Nancy Willbanks has been attending Music that Makes Community events since 2017 and local practice groups since 2018, and during the pandemic has been a regular at Monday Morning Grounding, Heart Songs, and the My Grandmother’s Hands book group and follow-up gatherings. A second career minister, Nancy was ordained in 2011 and served as Minister to Youth and Families at Old Cambridge Baptist Church from 2011-15. From 2017-2023, she was the Pastor (half-time) at the First Baptist Church of Littleton. During her ministry in Littleton the church revised their 1980's by-laws and governance structure, voted to become a Welcoming and Affirming Congregation, completed a $100,000 Capital Campaign for renovations to the sanctuary and bathrooms, pivoted to a very interactive Zoom worship during the pandemic, and then to hybrid worship, and in 2022, the congregation celebrated its Bicentennial year. She also served as the President of the Greater Littleton Interfaith Council for 2021-2022, and, since January 2022, has been the treasurer of the Board of Directors of the Conference of Baptist Ministers in Massachusetts. In 2023, Nancy is transitioning her ministry to focus on both to write (after writing daily reflections during the pandemic for 2+ years) and to create/be a part of worshipful, intersectional, healthy community gatherings that provide space for people, especially those who work on Sunday mornings—like pastors and church musicians—to be nourished, to worship, to learn, and to re-fill their wells. Nancy worked for 21 years, until 2018, as the Chief Financial Officer at Somerville Cambridge Elder Services, an elder care/home care organization and area agency on aging, where she oversaw finance, facilities and IT, and she also founded their interfaith Spiritual Caregiving Volunteer program. Nancy has worked for both non-profit and for-profit organizations: the Boston Camerata, Monadnock Music, Emmanuel Music, and VHA Healthfront; for six years, had her own training and consulting business focusing on customer service; and spent 8 years at GTE Sylvania in accounting/finance, MIS project management, and sales and marketing. Nancy is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College with a major in music and a minor in history, and has her Masters from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in Marketing and Accounting. She received her Master of Divinity degree from Andover Newton Theological School with an emphasis on Worship, Theology and the Arts. Nancy grew up near Cortez, Colorado on a pinto bean and wheat farm that her grandparents originally homesteaded. She is a singer, occasional pianist, and writer of hymns and songs. Music is a central part of Nancy’s spiritual practices. Nancy has a commitment to welcome, hospitality and community building, and she has passions for the arts, social justice, diversity, equity and inclusion. She lives in the Boston area, and enjoys time with her partner, Debbie and adult daughter, Tori.