Rev. Anne Jernberg Scalfaro
As Senior Pastor, Anne’s responsibilities include 1) Vision & Leadership, 2) Worship & Preaching, 3) Pastoral Care & Staff, and 4) Stewardship & Finance. That said, Anne practices a team approach to ministry; she is blessed to share in leadership with talented and dedicated staff and volunteers that balance her weaknesses with great strength. Anne began serving on the pastoral staff at Calvary in Sept. 2008 and was called as Senior Pastor in Jan. 2013.
Anne is a graduate of Austin College in Sherman, TX (B.A. Religion) and Harvard Divinity School in Cambridge, MA (M.Div.) and was ordained to ministry in 2008 at Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas, TX following a two-year pastoral residency program. During her time at Harvard Div, she served as a Seminarian at the Memorial Church in Harvard Yard and as a CPE chaplain at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.
Born and raised in Dallas, TX, Anne loves good Tex-Mex, afternoon thunderstorms, and the word “y’all.” An introvert at heart, Anne enjoys learning, reading, poetry, travel, Netflix, game nights, and good coffee conversations. Her main spiritual and physical practice is yoga, and she is renewed by spending time outdoors with her husband, Damon, and their golden retriever, Deacon. They live in the Montclair area of Denver.
Anne believes that faith is a journey best shared in community; this is why she loves the local church: “My calling is to pastor a congregation through creative preaching, meaningful worship, nurturing presence, and servant leadership. Rooted in God’s faithfulness, empowered by Christ’s love, and sustained by the living Spirit, I understand the Christian church to be a mosaic of God’s people, a steward of God’s resources, and a beacon of God’s hope and justice to the local community and beyond.”
Rev. Morgan Caruthers Fletcher (she/her/hers)
Having been raised in Arvada, CO Morgan has found it a beautiful journey to return to the Denver area in June 2014 after being gone for 15 years. During the 15 years away from Denver, she attended Covenant Bible College in Strathmore, Alberta CAN before attending Baylor University where she earned a BA in Religion.
While in Waco for school Morgan found a love for the community work she was doing so she stayed committed to the Waco community and continued her education receiving a Master of Divinity from George W. Truett Theological Seminary and Master of Social Work in Community Practice from the Diana Garland School of Social Work at Baylor. Her graduate education focused on Congregational Social Work and connecting congregations to their surrounding community partners.
During her final years of graduate work, Morgan interned at Calvary Baptist Church - Washington DC as their Social Work Pastoral Intern. Morgan's call to Gospel ministry and the prophetic leadership at Calvary - DC resulted in her being called for ordination with them on July 8, 2012. Her denominational connections find their home with the Alliance of Baptists.
Following grad school, her first church appointment was at The Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in Austin Texas. Morgan was hired at Calvary in June 2014 as the Pastor of Youth and Young Adults. In January 2017 her role changed to Pastor with focus areas on Mission and Outreach, Intergenerational Ministries, and Youth Ministry.
In addition to working at Calvary Morgan teaches as adjunct faculty at Iliff School of Theology, leads the Progressive Congregations Network at Interfaith Alliance of Colorado, and serves as Chair of the Advisory Board for Juniper Formation.
An anchor in her life is the belief that the world is changed through stories and finds it to be a vital expression of communal change and peacemaking. Morgan finds self-care practices through spiritual direction, a good cup of coffee or tea, music, hiking, reading, and time with her family, dogs, and friends.
Rev. Alice Horner-Nelson
Alice began her work as the Pastor of Communications and The Gathering on Easter Sunday 2018.
Her job is two-fold. First, she oversees all internal and external church communications, which includes all church publications and communication channels (website, worship programs, newsletter, e-mail newsletter, prayer list, and promotional materials). Her job is to tell Calvary's story, and to streamline all information for members and guests. Second, she is the designated pastor for Calvary's monthly contemporary service called Praise and Ritual. She coordinates worship planning, preaching and outreach for that service.
She earned her Masters of Divinity from the McAfee School of Theology in Atlanta, GA with a concentration in Congregational Ministry. That's where she met her husband Matt, a fellow M.Div and Reverend who works at Heritage United Methodist Church. Prior to Calvary, she has worked as a Communications Director, Minister to Students, and as a children's ministry associate. Her background in writing, journalism, and photography comes in handy as well. Alice loves writing, storytelling, and humor.
She hails from Baltimore, Maryland, and loves learning more about Colorado. Matt & Alice have a daughter, Felicity, and two cats, Molly and Mary Todd.
