07/13/2021
We are so excited to introduce the new pastor for the IC @ NIU:
Rihannon Rose Dawson (pronounced 'Ree-ann-nehn' think Umbrella! - she/her) is a 2nd-ish-year Divinity student at Loyola Chicago's Institute of Pastoral Studies where she's exploring identity and the impact of affiliation and belonging on young adults and how they see and experience the world. It surprises no one that she's been trying to find her way back onto a college campus since graduating from Meredith College in Raleigh, NC. When she’s not napping, dancing, or tumbling down a YouTube rabbit-hole, you’ll usually find Ri among the open and affirming, anti-racist, local, organic, slow-church, just peace, free-range, real butter Christians as one of 3 Honda Fit driving staff at Gilead Church Chicago where she plans parties and processes payroll*.
Despite having adjusted fairly well to her midwestern life by the lake, Ri spends much of her free time lamenting winter, being confused by cardinal directions, and attempting to teach folks how to properly pronounce Appalachia. *among other many more important tasks that she deemed secondary to the alliteration in the above sentence, a decision which says more about her than any of the above words ever could.
![[Image 1] The word "Begin" in a bold font with the inclusive collective logo in the bottom right corner. [Image 2 Reads]...](https://img4.prayers1.com/834/194/804942248341943.jpg)
