Ministers and Staff at Lake Street Church
Rev. Dr. Michael Woolf, ThD
Senior Minister
The Rev. Dr. Michael Woolf (he/him) holds the Doctor of Theology (ThD) degree from Harvard Divinity School. He graduated summa cum laude from the University of Tennessee - Knoxville with a BA in Religious Studies in 2011 and completed his Master of Divinity degree at Harvard Divinity School in 2014. Michael is an ordained American Baptist Churches USA and Alliance of Baptists pastor with over a decade of experience whose career has focused on social justice and interfaith dialogue. Born and raised in Alabama, prior to coming to Lake Street Church of Evanston as senior minister in 2019, he served congregations in Massachusetts for five years.
Michael's ministry has won numerous awards, including the Edwin T. Dahlberg Peace and Justice Award, the highest honor bestowed by the American Baptist Churches USA and American Baptist Home Mission Societies. First awarded to Martin Luther King Jr. in 1964, the award honors outstanding work for peace and justice.
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Michael's first book, Sanctuary and Subjectivity: Thinking Theologically About Whiteness in Sanctuary Movements, is part of T&T Clark's Studies in Social Ethics, Ethnography and Theologies series. The book focuses on white supremacy within a progressive, interfaith social movement and includes an autoethnographic chapter from Michael's experience as a white pastor in the New Sanctuary Movement. In paying attention to the narratives of recipients of sanctuary, Michael proposes a reorientation of the discipline of practical theology using Judith Butler's theory of subjectivation.
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He currently serves as Co-Associate Regional Minister for White and Multicultural Churches with the American Baptist Churches of Metro Chicago and teaches theology at Lewis University. Michael has also served on subcommittees addressing racial justice and white supremacy in both the Alliance of Baptists and the American Baptist Churches USA. He has also written for several popular publications, including The Christian Century, Sojourners, Religion and Politics, The Revealer, and The Christian Citizen and is a contributor to Journeys, a lectionary commentary and adult Bible study published by Judson Press.
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You can follow him on Twitter at @RevMichaelWoolf for his latest work.
Rev. Jillian Westerfield, MDiv
Asssociate Minister
Rev. Jillian Westerfield is LSC’s Associate Minister. She has served in this position since early 2022. Jillian served as LSC’s Director of Children’s and Family Programing from August 2016 – February 2022.
Diana Schmück, PhD
Music Director and Organist
Active in church music since her youth, Diana is honored to serve as the Music Director at Lake Street Church. She is delighted to be a part of the preparation and sharing of music that can help LSC to celebrate, to contemplate, to rejoice and mourn together, and to be more aware of the Divine within and among us.
Participation in youth and adult choirs, along with keyboard contributions, were part of her musical and personal development in her family’s home church. As an adult, she continued to take part in worship in churches—serving on worship committees, playing organ and piano, conducting vocal and handbell choirs. She also mentored young church musicians in her positions at Febias College in Manila, Philippines and at Bethel College in Mishawaka, Indiana.
Heralded by the Chicago Sun-Times as "one of the finest chamber pianists on the scene, …playing with her ears as much as her gifted hands," Schmück has appeared in concert throughout the United States and Canada, in Europe and as far as the Philippines. She has been heard Chicago’s major venues, including Symphony Center, Ravinia, WFMT, and the Chicago Cultural Center.
Diana is a founding member of the Orion Ensemble, described in the Sun-Times as “one of Chicago's most adventuresome, polished chamber groups” and praised by critics and listeners alike for its Cedille recording, Twilight of the Romantics: Chamber Music of Walter Rabl and Josef Labor. Dr. Schmück has also performed across the U.S. and in Europe with Bonnie Campbell (as the Daedalus Duo). In addition, she founded the Debriana Duo piano team (with Debra Sutter), which received special recognition at the first Murray Dranoff Duo-Piano Competition. She has collaborated with Richard Stolzman, David Shifrin, and instrumental musicians from many of the foremost American orchestras, and for fourteen years she served on the faculty at Ravinia’s Steans Institute for young professional singers.
Diana is a doctoral graduate of Northwestern University and also holds degrees from DePaul University and Wheaton College. She has taught and coached in several university, college, outreach, and summer festival settings. Currently, in addition to her work at Lake Street Church, she maintains a private studio in Evanston, teaches part-time at VanderCook College, and continues to concertize with the Orion Ensemble and Daedalus Duo.
When she is not planning, preparing, making, teaching, or listening to music, Diana enjoys traveling, lunches with friends, and being in or near Lake Michigan—especially walking, swimming and kayaking.
