With hearts full of gratitude and excitement, we are thrilled to welcome the Rev. Dr. Shannon Michael Pater as our interim minister, beginning May 15, 2025.
The Rev. Dr. Shannon Michael Pater (“Shannon Michael”) has been ordained for 30 years, serving UCC churches in Houston, Des Moines, Atlanta, and Fort Worth. After a decade as Senior Minister at Central Congregational UCC in Atlanta, he made a bold move in early 2019 — selling, donating, or giving away everything that “owned him” — and set out on his own intentional interim period with a one-way ticket to India. His year in Mumbai led to further exploration in India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.
In March 2020, while on pilgrimage in the Himalayas, he unexpectedly became an international COVID refugee. For 21 months, he found himself stranded in McLeod Ganj, a small mountain village and the home-in-exile of H.H. the Dalai Lama. This transformative experience forever shaped his theology and approach to ministry, particularly interim ministry. Shannon Michael can be reached at the Congregational church or via email at CCSDPastor@gmail.com.
When he’s not inspiring congregations, Shannon Michael is an internationally known trauma-informed spiritual director with directees and students in eight different time zones, including Ukraine and Australia. He finds joy in poetry (especially Mary Oliver), the companionship of dogs, the stories shared over a second cup of tea, and — with full knowledge of the cardiac risks — any cheese that dares cross his path.
