Summer Stories Podcast – Desert Spring United Methodist Church

Chris Devereaux

Chris Devereaux serves as the Director of Worship Technology at Desert Spring and holds a B.A. in Graphic Design from UNLV.

Chris has lived in Arizona, Texas and Nevada and considers Las Vegas as his home town. His favorite things about the city are its easy access to outdoor activities like hiking and camping and the diversity of Las Vegas residences.

Chris came to Desert Spring in 2013 after living in Texas for 5 years and loves helping the church navigate the ever-growing world of technology by helping to improve our livestream, our in person worship experience, and our tech capabilities for bible study and other church events.

1 Corinthians 12:4-6 – Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of working, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.

Laura Younger

Laura grew up in central Ohio and moved to Las Vegas in 2015. She is a true Buckeye.

Laura has two children who are young adults. She enjoys cooking, reading, gardening, and traveling in her spare time.

Dan Harper

Dan was born in Newberg, Oregon and for most of his adult life was in sales where he live. He has lived in many states including Oregon, California, Washington, Utah, South Dakota, and Nevada.

The move to Las Vegas brought Dan to Desert Spring United Methodist Church. After Dan retired in 2019 he was struggling to find something that would be fulfilling.

Right before the shut down of most of the world due to Covid-19, Dan found a new career at Desert Spring Resource Center organizing the food distribution for the Sandy Valley, Nevada food bank and the Community Resource Center.

Dan has 6 children, 14 grandchildren and is married to Georgie.

Jake Skarin

Jake Skarin has worked with several Choirs and Show Choirs across the Midwest. Then moved to sunny Florida to work for a mouse. Currently, Jake works as a Flight Attendant for Spirit Airlines.

Jake grew up in the church and has always found a Church Home wherever he was. Ankeny First United Methodist Church (Ankeny, Iowa), Lutheran Church of the Cross (Altoona, Iowa), Antelope Park Church of the Brethren (Lincoln, Nebraska), Community Presbyterian Church (Celebration, Florida), Church By The Sea (North Miami, Florida). He is so excited to be a part of the Desert Spring Church Family.

Jake has sang on stages across the world from Carnegie Hall, Beijing Opera House, Notre Dame, Mont Saint-Michel, even singing at Disney World! (just to name a few!!). He is so excited to share his musical talents and share the musical talents of our members.

“I will sing of the Lord’s great love forever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations” Psalm 89:1

Linda Rizzuto

Linda grew up in Michigan and has lived in Las Vegas for 20 years.

Linda enjoyed six years of retirement, and after much persuasion from Desert Spring Church, she agreed to return to work to be Desert Spring’s Accounting Manager.

Linda enjoys volunteering at The Smith Center and spending time with her two daughters and four grandchildren.

Grant Wilhite

Grant has been a member of the Desert Spring Church staff since 2019 working in membership and the office.

Grant grew up a military B.R.A.T. and has been all over the world; which has allowed him to go to places like Germany, China, Vietnam, and South Korea.

Grant has been playing music since he was 5, and currently resides in Las Vegas. He hopes to one day continue to see the world and visit some of the places he hasn’t seen and revisit some of the places he did as a kid.

Sara Paye

Sara Paye has been a member of Desert Spring since 2017, and has worked in ministry of some kind since 2014.

She is studying creative writing and literature for children and young adults.

Sara loves big questions and is grateful to get to co-direct the vibrant youth group here at the church.

Hilary Cline

Hilary was born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada. While she has lived in California and Arizona, home means Nevada for Hilary! She grew up attending University United Methodist Church, where she was an active member in Youth Group and worked at the Child Development Center. When she returned to Nevada in 2011, she began attending Desert Spring UMC with her family. Her husband and 3 beautiful children also attend DSUMC

Hilary attended both UNR and UNLV for her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology. She also earned a Master’s degree from Capella University in Psychology, with an emphasis in child and adolescent development.

Hilary was Behavior Analyst, working with children and adults with Autism until 2020. She currently serves as one of the two Youth Directors at Desert Spring.

Rev. David Devereaux

Our Senior Pastor, the grandson of a Methodist Elder, was born in North Chicago and grew up in Phoenix Arizona. (He moved to Phoenix when he was 6 years old.)
He attended Glendale Community College, The University of Arizona and Northern Arizona University. While studying at Northern Arizona University, he met Geri Dodge; they were married on November 4th, 1978 and have nine children (4 by birth, and 5 by adoption), and thirteen grandchildren.

Pastor David graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology, and later attended graduate school at Princeton Theology Seminary, where he earned his Master of Divinity Degree. He felt a call to Ordained Ministry when he was 16 years old, however he did not act on that call until he was 32.

Pastor David was ordained an Elder in the United Methodist Church in 1992, and has served churches in Camp Verde Arizona, Tucson Arizona, and Las Vegas Nevada. He is trained as a church growth consultant, and has assisted numerous congregations in revitalization.

He has a passion for preaching and teaching, and for encouraging people to answer God’s call upon their lives. Pastor David has also served as the North District Superintendent from 2003-2008 and as Dean of the Cabinet from 2006-2008. Pastor David became the Senior Pastor to Desert Spring UMC, Las Vegas, NV on July 1, 2008.

Katie Beall

Katie Beall was born in Plano, Texas. She moved to Las Vegas when she was 9 years old, where she began attending Desert Spring Church.

Katie grew up singing in choirs, performing in musicals, dancing, attending concerts & worship festivals and was inspired by everything surrounding music and praise.

