(415) 776-4580
OUR MINISTERS
REV. VANESSA SOUTHERN
Senior Minister
​
Vanessa Southern was born in Kansas, lived in Los Angeles until she was 8, then moved to New York City, living for the first couple of years a stone's throw from the Stonewall Bar and Christopher Park. She did her undergraduate work at Stanford University in the religion and philosophy departments, and her professional training at Harvard Divinity School. Vanessa has served congregations in Boston, Washington DC, Cherry Hill, New Jersey and was from the summer of 2001 until 2014 the Senior Minister of The Unitarian Church in Summit, New Jersey (now Beacon UU Congregation in Summit).
In 2015 Vanessa and her family moved to Mumbai, India for two years while her husband opened the office of The Bridgespan Group, an organization that serves mission-driven organizations and philanthropists maximize their impact, and while they reconnected with their family there. She began her ministry at The First UU Society of San Francisco in July of 2017 following the retirement of her mentor and former pastor, The Rev. John A. Buehrens.
Vanessa is the author of This Piece of Eden and Miles of Dream, both published by Skinner House Press, and is part of numerous other anthologies. She has been published in The Dallas Morning News, Scroll India, and Woman's Day Magazine and was the 2013 Service of the Living Tradition Preacher at the Unitarian Universalist General Assembly, in Louisville, Kentucky.
​
​415-776-4580 x132
REV. LAURA SHENNUM
Minister of Congregational Life
​
Laura Shennum was born in California and spent the first 14 years of life living in different parts of the state. At 14yrs, she moved to Omaha, NE, then returned to California as a young adult, where she attended Mills College and earned her B.S. in Anthropology and Sociology. Since then, Laura has lived in Omaha, NE and Wenatchee, WA and recently returned to the San Francisco Bay Area, which she considers her "heart home".
Laura served as the Director of Religious Education at Second Unitarian Universalist Church of Omaha and then pursued her call to ministry by attending Meadvlille-Lombard Seminary. Laura served as Intern Minister at Lincoln Unitarian Church in Lincoln, NE. Once she earned her MDiv in 2012, Laura served Cascade Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Wenatchee, WA. She started as a Developmental Minister and then became the congregation's first settled minister in 2015. After serving 9 years at Cascade UU, Laura decided to take a break from parish ministry and entered a Chaplain Residency program at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital. She served in this program from Sept 2021 until she joined the staff at UUSF in Sept 20220.
Laura has served on the Pacific Northwest District Healthy Congregations Team both as chair and member. She has served as a Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association Good Officer and is currently on the UUMA Good Officer Coordinating Team.
​
415-776-4580 x232
REV. MILLIE PHILLIPS
Affiliated Community Minister
Rev. Millie Phillips has been a member of this congregation for 20 years. While becoming increasingly active as a lay volunteer, she began to hear a call to ministry. She took an early retirement in 2011 to begin ministry training - a process with many ups and downs - that eventually led to ordination in January 2020 right before the COVID pandemic took hold. She was co-ordained by SF UU and by the UU Congregation Santa Rosa (UUCSR) where she had interned.
After a year of part-time service as the minister of a small congregation, she was laid off due to lack of funding. With few ministry positions available, she applied for and was hired as a full-time organizer with the Faith Alliance for a Moral Economy (FAME), a project of the union-founded non-profit East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy (EBASE), a job that combines faith leadership with skills gained from her over 30+ years as a labor movement activist.
"Affiliated community minister" is a status for UU ministers who are not directly serving a congregation. It allows them to maintain UU ministerial credentialing while working in other faith-related or social justice capacities. In return, such ministers provide limited unpaid support to the affiliated congregation.
Millie currently lives in Oakland. She has two adult children and two grandchildren.
