Reverend Carter Cortelyou
Rev. Carter Cortelyou has served churches in the Michigan Conference since his ordination in June of 1990. From Rose City in the north to Petersburg in the south, he has developed a preaching style that invites congregants into reflection and acknowledges a wide range of human experiences while connecting deeply and honestly with scriptures. He finds his calling in helping congregations develop a culture, founded upon Jesus’ commandment to love one another as he has loved us, out of which the the church can develop their vision to carry out the Great Commission to go into the world, preaching and baptizing in the power of the Holy Spirit. To this end, he encourages people to find the practices of prayer which can nurture them and identify the spiritual gifts that can empower them as disciples of Jesus Christ. In his pastoral counseling, he is a skilled listener who creates a compassionate, non-judgmental space for emotional and spiritual growth, informed by his own experiences in counseling and spiritual direction.
Carter and Andrea have been married since “the twenty-first day of September” in 2013. They enjoy traveling together, concert-going across the musical spectrum, exploring diverse cooking in their own kitchen or in restaurants and attending baseball games in Detroit or Toledo.
Andrea is a (recently retired) data analyst in the auto industry, currently under contract to General Motors in their brand new CarBravo used car division headquarters in Warren. In her free time, she likes to read, knit, and dream of the day when they adopt their schnauzer Finley and their basset hound, Thurber. In the meantime, she is happy to share their home with their rescue cats Valjean and Hamilton.
Carter has served congregations across the theological spectrum, including three that have recently disaffiliated from The United Methodist Church. This is not to say he doesn’t have a perspective. Carter’s first wife and the mother of his children came out as lesbian when they were married 24 years, and he is the father of a transgender woman who is a candidate for ordination in the New England Conference of The United Methodist Church. He looks forward to God’s church embracing and celebrating the ministry of all people without regard for sexual orientation or gender identity.
Carter plays bass guitar and hammer dulcimer. He is an enthusiastic photographer, particularly of the landscape of his native Finger Lakes of New York and is an avid supporter of the teams of his alma mater, the University of Michigan, particularly the men’s lacrosse team.