Meet Our Leaders
Reverend Dr. Ronald B. Brown
Senior Minister
Ron Brown joined FCC in January of 2011, after serving for five years as the Associate Conference Minister for Clergy Concerns for the Connecticut Conference of the UCC. The search committee had been looking for a new senior pastor for nearly two years when it asked him to apply.
“I was happy staying where I was,” Ron said. “But I prayed about it and felt this is really where God was leading me.”
From 1998-2005, he was co-pastor of South Church in New Britain. Prior to that, he served as pastor of Parma Greece United Church of Christ in Hilton, N.Y., as transitional pastor of the New Hope Christian Church in Louisburg, N.C., and as a pastor at a small mission center in New York City.
After graduating from Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C., Ron earned a Masters of Divinity degree from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and then a Doctor of Ministry from the Chicago Theological Seminary in 2006.
In his Statement on Ministry, Ron writes that he believes “ministry begins with friendship and reconciliation: reconciliation with God, with other people, and with oneself…Becoming a friend, being a minister in any setting, requires building bridges, spanning canyons of difference and misunderstanding to meet on the common ground of understanding and love.”
He added, “I want to work toward helping persons discover their common ground so that distinctions such as black and white, male and female, rich and poor, gay and straight do not destroy the basic thread which weaves the cloth of all people together: our creation as God’s children.”
Ron’s interests include running, spectator sports, gourmet cooking, and reading. He lives in New Britain with his wife, Rev. Jane Rowe, twin daughters Lydia and Hawley, a cat who occasionally answers to Tiger, and a poorly-behaved dog named Cinnamon.
Reverend Linda Fernandes-Bailey
Associate Minister of Spiritual Formation and Caring Ministry
Linda Fernandes-Bailey became an Associate Minister of Spiritual Formation and Caring Ministry at FCC in 2004 after serving for two years as a student intern from Yale Divinity School. She was ordained in the Meetinghouse in 2005 and installed as a pastor in the church during the same ceremony.
Linda’s focus is Spiritual Formation and Caring Ministry. Before joining the staff, she brought FCC an Upper Room spiritual formation program called Companions in Christ, which offers a faith formation experience to all who participate.
She continues to offer some Companions in Christ programs, as well as Bible studies, Living the Questions DVD series and adult retreats. In addition, she participates in worship leadership, preaching and the pastoral ministry of our church.
In addition to a Masters of Divinity degree from Yale University Divinity School, Linda holds a Bachelor of Science degree in social work from Southern Connecticut State University. She has also completed two certification programs at Hartford Seminary: Christian Education and Women’s Leadership.
After working in the social work field, Linda served for four years as Director of Christian Education at the Bunker Hill Congregational Church in Waterbury. She has a particular interest in women’s spirituality and feminist theology.
She and her husband, Jim, reside in Watertown and have two adult children, Shannon and Lucas. Linda enjoys walking, hiking, yoga, reading, exploring spiritual practices and spending time with her family.
Reverend Dawn Marie Karlson
Associate Minister for Youth and Families
Dawn Karlson is a mom, wife, daughter, sister, pastor and teacher who believes in the mystery, abundance and wonder of all God’s creation. Dawn joined FCC in 2011 after having served as sabbatical pastor at the First Congregational Church in Bloomfield, Conn.; supply pastor at the First Congregational Church in Huntington, Mass.; and student minister at the First Congregational Church in Brimfield, Mass. She earned her Masters of Divinity degree from Andover Newton Theological School in 2010 and her BA in economics from Duke University in 1987.
Dawn’s commitment to re-forming and trans-forming the Christian experience to be relevant to followers and seekers today is foundational to her ministry. One of the many reasons Dawn feels called to ministry at FCC Southington is the community’s commitment to being a church relevant to the contemporary experience.
She loves exploring with our young people what’s working and what’s not in our faith ideas, the tensions between culture and faith, and what symbols, words and rituals do and don’t work today. She can’t begin to express how amazing it is to work with young people who really understand and live out what it means to be open and affirming to all.
Passionate about interfaith understanding and service, Dawn currently serves as the Co-Chair of the Greater Hartford Multi-faith Prayer Breakfast. Having briefly worked in our country’s poorest county in South Dakota, Dawn is committed to service and reconciliation with the Lakota people.
Dawn comes to ministry after a wonderful time of caring for her young children and a career in the insurance industry, during which she was vice president and senior broker handling global programs for J&H Marsh and McLennan of Connecticut. Having studied abroad in China and traveled extensively as part of her work, Dawn comes to ministry with an understanding of the diversity of faiths, cultures, economics and politics we face in our global community. She resonates with the call and challenge of the United Church of Christ to be a united and uniting church amidst that diversity.
Dawn is married to Mark, a managing director at Marsh & McLennan in Hartford. They have two teenage children, Krista and Ben, who are still willing to ski, snowboard, kayak and hang out with them. The family wouldn’t be complete without their two Labrador retrievers, Daisy and Diesel.
Dawn also enjoys spending time in the garden, in the woods, doing yoga, reading and stargazing.
