Pastor John and Family
About John:
John was born and raised in the Boston area, spending his childhood from age 3 in Hudson. His parents are Fred and Iris. Fred was born and raised on a farm in North Conway, NH. The Lucy family has been a fixture of the picturesque New Hampshire town since the mid 1800s, still owning much of the farmland. However, Fred went off to become a senior VP of banking institutions, so John is a suburbanite through and through. Iris was born in Puerto Rico with part Taino blood. After suffering a lot of hardship, her family moved to Springfield when Iris was still quite young. Iris’s family later moved to Hudson where she would graduate from high school. Much of her childhood was marked by being the butt end of discrimination, so Iris vowed that her kids would not learn Spanish or Puerto Rican culture so as to avoid further discrimination. John understands perfectly, but is trying to reconnect his family with Puerto Rican culture and heritage. John has also an older brother, Fred Parker Lucy III, who now lives in Goffstown, NH.
While growing up in Hudson John played a lot of Dek Hockey (aka Street Hockey, Ball Hockey) and traveled on All-Star teams all throughout the Northeast, including to Canada, playing mostly as goalie and also as a defenseman. If he can get his act together, he’d like to start his own league some day. John’s parents brought the family to an Episcopal church until John’s First Communion, at which time the kids had a choice whether to continue with church or not. John and Fred did what most kids would do: say, “No way! Sunday mornings are for video games!” In middle school, though, a number of weird occurrences brought the family to an United Methodist Church. John would be the only one to continue attending and become a member. Around the same time, more weird occurrences brought John to a Chrysalis weekend. He’d later attend a number of Chrysalis weekends as a team member.
John was voted Most Unique as a senior in high school and, after graduation, went to St. Michael’s College in Colchester, VT. There he began as a mathematics major before determining he hates math (though is quite good at it) and switched to English. Late in his sophomore year John became heavily involved in campus ministry and first heard the call to pastoral ministry, despite not having any of the spiritual gifts necessary for pastoral ministry at the time. John would graduate summa cum laude, as a member of Phi Beta Kappa and other honors societies.
In the fall of 2009 John began at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. While there, he received a grant from the Forum for Theological Education which he used to ride his bike across the country (from D.C. to Michigan to Texas to New Mexico) raising awareness about human trafficking. After graduating from Wesley with honors in 2012 and as the president of the Student Council, John wrote a book about human trafficking and his bike trip (27 Million Revolutions for 27 Million Slaves) as well as a theological treatise on the Wesleyan theology of Christian perfection (Created Human Divinity). At that time, John no longer thought that his call was to be a pastor, so he returned home thinking he’d be a full-time writer. Some more strange occurrences later and he returned to the candidacy process and soon became a local licensed pastor in Vermont, starting after his marriage to Danielle in June 2014.
He loves sports, hockey and cycling especially. If you’re a sports fan but prefer teams outside Boston, we might have issues (joking). He’s also a fan of film—good film, before action and violence became the main theme of movies. His faith life has consisted of asking questions of God but also amazing God-interventions. He loves preaching, leading Bible studies, and having conversations about, well, anything. John also loves to laugh and believes God has the best sense of humor. You can check out his Holy Pastor Doing Stuff YouTube channel for a small glimpse of his humor (with some serious faith teaching, too).
About the family:
Danielle and John met at St. Michael’s in an Intro to English Lit. class. They became quick friends, discussed the Bible together on a weekly basis, often worshiped together (when John read and Danielle sang), and intertwined their lives in other ways—Danielle dated one of John’s roommates, John lived with Danielle’s younger brother’s best friends, etc. However, they didn’t start dating until after John graduated from Wesley. Marriage wasn’t far away from there.
They have two kids together, Sebastian (4) and Soren (almost 2). Sebastian loves to read and Soren loves to dance. Sebastian in particular has developed his parents’ shyness. John is no longer shy but definitely still an introvert. But once the kids warm up, they’re a delight.
Both Danielle and John are looking forward to meeting all of you and living in Charlton with you—and most of all, worshiping and serving Christ alongside you!
About Danielle:
She is a native Vermonter and this adventure to Charlton will mark the first time she has ever lived out-of-state. Growing up in the Champlain Islands of VT, she lived at the nexus of VT, NY, and Canada in the small rural town of Alburgh. Her father, like his father before him, was a dedicated crop and dairy farmer, and Danielle spent much of her youth taking care of the calves, occasionally helping in other ways when more hands were needed (shoveling grain, milking cows, picking rocks/small boulders in the field after spring planting). It built a strong work ethic and character, which she believes prepared her for the resilience of both stay-at-home parenting and itinerant moving! She will be leaving several siblings (two brothers, one sister), many nieces and nephews (7 in total), and her mother in VT (her dearly departed father has been gone 5 years this March), including many aunts, uncles, and cousins (Danielle hails from a large French-Canadian family). However, we will be moving much closer to John’s immediate and extended family in MA and CT, and this is also a great blessing. Danielle has often been called a Renaissance woman by her mother due to her variety of interests. She adores singing and has sung professionally since 2011 with the Bella Voce Women’s Chorus of VT. Danielle looks forward to joining the music ministry of Charlton City UMC! She also enjoys knitting, sewing, cross-stitching, crafting, painting, repurposing, reading, cooking, baking, and healthy living. Anything creative stirs her soul! Her true passion, however, is supporting the spiritual health of those around her. In 2018
Danielle started a side business called Sacred Touch with the focus of providing holistic support through subtle energy therapies. Here, she offers Reiki, Tapping, and Biofield Tuning to assist the human energy field in processing past & present trauma, loss, and challenges. Most sessions result in an extremely relaxed state of mind and body (she has had many people fall asleep on her treatment table!). She chose to work with the biofield (scientific term for the human energy field/soul) because this lays the foundation for all of our currently measurable forms of health (physical, emotional, mental). By working at the foundation, the root problem can be addressed and true healing can come forth. She plans to host an Information Night after the family has become settled into CCUMC! For the curious at heart, you can visit the FAQs part of her website at www.sacredtouchreikivt.com/faqs.