick to listen and slow to speak, and approach conflict with courage and grace.
A pastor for this season at Park
As a congregation, we named a longing for healing from past hurts, deeper wellness and wholeness, and a more robust sense of belonging that is felt across differences of race, class, gender, sexuality, theology, and life experience. Pastor Shandon’s passion for those who have experienced church harm, along with her commitment to racial justice and LGBTQ+ inclusion, positions her to help us create specific spaces for healing and belonging and to articulate concrete actions that move us from aspiration to practice.
We also asked for a leader who could help us build our capacity for cross-cultural competency, strengthen sustainable ministry systems, and support a high-performing, mostly part-time staff who carry significant responsibility for our congregation. In our conversations, we saw in Pastor Shandon a leader who values collaboration, welcomes shared accountability, and is eager to learn from and with our staff, lay leaders, and community partners. As Ryan shared in the announcement, her energy, passion for data and analytics, and desire to collaborate on social justice issues align with Park’s commitments and our need for thoughtful stewardship of both people and resources.
We are also mindful of the care and preparation this congregation has invested in this transition. We thank Pastor Dan for walking alongside us and our staff in this interim period. His leadership has been a blessing to us and we remain so grateful for him.
An invitation into shared ministry
We are excited not only about who Pastor Shandon is, but also about the shared ministry we will build together as she joins this community. She brings a love for Jesus, a love for people, and a love for social justice work that resonates deeply with Park’s identity and calling. She is married to Shane, her partner of over 25 years, and together they share life with their beloved fur family, Harley, the Great Dane, and Doug, the cat—a glimpse into the warmth and joy she brings into her relationships and community.
As we move toward July 1, we invite you to:
Pray for Pastor Shandon, Shane, and their family during this time of transition.
Pray for Pastor Dan and for our staff as we navigate this handoff in leadership.
Reflect on your own gifts and callings, and how you might offer them in this new season of ministry.
Extend radical hospitality, curiosity, and care as we welcome Pastor Shandon into the life of Park Avenue.
We are profoundly grateful for the Spirit’s leading, for the courage and clarity of this congregation, the wisdom of Bishop Plambeck and Michelle Hargrave, our superintendent, and for the opportunity to follow Jesus together under Pastor Shandon’s leadership. As co-chairs of your Leadership Board, we are hopeful, expectant, and ready to continue building a community where all can experience belonging, healing, and the liberating love of Christ.
With gratitude and joy,
Karyn Sciortino Johnson and Ryan Vos-Orrington
Co-Chairs, Leadership Board
Park Avenue United Methodist Church