Introducing . . . . .

Meet Rev Gail!                                                                                       RevGailTapscott@aol.com

Reverend Tapscott is our spiritual counselor, and leads our Sunday worship. She serves as chief administrative officer to the staff and is on call for pastoral care. She is in full fellowship with the Unitarian Universalist Association and holds a Master of Divinity Degree from Harvard Divinity School. She joined us September of 1999.

Gail presents three out of four of our monthly Sunday Services. She leads Adult Education classes in our Wisdom Wednesday Series where she invites others to find their own spiritual path by drawing upon the great teachings of the religious leaders of the world. Gail can be found popping in on our special focus groups and providing her insightful thoughts to the committees of our church. The door to her office is a shrine of cartoons, photos, and clever sayings.

She is active in the greater community working with the Cooperative Feeding Program, Interfaith Alliance groups, Empty Bowls to feed the hungry, and she occasionally appears on television talk shows.

Our Minister has ventured down once to SWIM, the Southeast Unitarian Universalist Winter Institute at Miami, to present a workshop, but she has become a regular at SUUSI, the Southeast Unitarian Universalist Summer Institute, where she may either lead a worship service, do a workshop, or serve as Minister of the Day. Each summer, SUUSI attracts 10 to 20 members of our congregation.

Rev Gail makes an annual pilgrimage to GA, the annual assembly of Unitarian Universalist where she renews ties with fellow professionals and gathers ideas for the coming year. She is active with FUUMA, the Florida Unitarian Universalist Ministers' Association and is interested in their continuing education programs.

From thoughtful essays in the Journey, our newsletter, sermon topics, acting out in our attempts at theater, traveling to conferences, times of remembrance, or feeding the hungry, Rev Gail is forever in our midst.

Prior Professional Work
Gail came to us following a consulting ministry at UU Fellowship of Flagstaff, Arizona, for ¾ time plus Pulpit supply at West Valley UU Church, Peoria, Arizona, for ¼ time. She also served an Extension Internship for the Flagstaff and Phoenix congregations. Previously, she was a lay minister and religious educator at the UU Fellowship of Flagstaff, Arizona. Prior to that, Gail also served as a leader in women's spirituality programs at the UU Society of Winchester, Massachusetts. She was a Director of Religious Education at the UU Church of Marblehead, Massachusetts.

In her pre-ministry professional life, Rev. Gail was an advertising and editorial assistant for a Journal on Water Pollution Control and then a teacher of English and Journalism in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She then spent almost twelve years as an environmental journalist in Washington, D.C. She worked for seven years on a trade newsletter that covered the toxic chemicals and pesticides regulated by the then fledgling Environmental Protection Agency. Then she helped start several new newsletters on state environmental policies, hazardous waste control and finally became the Executive Editor of "The Hazard Communication Exchange." During her journalism years she also had a column called "On the States Side" for the trade magazine World Waste. 

During and right after her time at Harvard Divinity School, Rev. Gail worked as at a business publishing firm and sold books and journals and eventually became the Director of the Training Department there. Her final pre-ministry career was as the Director of the National Telephone Fund Raising office for Greenpeace in Flagstaff, AZ. She also coordinated some Greenpeace campaign work and protests on mining issues while running the Flagstaff operation.

Educational
· M.Div. Harvard Divinity School, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
· M.A. in Liberal Education, St. John's College, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
· B.A. in English/Journalism, American University, Washington, DC.

Certificate in Organizational Development and Adult Training Programs - Harvard Extension Program
Certificate of Training in Spiritual Psychology from the Concord Institute, Concord, MA ( a two year part time training program for helping professionals)

Personal
Gail was born in Atlanta, GA on March 10th but lived in Mississippi until the age of 12. She went to high school in Pennsylvania where she first met up with the Unitarians and got interested in politics. Gail has never married but has an army of friends all over the country. She has managed to remain on great terms with most of her former romantic partners and considers a couple of these men to be among her life long best friends. She is close to her sister Melrose Buchanan, artist and art teacher, and her brother- in-law Charlie Buchanan. She dotes on her 25 year old nephew, Scott Buchanan and loves to argue religion and politics with him as he is a Republican and a Roman Catholic. 

Gail is an avid reader with special interests in mythology, depth psychology, drama, sociology, and political writing. She also likes science fiction and historical novels. Gail loves movies particularly foreign and independent films and can often be found hiding out in local theaters when she can't be reached even on her cell phone. Gail also likes live theater, jazz and folk concerts. She loves the pool and hot tub in her back yard. However, her all time favorite pastime is reading and writing while sitting in cafes and other public places and people watching. ( She gets great ideas for sermons in such places).

Making Contact:

Gail can be reached most easily at church on Mondays from 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm and Wednesdays from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm. Visits are best done by appointment by calling (954) 484-6734.

Come visit, join us, and hear REV GAIL TAPSCOTT!