About Us

Rev. Dr. Eric Elnes is a nationally recognized UCC minister, interfaith leader, and biblical scholar with a Ph.D. in Biblical Studies from Princeton Theological Seminary. He is an award-winning author with four published books, including Gifts of the Dark Wood: Seven Blessings for Spiritual Skeptics (and Other Wanderers), which won “Best Book of 2015” in the category of Christian Living/Spiritual Life.

After having served in many churches as a settled Senior Pastor and as Interim Senior Pastor, Dr. Elnes will be serving our church as the Interim Senior Pastor, guiding our community during this time of transition.

Pastor Guillermo has been an ordained pastor in the United Church of Christ since 1997. As the youngest son of Cuban immigrants, he grew up in Puerto Rico. He joined the U.S. Navy upon graduating from high school and received an honorable discharge after six years of service. He received a Bachelor of Arts in English (1998) and a Master of Public Administration (2007) from Florida International University. He attended the South Florida Center for Theological Studies where he received a Master of Divinity (1997) and the Chicago Theological Seminary for his Doctorate in Ministry (2011).

Pastor Guillermo arrived at our church in 2015 as Associate Pastor for Program Development. He served for most of 2023 as Lead Pastor and will continue to serve as Pastor during this time of transition.

In his spare time, Pastor Guillermo likes to write. Over the years he has contributed articles to journals and periodicals. He is the published author of the novel, Crossing Into the Land of Saints (2007), Rise of the Spiritual Activist: A Beginner's Guide for Integrating Faith and Justice (2012), and most recently, a trilogy about Central American children seeking refuge at the US border: Praying for an Eclipse - Mother Moon (2017), Father Sun (2018) and The Eclipse (2019).