Melissa began her ministry here at Ames CUMC/WF in July 2010.  Her primary area of ministry is Pastoral Care.  Melissa received her BA from Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa in 1993, her MDiv from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in 1996, and has been serving as a pastor in the Iowa Conference of the United Methodist Church since 1996.  Melissa has been appointed to serve several congregations in the conference, primarily in the Dubuque County area.  Most recently, Melissa was appointed to extension ministry and spent 5 years as Spiritual Care Coordinator for Hospice of Dubuque.  A native of north central Iowa, Melissa appreciates being back in “home territory”.  When not engaged in a church function or specific church work, Melissa enjoys artistic creative projects and is always ‘mid-project’ of some sort.

Our congregation and campus ministry are committed to being in ministry to and with University students, faculty and staff...Providing nurture for faith journeys, connections with others in the community of faith and opportunities for worship, service and just plain fun!

As Campus Ministry Associate, most things that Lisa helps with are Wesley Foundation activities. The Wesley Foundation is the United Methodist Student Center at Iowa State University.  She also helps out with some of the communications tasks including signage, posters, and updating the website. She can be found taking pictures at many church events. She also enjoys music and sewing.

Kathye works with people across the age span to enable others to grow in love and knowledge of Jesus Christ and in service to the world. She is responsible for our Children's Sunday School, our United Methodist Youth Fellowship, and our Adult Education programs. As an ordained Deacon in the United Methodist Church, Kathye is also charged with "connecting the church with the world and the world with the church".  Kathye and her husband Paul live in Windsor Heights and have 3 grown children -John, Timothy, and Faith- and a son-in-law -Fred.  Kathye enjoys knitting, gardening, bicycling, and scrapbooking. She and Paul have two dogs - Heidi and Charlie.

Tim coordinates many aspects of our ministry, especially volunteer recruitment/training. In addition, he cares for the technology needs of the church, assists with marketing projects, and helps newcomers to find their "home" at Collegiate/Wesley. Tim is a graduate of United Theological Seminary in Dayton, OH and has numerous published books and articles to his credit in Christian education and youth ministry fields. He's married to Kathryn and has a young son, Finn, who keeps him very busy when Tim's not at work.

Joyce is our Administrative Coordinator. Joyce has lived in Ames for 4 years, and has lived in Story County since 1988. She has 2 daughters and a son-in-law. Rebecca and Kyle live in Minneapolis, and Laura will be teaching in Ankeny and living in Ames this year. Her housemate is a cat named Lizzie, and her yard is protected by her dog Mollie. In her spare time, Joyce enjoys reading, quilting, gardening, baking, and trying to figure out the best way to do home improvement projects.Joyce can answer your questions about financial contributions, church budgets, and our columbarium. 

Natalie Rekemeyer, Administrative Assistant, has been a member of our church since 1989. She lives in west Ames with her husband, Dan, and their son. They have a daughter in college at Cornell in Mount Vernon. They share their home with 4 dogs and a cat. She enjoys cooking, baking, walking in the woods, reading and having fun. She focuses most of her time on her family! Her son is a competitive cyclist so there is a lot of travel during his season. She says her life is all about family and friends and enjoys having people for dinner. ISU students are frequent dinner guests and laughter abounds when they gather around the table.

Larry currently lives in Ankeny with his wife Sandy, who he has been married to for over 36 years. They have two daughters, Jenni and Jessi. Jenni is an Army pilot and Jessi majored in equestrian studies.  She is currently a cook at Wallaby's. Larry was a Hy-Vee Director for many years and has also been in the battery business. He owned and managed Battery Patrol which is now Interstate Battery. 

As chief ding-a-ling at Collegiate, I wave my arms at five choirs, whether they're watching or not! Encompassing sixth graders through senior citizens, the choirs provide music for services one Sunday a month and most Sundays during Advent. A Christmas concert with the Collegiate Brass and an all-choir spring concert are two special events.