Our pastor is the Rev. Beverly Barry Sullivant, a minister of Word and sacrament in the Reformed Church in America. Beverly has been an ordained minister since 1999 and comes to Kinnelon from the Montclair Heights Reformed Church where she serves for more than 10 years.
The story of Pastor Beverly's journey into ministry is rich and varied. Beverly was raised in an Irish Catholic family of five children. Her father was in the military which kept the family moving all over the United States, including four years in Hawaii.
After graduating from Quantico High School in Quantico, VA, she attended Rider College, (NKA Rider University). There she graduated with a Bachelor of Art in Communications. Upon graduation, Beverly worked as a journalist for newspapers, a political campaign, her alma mater, an advertising agency and, eventually, a hospital public relations department.
She was serving as Corporate Communications Coordinator at Somerset Medical Center in Somerville, NJ, when, after interviewing the staff of the Hospice program, she realized a deep desire to serve God's people. By this time in her spiritual journey she had left the Catholic church and was a member of the Hillsborough Reformed Church. The pastor of her new congregation encouraged Beverly to attend the New Brunswick Theological Seminary to explore her call to ministry. She entered the seminary with the intention to be a hospice chaplain, but God clearly had other plans.
Beverly was called to be a pastor at the Montclair Heights in the autumn of 1999 and served until December 2009.
Beverly has been married to Wayne for 17 years. She and Wayne have one son together--Wesley, 12 years old. Beverly is also a stepmom to Wayne's other sons Josh, Nick and Cory.
To balance her life as a pastor, Beverly has been a quilter for 22 years. Some quilts have been published in national magazines. She also loves to read and listen to variations on gospel music.