Rev. Tom Ostrander

Senior Pastor

Tom and Gayle Ostrander have been serving churches in the Northern Illinois Conference since their first appointment in 1973 when Bishop Paul Washburn ordained Tom as a Deacon and appointed him to attend seminary. While Tom was in seminary, Gayle was employed as a 5th and 6th grade teacher in Lake Bluff, Illinois. They lived in Waukegan, Tom's hometown, and not far from Gayle's hometown of Lake Forest. It was during this time that Tom did an extended quarter of CPE at Lake Forest Hospital and did an internship at The FUMC of Waukegan.

In 1975, after Tom graduated from Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary, Rev. Howard Benson became Tom's District Superintendent for his first church assignment which was the Libertyville United Methodist Church. Tom and Gayle found Libertyville to be their church home for the next 10 years. There they had two children, Jennifer and David. Jenny graduated from the University of Iowa and then from Loyola Law School in 2005. She is an Assistant State's Attorney in Cook County, is married, and she and her husband Jeff have just, 2 weeks ago, given birth to Tom and Gayle's first grandchild, Charlie. David is a graduate of Western Illinois University with a degree in geography and environmental studies. He is looking for the perfect job.

From 1985 until 1992, Tom and Gayle were appointed to The First United Methodist Church of Elgin. There they were involved in many ministries including the formation of a PADS program and Soup Kitchen for the community. Gayle served as Christian Education director in Elgin and led the confirmation program. Over the years, beginning in Libertyville and continuing through the 90's, Tom and Gayle have led many youth mission trips to Rural Mission Incorporated, a United Methodist mission in the Sea Islands of South Carolina. They have also led mission experiences to Michigan and made it a habit to make Wesley Woods an "every other year" mission project for several of the churches they have served.

In 1992, they were appointed by Rev. Ermalou Roller and the cabinet to The Church of the Incarnation, United Methodist Church in Arlington Heights, Illinois. There they served a congregation that enjoyed mission outreach. Student interns and Garret's Field Education program were a part of this church experience.

In 1998, a phone call was received by Tom from Rev. Debbie Fisher, the then District Superintendent of the Aurora District, inviting Tom and Gayle to go to Morris, Illinois. It was the first time in Tom's life that he was appointed outside of the Elgin District. Gayle continued to teach. She has substituted in all levels of elementary education, at risk and developmental pre-school in the public school arena, and is currently teaching 3 and 4 year old preschool in a Morris day care center.

Tom was the chairperson of The Grundy Area PADS and was among the founders of a twice weekly feeding program in Coal City and Morris. He was a board member of We Care, a Morris community-based program to help the hungry, homeless and in-need persons with housing, food, medical and other forms of assistance. He was the vice-chair of the Morris Ministerial Association, a board member of National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, and an on-call chaplain at Morris Hospital. He served as a board member of the Grundy-Three Rivers Habitat for Humanity. In 2005 and 2006, Tom and Gayle traveled with the Morris church to Pascagoula, Mississippi to help repair homes damaged by the devastating hurricane Katrina. Tom is the vice-chairperson of the Aurora District Committee on Ordained Ministry and also a member of the Outdoor and Retreat Ministries Board of Directors. He is a volunteer event director at Wesley Woods for two weeks each summer and teaches classes on how to sail, called "Wind, Water and Spirit".

Tom and Gayle enjoy gardening, home decorating, sailing and travel when possible. They are looking forward to joining in the exciting ministries of The First United Methodist Church of Downers Grove.