Daniel B. Casselberry - Senior Pastor
The Rev. Daniel Casselberry has been a pastor in the Greater New Jersey Conference of the United Methodist Church since 1980, and prior to coming to Pennington UMC in 2010, served pastorates in Paterson, Maplewood, Elizabeth, and Ewing.
His call to ministry came during his junior year of high school, and by the time he was a high school senior, he was licensed to preach in the Northwest Texas Conference. He attended McMurry University in Abilene, Texas, where he received the Bachelor of Arts degree with a double major in Philosophy and Religion in 1975. In the fall of 1975, he matriculated into the Master of Divinity program at Boston University School of Theology, completing degree requirements in May of 1979, with a dual major in Social Ethics and Pastoral Psychology and Counseling. In the summer of 1976, he served as interim pastor of Window Rock United Methodist Church in Window Rock, Arizona, the capital of the Navajo Nation. While completing his degree in Boston, he worked as a teacher and community field coordinator at South Boston High School in one of the first In-School Suspension programs in the country. He also completed course work at Harvard Divinity School, Harvard’s Center for Criminal Justice, and graduate courses in Educational Administration at Boston State Teacher’s College. Upon receipt of the M.Div degree, he returned to the New Mexico Conference where he served as the first associate pastor at First United Methodist Church of Los Alamos.
His inner-city experiences in Boston and his passion for urban ministry would eventually bring him to New Jersey in 1980.
In 1981, Pastor Casselberry completed an extended unit of Clinical Pastoral Education at Bergen Pines County Hospital in Oradell, New Jersey.
He chaired the Board of Church and Society for the former Northern New Jersey Conference for 3 years, and has been an associate editor of the United Methodist Relay for 27 years. During his 13 year pastorate in Elizabeth, he worked with the Exodus Project at Wallkill Correctional Facility and Eastern Correctional Facility through the New York Department of Corrections. For three years, he served as as an adjunct instructor for the New York Theological Seminary’s “Certificate in Ministry” program for prison inmates at Wallkill Correctional Facility, teaching courses in preaching, pastoral care, and theology.
Born in a small town in West Texas in 1953, Pastor Casselberry has witnessed the evils of segregation and racism first-hand, and has been a strong advocate for an inclusive church throughout the course of his ministry. Describing himself as a “progressive Wesleyan”, he seeks to embody the call of John Wesley to “unite the two so long divided: knowledge and vital piety”. He is committed to a fully inclusive church, and believes in the “Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors” philosophy of United Methodism.
Following the suicide death of his adopted son Samuel in 2005, Pastor Casselberry received training from the American Foundation For Suicide Prevention as a co-facilitator for Survivors of Suicide Loss support groups.
He has a strong interest in youth ministry and leading churches through change. His hobbies include photography, rodeo, creative writing, and landscaping.
Dan is very excited about his appointment as pastor of Pennington United Methodist Church, and is most appreciative of the warm welcome he has received.
Currently, he is engaged in a writing project involving supportive materials for persons in their first year of grief following the loss of a loved one by suicide.
For pastoral care, he can be reached at any time by calling (609) 306-6403.
Anne Hege joined the PUMC Staff in 2008 as Choir Director. She directs the Chancel Choir and the Alleluia Choir. Born in Oakland, CA, Anne received her Bachelor degree from Wesleyan University in Connecticut with honors in music where she studied conducting with Melvin Strauss and served as the assistant conductor of the Wesleyan Singers and Concert Choir. In 2000, Hege founded the Albany Community Chorus who performed a range of works including Faure’s Requiem. She has studied conducting in the Advanced Choral Conducting workshop with Marika Kuzma at UC Berkeley and has taught sight singing and vocal technique for choral directors in the Diplomado program in Mexico City. As a composer, she received her MA in music composition and the Elizabeth Mills Crothers Prize from Mills College in 2003. She has composed works for film, instillation art, chorus, and instruments. As a vocalist, she performs regularly in her performance duos "New Prosthetics" which combines video, electronics and vocals, and "Sidecar" which presents art songs in a theatrical and modern setting. Anne Hege is currently a doctoral fellow working towards a PhD in music composition at Princeton University.
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