Bonnie Campbell, PhD
Choir Director
“As I stood beside a flowering currant bush on a summer day there suddenly arose in me without warning, and as if from a depth not of years but of centuries, the memory of that earlier morning at the old house when my brother had brought his toy garden into the nursery. It is difficult to find words strong enough for the sensation which cane over me; Milton’s ‘enormous bliss’ of Eden (giving the full, ancient meaning to ‘enormous’) comes somewhere near it. . . . It had taken only a moment of time; and in a certain sense everything else that had ever happened to me was insignificant by comparison.”
--C. S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy
Dr. Bonnie Campbell, Choir Director writes: “Music was this for me. When I was three and four, I can vividly recall my parents taking me to choral, orchestra, and band concerts. It was the gestures of the conductor that caught my attention. I hadn’t been exposed to dancing, and it was the first time I had seen a person moving in such a way to express something. It is no exaggeration to say that these early concerts have been among the most influential experiences of my life. It was as if the whole wash of those concert-going experiences opened the spiritual realm of existence to me.”
Dr. Campbell received a Doctor of Music degree from Indiana University and also holds degrees from Yale University and Roberts Wesleyan College. She has had additional study at The Banff Centre in Alberta, Canada. In addition to her work at LSC, she currently serves on the faculties of the VanderCook College of Music and the Merit School of Music. She believes that music is invaluable because of its powerful potential to raise consciousness, foster understanding among peoples, communicate that which is beyond words, and celebrate life and the Divine spirit. To her, a choir is among the best metaphors for the celebration of our life together--individual, unique, God-breathed voices joining together.
Coming from a long line of church musicians including her mother and grandmother, Bonnie has been involved in music of the church all her life. In college she studied clarinet and voice and toured with her college chorale. She studied conducting at Yale with Otto-Werner Mueller and Alasdair Neale and served as the choir director at Wakarusa United Methodist Church. She has also guest conducted at other churches and often directs instrumental groups. In addition, she is active as a composer and arranger.
As a clarinetist, Bonnie has made solo, chamber and orchestral appearances across the U. S., Canada, Europe, and South Africa, where she was a visiting scholar. She has performed at Lincoln Center and Merkin Hall in New York, at the Evian Festival in France, and at the opening ceremonies of the Bastille Opera in Paris. She has also been a member of the South Bend Symphony and the Camerata Chamber Orchestra of Bloomington. She has performed at the Chicago Cultural Center and has also been heard on WFMT’s Live from Studio One.
Bonnie is part of several chamber ensembles including the Daedalus Duo (with pianist Diana Schmück), Vermillion, and Veritas.
Pat Stringer
Church Administrator
Pat has served as Church Administrator for more than 15 years. Her responsibilities and tasks in this position include just about everything from maintaining the church’s database to trouble-shooting the office equipment to tracking inventory of a wide variety of items such as kitchen, janitorial and office. Pat also is also responsible for maintaining schedules for internal and external meeting groups that use the church’s building. When requested, she works on projects for staff and for committees.
Pat’s main tasks as Office Manager include: maintaining schedules for internal and external meeting groups using the church building; maintaining the church's database; troubleshooting office equipment and reviewing vendor contracts; tracking inventory of a wide variety of items, e.g., kitchen, janitorial, office; working on special projects for staff and church committees as requested.
In the longterm past, Pat sang as a member of LSC’s chancel choir for 34 years. She also served as a board member for 14 years.
Joanne Straughn
Financial Administrator
Joanne has worked in finance her entire life, starting off managing layaways at a clothing store at 16. “I am self-taught from ledger books to the wonders of Excel and many different accounting software programs.”
Joanne has raised three children, now all in their 30's, which she considers her “most joyous accomplishment.”
Joanne is delighted to work at Lake Street Church and believes that God led her here as she semi-retires. “I have always felt that we are all here to discover our own spiritual journey and to be a positive light for others---and Lake Street Church embodies that idea more than any other church I have been affiliated with.”
Outside of work Joanne likes to travel and to play volleyball.
Scott Jackson
Building Supervisor
Scott grew up in Evanston and still lives in his old neighborhood. He worked in building Management all his life and this experience has been invaluable to our congregation. He enjoys spending time with his family who also live in the neighborhood. He especially enjoys time with his children and grandchildren.
Kim Jefferson
Sexton
Kim grew up in Evanston and this is still his home community. This year marked 25 years of service to our community, something Kim is very proud of though doesn’t share with many people. He lives a simple but happy life and he loves playing games in his free time.