The Rev. Jeff Markay has a BA and M.Div. from Drew University. He has studied and practiced Christian disciplines in diverse settings including congregational ministry, monastic community, and spiritual direction for many years. He has enjoyed being in pastoral ministry with the United Methodist Churches in Morristown, Springfield, Caldwell, and Chatham, New Jersey since 1989.

During his ministry he has been called to help people of different cultures to delight in what God is doing in different countries and ministry settings. He has led groups of youth, young adults and seminarians to the Community of Taize, France. He has led delegations of United Methodists from NJ to the Crimea to help a United Methodist Church in Kerch, Ukraine. He has done refugee relief work in Macedonia during the Kosovar Refugee Crisis by doing needs assessment in the refugee camps and training seminars for mental health for refugee aid workers. He was the Consultant for the General Board of Global Ministries supporting United Methodist Churches and ministries in Hungary. He has served as the United Methodist Liaison at Drew University Theological School where he helped seminarians in the discernment and ordination process. He led a workshop on contemplative prayer at the World Council of Churches General Assembly in Karlsruhe Germany in 2022, and is now serving a 5 year term as a Member of the World Methodist Council. He has been actively involved in building bridges in ecumenical and interfaith circles, and delights in any opportunity to find common ground and friendships with people of other faith traditions.

He is happily married to the Rev. Julie Yarborough, Associate Pastor at Christ Church in Summit. They are the grateful parents of Matthew and Elizabeth who are in their 20s. His greatest joy is to sit around the family table, catch up, laugh, tell stories and do the dishes together. If there is any spare time, he enjoys playing tennis, chucking a frisbee, going to whatever sporting event is in season, or eating good Middle Eastern food.

He began his appointment in July, 2013 as the Senior Pastor in the Chatham UMC. “I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve God and the community here in Chatham. Chatham UMC has a rich heritage of faithfulness, building inclusive community, and sharing compassion with all people. Our congregation has witnessed to the love of God for all people, and I am glad to be a part of what God is doing in our midst. I am grateful being in ministry together with this wonderful congregation as we seek to grow in our love of God, our care for each other and people in need, and our collective desire to serve the common good as followers of Jesus.”

Pastor Sharon is an Ordained Deacon in the Greater New Jersey Annual Conference. She is a New Jersey native, a lifelong United Methodist, and the granddaughter of a United Methodist pastor. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Wellesley College, a Master of Music in Historical Musicology from Indiana University School of Music, and a Master of Divinity from Drew University Theological School.

Pastor Sharon has a passion for helping others to grow in faith through practicing Christian spiritual disciplines; recognizing the Divine throughout creation, engaging in Bible study and holy conversation; caring for others; and serving those in need in the local and global communities.

In addition to her appointment to CUMC, Pastor Sharon has served in the areas of Christian Education/Formation (for all ages) and Congregational Care ministries with the Niantic Community Church (a federated UCC/UMC congregation) in Connecticut, and with the Morristown, Union Village, and Succasunna United Methodist churches in New Jersey. She has also served as a Chaplain at a psychiatric hospital and several community hospitals in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Sharon and her husband Ron live in Morris Plains and have two adult children, Nathanael and Miriam, and several four-legged furry family members. In their spare time they enjoy being at the beach, traveling, and visiting with family near and far.

Peter Hill is graduate of Bucknell University with a Bachelor of Arts in music. While an undergraduate, he was music theory teaching assistant to composer William Duckworth and received the Barbara Watson Grever Prize in Music. Peter received a Master of Music degree in piano performance and a Professional Studies Diploma from the Cleveland Institute of Music. He also holds a Master of Education in music education from Teachers College, Columbia University. While attending the University of California, Davis for a degree in musicology, Peter was the assistant conductor to Jeffrey Thomas and the UC Davis Chorus.

Peter has taught at the Cleveland Music School Settlement in Ohio, the Wardlaw-Hartridge School in Edison, and All Saints Episcopal Day School in Hoboken. He has been published in the NAfME’s Teaching Music, has reviewed choral music for the Choral Journal of the ACDA, and presented for the Summer Conference of the Hymn Society in 2023. Peter has served as Director of Music in Methodist, Presbyterian, and RCA churches. Prior to serving CUMC, Peter was Director of Choirs for Westminster Presbyterian Church in Sacramento, CA. He has directed the Carter Burden Singers, a community chorus of the Carter Burden Network in East Harlem. Peter presently serves as president of the local music group, the Suburban Music Study Club, and teaches piano at Wharton Institute of Performing Arts in Berkeley Heights. To find out more about Peter Hill go to his website.

Peter has a beautiful daughter, Valentine, tiny-tot son, Leighton, and fantastic wife, Katie. He enjoys sci-fi motion pictures, deconstructing episodes of Star Trek, a wide variety of quirky literature, too many dad jokes, and looking for new music to make his family sing around the piano.