Senior Minister
We are currently without a senior minister. The Board intends to start a ministerial search with Unity Worldwide Headquarters when we have the budget to pay for a full-time minister. In the meantime, the Board will serve as the spiritual leadership for our community and we will continue to bring in a WIDE VARIETY OF SPEAKERS each week to share thought-provoking, heart centered New Thought messages with us.
Associate and Pastoral Care Minister
Rev Fayann Schmidt, LUT
Fayann has a great love for nature as well as spirituality. For a long time, she dreamed about becoming a Unity Minister and she started on that journey by first receiving a certificate as a Licensed Unity Teacher in December of 2007. She applied to become a minister at the Unity Urban School of Ministry and is now a Licensed Unity Minister. Fayann was Ordained in June of 2018. Her most important qualification is that she likes working with people of different faiths to help bring about more peace and understanding of each other. She is currently taking a leave of absence to care for her mother in Florida, but she returns to speak several times a year.
Meet Your Board of Trustees:
Eric Miller - President
Eric and his wife Laura discovered New Thought in 2007 and started attending Unity Las Vegas in 2017. Based on intuition and a vision that came to them on a train trip to the Grand Canyon in May 2021, they moved to Chattanooga in July of 2022 and from day one, they have been active, involved members with our church. Eric has delivered numerous Sunday Celebration Talks for us over the past three years. For the past two years he has also put his accounting degree and project management background to good use as Treasurer on our Board of Trustees. In 2025, Eric began serving as President. Outside of church, Eric works as an author, editor and memoir coach. He has written several books, most recently "A Caregiver's Journey - Self-care Tips for Caregivers of Loved Ones Suffering from Alzheimer's & Dementia" which was published by Castle Horse Press in 2021.
Kelly Thompson - Keeper of the Records
Kelly began coming to Unity of Chattanooga services in August 2022 and immediately connected with our community when we were still a "church in a Jeep" and meeting at the Red Bank Community Center (and various other places on Sundays in Chattanooga). Kelly drives up from Dalton, GA every week, often with his mom Susan, and he too has gifted us on numerous occasions with his wisdom and humor, filling in whenever necessary to deliver our Sunday Celebration Talk. Kelly is a huge Joe Dispenza fan, and a gregarious and amazing chef, and he has been a welcomed addition to our Unity community. He served as Vice President in 2023 and 2024 and took over the mantle of being our Keeper of Records in 2025.
Nome Stark - Treasurer
Nome and her wife Cindy moved to Chattanooga from Portland, Maine in 2024 and discovered Unity of Chattanooga after we took ownership of our new, permanent space at 105 McBrien Rd. Nome is a gifted seer, as well as an intuitive healer / teacher. She has led several workshops on oracle cards and connecting with angels for us over the past year. She joined the Board in 2025. Her balanced, thoughtfully chosen words and calm, heart-centered presence are a blessing to us all.
For more information about the healings that Nome offers visit: https://www.nomestark.com
Gary Butler - Member-at-Large
Gary and his wife Dawn are two more transplants to this side of Tennessee having recently moved to this area from Memphis. Gary is a retired car dealer from Colorado and Dawn has a thriving optometry practice in Crossville. They are also both relatively new to New Thought but are finding it easy to accept the basic tenets of mind-body connection and embracing our divinity within. Gary has served on the board for the past two years lending his expertise on renovating projects and land use improvement.