She has a great love for her church family and contemporary worship. She watched both form and grow over the years she has been attending Desert Spring.

Katie and her Husband, Stephen, have two adorable boys – Stevie and Loran.

Lori Wilhite

Lori grew up in California where she met her husband Mark. They left California when Mark earned an Army commission; and during their military career have lived in 8 states, and 3 countries, on 3 continents.

Lori has a Bachelor’s Degree in Communication, a naturally optimistic outlook, and a very diverse work background, bringing more than 30 years administrative experience to Desert Spring. She has worked in personnel, customer service, federal civil service, travel industry, medical billing, and in curriculum development. She has 13 years’ experience teaching personal and professional development topics for government, military, and nonprofit organizations.

Lori, Mark, and their two brave, resilient, adaptable, tenacious kids, Grant and Amanda – who made being Military BRATs look easy – now call Las Vegas home and are thrilled to be members of the Desert Spring family.

Julie Hart

Julie Hart is the mother of two sons, Lewie and Giovanni. She has worked in child related fields since 1997.

She served five years as Director of Children and Youth Ministries at University United Methodist Church. During her time at UUMC, she was also involved in outreach ministry and the launch of the very first Sidewalk Sunday School in Nevada. She spent one year at UNLV as Protestant Campus Ministry Director at the Interfaith Center. After the birth of her second son, she started a licensed in-home day care, where she provided a loving, nurturing environment for infants and toddlers. Julie has been involved in the camping ministry at Potosi Pines Camp since 1997, where she has served as dean and co-dean for Elementary, Jr. High and Sr. High camps. She has spent the last eight years supervising the Background Check Unit for the Clark County Department of Family Services.

She is now on staff at Desert Spring United Methodist Church as Director of Youth Ministries, where she is excited to share her spiritual gifts of faith, hospitality and evangelism.

Lydia Devereaux

Lydia Devereaux was raised in Las Vegas, and in the Methodist Church. She has always found herself working with children – as a nanny, a dean at Potosi Pines Camp, as a tutor, etc.

She moved to Flagstaff, Arizona to study Philosophy at Northern Arizona University. While in Flagstaff, she worked at the United Christian Ministry Center creating programs and mentoring students. After Flagstaff, she moved to Chicago with the intention of pursuing a Law Degree, but God called her back to her passion of working with children.

Lydia loves creating meaningful experiences for the children at Desert Spring and their families!

Ann Hardy

Ann serves as Outreach Director, helping our church body extend beyond itself to meaningfully connect with neighbors, our community and engage the next generations.

Ann and her husband Alex have two stellar kids, Victoria & Timothy. Ann says the best part of her job is meeting newcomers to Desert Spring and helping them make connections with others in our wonderful church.

“Gloria Dei vivens homo.” The glory of God is a human being fully alive. – St. Irenaeus

Voltaire Verzosa

Voltaire Verzosa, pianist/countertenor, received his Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance degree from the University of Montana and his Master of Music in Voice Performance degree from the University of Colorado. He pursued further studies in piano at the Eastman School of Music and at the Dorothy Taubman Piano Institute.

Voltairehas performed Internationally for many years. Currently, he holds the post of Principal Pianist for the Las Vegas Philharmonic.

Also in demand as a collaborative pianist, Voltaire coaches classical vocal repertoire, with special emphasis on Baroque vocal performance practices. He has served as musical director for several local productions in musical theatre.

Voltaire teaches voice and piano privately at his home as well as at the College of Southern Nevada and at Nevada School of the Arts. As an all-around musician, his extensive piano and voice background has enabled him to maintain a dual career as solo pianist and singer.

Sarah Kim

A native of the Pacific NW, Sarah was born into a Korean-American family of faith; her grandfather was a pastor, her father an elder, her mother a devoted deacon. Her grandmother also played pivotal roles in Sarah’s faith story.

As a singer, Sarah is a versatile artist whose stage work includes: opera, musical theatre, concert works, and chamber music. Her favorite opera highlights include: Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel (UO Opera), Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni (Cascadia Concert Opera), Gianetta in L’elisir d’amore (Eugene Opera), Mrs. Nordstrom in A Little Night Music (St. Petersburg Opera), Musetta in La Bohème (Portland Opera To-Go), Belinda in Dido and Aeneas (Intermezzo Opera). Musical theater roles range from: Lady Thiang in The King and I (Broadway Rose), where Willamette Week exclaimed “But the best performance on opening night came from opera singer Sarah Kim as Mongkut’s head wife, Lady Thiang.”; to Christmas Eve in Avenue Q (Triangle Productions). Recent concert works include: Lampe’s Margery with UO’s Collegium Musicum, Mozart’s Requiem with Bravo! Vancouver, and Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle with Portland Vocal Consort. Concurrently, she has been a soloist with Oregon East Symphony, Henderson Symphony, was a finalist for NATSAA Oregon Competition, Rimrock Opera Competition, and Coeur d’Alene Symphony’s Young Artist Competition.

As an arts administrator with a MA in Arts Management from the University of Oregon, Sarah has a passion for investing in arts organizations to keep the history and influence of the arts alive for current and future generations. She has recently worked for: Chamber Music NW, the largest Chamber Music organization on the West Coast, assisting in Development and at Eugene Symphony within Education and Outreach. Her final professional project document was on Evaluation Methods for Inclusive Art Programs, and she would like to further her focus on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion being strongly implemented within all performing arts organizations.

Sarah is currently completing her DMA in Vocal Performance at UNLV. When not enjoying music, Sarah loves traveling, hiking, yoga, and is a foodie.

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