Rev. Mary Armacost Hulst
Mary thinks of Calvary as her extended family in Denver and it has been that for the Hulst family since she and her husband, Jack and two sons, Douglas and Stephen, joined in 1977. Calvary is a place where deep relationships are nurtured. Those family-like connections continue to be a focus for her ministry. Mary joined the staff as a children's worker in l978, was commissioned as Minister of Christian Education in l980, Graduated from Iliff School of Theology in l985, Ordained at Calvary in l985, called as Senior Pastor in l993 and retired in 2006. Mary Served as President of American Baptist Churches USA in 2008-9 and was an officer of the denomination for 6 years. She now coordinates the program for an annual national gathering of American Baptist Women Pastors. She is currently serving at Calvary as a Pastoral Associate with a visitation ministry to home bound and residents of care facilities members.
Min. Brian Muir
Minister Brian Muir was born in Torrance, California. He married the love of his life, Shelby, on 07/27/20 and they currently reside in Littleton, Colorado, however, he considers the Scottish Highlands his home. He received a B.A. in Interpersonal and Organizational Communication Studies from Azusa Pacific University and a Master of Divinity in Chaplaincy from Denver Seminary. He has worked in education, ministry, and healthcare as a chaplain, minister, and care provider. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, he served as a chaplain in multiple hospitals in the Denver area. Through his personal and professional experiences of trauma and PTSD, he learned first-hand that the only durable remedy to the disconnection that results from trauma is connective, trauma-informed, and holistic whole-person care, which creates human flourishing and societal transformation. He hopes to help cultivate individual growth, communal awareness, and systemic transformation. Specifically, he aspires to support 15-25 year olds with acute complex trauma and moral injury stemming from abuse, assault, combat, secondary traumatic stress, etc. He yearns to play a part in the healing of the next generation, helping them discover who they are and propelling them forward as peacemakers rooted in love into the world. He desires to bring the kingdom of heaven to earth and believes the Church is called to be a people and place of healing in the world.
As a Celt, all of creation is sacred spirit, the sacred divine essence of life. This sacredness is tapped into through mindfulness. The key to abundant life is to live mindfully attentive to the divine, mindfully attuned to the self, and mindfully aware of others. Each and every human being is a sacred embodied soul, composed of heart, mind, body, and spirit; his focus in ministry is on the integration and healing of the heart, mind, body, and spirit, as well as the transformation of relationships, environments, and systems. His specific areas of interest include 1) Youth, 2) Young Adults, 3) Justice-oriented issues, 4) Trauma, and 5) Mystic/Celtic spirituality. His vocation as a spiritual minister is to voice the words that the soul knows intuitively. His philosophy of care is to be a spiritual leader of the next generation as a life giving companion, radiant light in the darkness, and tangible reflection of Love to all. He is currently pursuing a Master of Social Work at MSU Denver and aspires to be a University Chaplain, Licensed Clinical Social Worker, and Holistic Trauma Therapist. He will be serving at Calvary this Spring as a Minister during his final unit of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) and looks forward to continuing to serve throughout his ordination process at Calvary.
Dr. David Farwig
Denise Lanning
Denise Lanning is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where she received the Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees in organ performance. She has served churches in Kentucky, Ohio, Washington and Colorado as music director, choir director and organist.
Denise is active in the Denver Rocky Mountain Chapter of the American Guild of Organists where she is program coordinator for Southwest Regional Convention 2019 and chapter examination coordinator. She has been an adjudicator for the RCYO competitions (Regional Competition for Young Organists) and the Reuter/Augustana Arts Competition. She has authored a workbook titled In the Beginning......An Encounter with Improvisation at the Organ published by Wayne Leupold Editions. A strong advocate for continuing education, she studied for and earned the Guild’s Associate and Fellow certificates.
Denise lives in Denver with her husband John, who teaches here at Academy for Lifelong Learning, and is the proud mother of three sons, mother-in-law to three daughters-in-law, and is grandmother to four amazing grandchildren and an assortment of grandpets.
Angela Leonard
Angela has been at Calvary for 25 Years! Beginning her role as Children’s Ministry Coordinator September 2017. Angela has chosen to work at Calvary as the Children's Ministry Coordinator because there is nothing better than watching children develop in their faith, and finding indestructible joy and love in the Lord. There is nothing more wonderful than working alongside your own church family.
Rev. Matt Nelson
Matt leads our worship for our contemporary service, The Gathering, on Sunday evenings. He coordinates our other musicians, chooses thematically appropriate songs, and handles our sound set-up. He also works at Heritage Methodist Church in Littleton, CO as their Worship Leader in their contemporary service on Sunday mornings. He holds a Master of Divinity from McAfee School of Theology, a Bachelor's Degree in Religion from Emory University, and hails from Atlanta, Georgia. While in Atlanta, he served as the Worship Leader at Edgewood Church, a church plant in inner city Atlanta. After seminary, he was called to serve as Worship and Youth Pastor at Central Baptist Church in Daytona Beach, Florida. He loves playing any kind of game (especially Magic the Gathering) and helping people worship God through music.
Volunteer Staff
Marlys Marshall
Marlys is one of Calvary's amazing volunteers. She coordinates all of the office volunteers, and oversees church records and other organizational tasks.