Meet Our Religious Exploration Team
Our team is dedicated to guiding our youngest congregants to develop a drive to love radically, serve gratefully, and wonder daily.
Rev. Sarah Osborne (She/Her)
Director of Religious Exploration (DRE)
​​Rev. Sarah Osborne (she/her) is the Director of Religious Exploration at Neshoba Church, serving since 2010. She facilitates, instigates, and collaborates on a variety of faith formation offerings for children and adults at Neshoba, including Sunday morning programs, Our Whole Lives Lifespan Sexuality Education, special holiday events, book clubs, retreats, workshops, and the occasional worship service. Rev. Sarah serves as a Good Officer for the Liberal Religious Educators Association (LREDA). She serves as a collaborative program experience designer for Beloved Conversations, an online program for racial justice as a spiritual practice housed at Meadville Lombard Theological School. Rev. Sarah is also the part-time minister for The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Oxford, MS. Theologically, Rev. Sarah believes in the grace of Love that holds us all. She believes in the power of mirth and reverence. She finds inspiration in the rhythms of nature and in the good storytelling of spiritual traditions from around the world. She earned her Master of Divinity degree from Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago and holds a B.S. in Education from Auburn University Montgomery. In her free time, Rev. Sarah loves to travel, do water aerobics, attend sound bath meditations, and read lots of books. Rev. Sarah lives in Bartlett, TN with her husband, children, and dog.
Niks Hill (She/Her or They/Them)
Family Care Coordinator and Nursery Leader
​Niks Hill is the Family Care Coordinator and Nursery leader for our Religious Exploration program. She has served at Neshoba since January of 2012. She has worked with children professionally since high school. Niks works closely with our DRE to ensure that our families needs are met through childcare, events, and program developments. Additionally, she also serves as our Office Administrator and is a certified O.W.L. program instructor. As our nursery leader, Niks focuses her care on the comfort and socialization of our youngest Neshobans. She facilitates play and learning through kindness, consideration for others, and setting solid boundaries with our peers. While Niks' time with the children is short, she hopes to send them into the world with the tools to make this better place for them throughout their lives. Outside of Neshoba, Niks loves to take photos, research random information about a variety of things, game with friends, take in nature, and spend time with her children and pets.
Tom Adams (He/Him)
Youth Advisor
Bio coming soon...
Kat Roth (She/Her)
Elementary Leader
Bio coming soon...
Neely Van Dorp Vaughn (They/Them)
Elementary Leader
Neely joined Neshoba this last year and facilitated the Our Whole Lives (OWL) program for the first time this spring. Neely is a homeschooling parent of two kids and enjoys art and reading. They are excited to collaborate with the RE team and parents to continue to foster a fun, inclusive space for our exceptional group of young folks.
Rev. Beth Lefever
Minister
Beth brings a strong leaning toward humanism into her ministry, and an appreciation of Life’s Mystery, understanding that nothing is certain and all things are possible in things of the spirit, and appreciating both the mystery and the potential. She has served our church since 2012. She seeks to nurture the spiritual lives of members and friends by calling on a variety of spiritual and secular resources, as well as her own personal experience, or “life passed through the fire of thought,” as Emerson put it. She also seeks to uplift the commonality of the human journey, and nourish that journey through meaningful fellowship, pastoral care of and with parishioners, and participating in, and promoting, community service and social justice efforts.