Dear West End Family,
We are thrilled to highlight our Children’s Ministry team that will now be leading our program!
Our new Children’s Ministry Director, Mary Berndt, leads this team. Mary comes to us with an extensive background in teaching, as well as working with children and families. Mary has recently been serving as the Operations Director at Daystar Ministries, a local counseling ministry and one of our long-time Hope for Nashville partners. Like many of our other new staff members, Mary comes from within the West End family, so she knows our culture and our people! The team assembled under Mary’s leadership will consist of Katherine Hamrick, Darah Kerpka, and Emily Gordon.
Katherine Hamrick will be serving as our Elementary Coordinator helping lead our 1st through 6th-grade students and families. Katherine is coming from the education world, most recently teaching at Brentwood Middle School. Katherine and her husband, Joseph, have both served in the Children’s Ministry on a volunteer basis over the years.
Darah Kerpka has been serving as our Nursery & Preschool Coordinator on a part-time basis for the past two years. Darah has been such a gift to the Children’s Ministry, answering every call during her time at West End. We are so thankful to have the opportunity to bring her on to full-time staff so she can continue to lead and grow the Nursery & Preschool ministry.
Many of you may know Emily Gordon, who has served our children and families in several capacities over the past 18 years. In 2014, Emily developed and launched the West End Mother’s Day Out program. She has faithfully grown this outward-focused ministry and we are thrilled to officially bring MDO under the umbrella of the Children’s Ministry.
West End is so thankful for the Lord’s provision in assembling these key leaders, and we’re excited to see how he will continue to use them to impact the Nashville community! Please take the time to welcome them the next time you’re on campus!