REV. SEANAN FONG
Affiliated Community Minister
The Rev. Seanan Fong is an Affiliated Community Minister with UUSF and the founder of the San Francisco Contemplarium, a new civic institution tending to the hearts and spirits of San Franciscans through contemplative public spaces, programming, accompaniment, and community-building. As a second-generation Chinese American, he is the co-author of Family Sacrifices: The Worldviews and Ethics of Chinese Americans (2019, Oxford University Press). His M.Div. is from Harvard Divinity School, where he studied Asian American religiosity and East Asian thought, and his B.A. in philosophy is from Stanford University. The Cambridge First Parish in Massachusetts ordained him in 2018. Having grown up in the Bay Area, he is proud to call San Francisco his home.
Rev. Fong’s established and guides the San Francisco Contemplarium which provides a contemplative resource for the entire community. (visit their website HERE for more information)
REV. MARGOT CAMPBELL GROSS
Minister Emerita
​
Born in 1937, Margot Campbell Gross is Scottish by heritage, but grew up in Great Britain. The oldest in a lively family of seven children, Margot had a talent for art and design. She graduated from the Royal College of Art with a BA in 1958 and went to work as a designer for the London County Council.
In 1960 Margot married Peter Watson Gross, an American law student. They lived in Boston but later moved to Knoxville, TN, where Margot quickly became involved in the Religious Education Program at the Unitarian Universalist Church. Youth services continued to be a strong calling, along with raising their growing family: two birth and four adopted children.
In 1985 the family moved to Berkeley, CA, where Margot attended Starr King School for the Ministry. She graduated in 1988 after completing an internship at All Souls Church in New York City with Revs. Forrest Church and John Buehrens.
Following her ministry at the First Unitarian Society of Plainfield, NJ, in 1995 Margot was called to be Co-Minister with Rev. John Marsh of the first Unitarian Universalist Church of San Francisco. Here, her passions for social justice and spiritual growth in the congregation created a living legacy, exemplified in the founding of our community after-school program – Up On Top – and the cofounding of the Faithful Fools Street Ministry.
Margot retired in 2004. She enjoys traveling with her husband Peter, time for painting, walks on Ocean Beach, and visits with extended family.
REV. ALYSON JACKS
Minister Emerita
​
Alyson grew up in Massachusetts and Maine. She was raised in the Unitarian Church in Marlboro, MA. She attended Emerson College in Boston, graduating in 1982. She moved to Portland, ME, following graduation. In Portland, she ran a performing arts program sponsored by the State Street Congregational Church. In 1985, she packed up her Chevy Impala, drove across the country, and moved to San Francisco. Alyson continued to work in art education programming, as well as other nonprofit organizations.
​
Alyson joined UUSF in 1990 and began seminary (Starr King School for the Ministry) in 1993. During her time as a member and seminarian, she was active in a variety of church leadership roles, starting as a Sunday School teacher. She served as the co-chair of the LGBTQ group, worked on the Annual Canvas, and served on the Nominating committee, among other roles. Alyson graduated from Starr King in 1997 and was ordained by UUSF in 2000.
​
Alyson became a Community Minister at UUSF in 2002. She was the Associate Director for a Home Away from Homelessness, which provides educational and recreational services to children who did not have permanent housing. In 2012, she was invited to join the staff at UUSF as Associate Minister, overseeing the Lifespan Learning programs and membership. In 2022, she retired from UUSF.
​
Alyson is an active bicyclist, including trips across the country. She volunteers with an elementary school and coordinates a monthly trash pickupin her neighborhood. Her passions still include the arts—music, theater, and museums—as well as art making with the San Francisco Correspondence Coop. She and her wife, Wendy, live in Bernal Heights.
SERMONS
What is a sermon, you ask? At a religious service or ceremony, a religious leader—typically a priest or deacon—delivers a lengthy address that is typically based on the teachings of a sacred text. Instead of delivering literal interpretations of religious texts, a Unitarian Universalist sermon tends to center on the speaker's life experiences and ethical considerations. To encourage, strengthen, and inspire people on their spiritual paths is the ultimate aim. The aim is to inspire, challenge, and uplift members of the congregation on their spiritual paths while they investigate and develop their personal values and beliefs. Congregants are encouraged to examine their own ideas and ideals in a friendly environment, which is meant to inspire, challenge, and uplift them on their spiritual journeys.