Meet Our Clergy & Staff
Senior Pastor
Rev. Wren Clanton
Rev Wren is called to intentionally facilitate and encourage authentic connection with the Divine and the community. She grew up in Talladega, AL, home to NASCAR and the Alabama Institutes for the Deaf, Blind, and Multiple Handicapped.
She left home at the age of fifteen to study, explore, and grow. Travels and education led her to various foreign and domestic sites of training. After finishing a Master’s Degree at Yale Divinity School, Rev.Wren’s first appointment as a United Methodist Pastor was back home in Alabama in 2009 where she was ordained an Elder in 2012. She served as an associate pastor at Huntsville First United Methodist and received an appointment to Valley in 2017. Wren is also a certified Feng Shui consultant through the International Feng Shui Guild.
Personal interests include photography, Feng Shui, reading, the Enneagram, pilgrimage, labyrinths, travel, Celtic Christianity, interfaith dialogue, and dream analysis, which also serves as jumping-off points for helping guide others.
She is a proud mama to Foster and Bouldin. They are happy to call Huntsville, AL home.
Want to connect? Check out RevWren.org
Email: wren.clanton@umcna.org
Pastor of Biblical Storytelling
Rev. John Bailey
John is one of the most engaging, passionate, and welcoming Biblical preachers and educators you will ever encounter. He developed his deep love for scripture and storytelling at the feet of his mother, a devoted Sunday school teacher at their local church, and his assurance of God’s abiding presence from his father who served as a doctor in Birmingham, AL where he grew up.
He received his bachelor’s degree from Gordon College in Boston. After a career change, he accepted a call to full-time ministry graduating with a master’s degree from Asbury Theological Seminary in Lexington, KY, and was ordained a Deacon in the North AL United Methodist Church.
For twelve years John served as a mission mobilizer in two large congregations in North Alabama. In this capacity, John has overseen the distribution of millions of dollars given to missions and has facilitated hundreds of mission trips. John is the author of Journey to a Better Way, a Wesleyan Perspective on Doing Mission Better and Mission Rehab. In addition to writing, he serves as a consultant with congregations in developing missional strategies and he leads seminars on capacity-building mission efforts.
He’s married to Laurel and they have two incredible kiddos, Olivia and Graham. John has an abiding love of nature and finds his greatest inspiration and solace in being outdoors.
Check out John’s reads: https://www.johnfobailey.org
Pastor of Liturgical Arts
Rev. Aynslee Moon-Smithee
Aynslee is an artist, mother, teacher, and licensed local pastor at Valley UMC.
For her, creating art is a means of contemplation and an avenue for reaching out and inviting others into an exploration of scripture and the liturgical life of the church. She is inspired by many things: nature, the human form, songs, dreams, stories, and her children, to name a few. No matter the subject, she uses the language of design, focusing on composition, color interaction, mark-making, and the dance of light and shadow.
She works in multiple media, including oil paints, charcoal, watercolor, and micron pen. Aynslee has a B.F.A. in painting from the University of Mississippi in Oxford and an M.F.A. in painting from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. She teaches art at Holy Spirit Regional Catholic School along with her ministry at Valley.
She’s married to Jacob Smithee and they have two of the cutest kids you’ll ever meet: Sophie and George. They have two Labradoodles (i.e. giant fur babies), Poppy and Chloe.
Interested in experiencing Aynslee’s art? Check out https://www.aynsleemoonartist.com.
Missions Minister
Nathan Barnett
Nathan is a gifted and humble leader. Always seeking ways to engage the larger community, he empowers the congregation to serve in meaningful and truly helpful ways.
He has an A.A.S. in Architectural Design and Drafting from Calhoun Community College and works with a local Architectural firm. His avocation is as a minister at Valley, and he’s a Candidate for Ministry with the North Alabama Conference.
His hobbies and interests include design, exploring others’ religions and cultures, traveling, jazz and punk music, mission work (local and international), woodworking, Liverpool FC, horticulture, church and religious history, filmmaking, and conceptual photography.
Nathan is married to Sarah. They have two sons, Silas and Solomon, and a dog named Rocco.
Musical Arts Director
Matthew Gardner
A native of Huntsville, Matthew is a gifted educator and worship leader. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Music, Concentration in Vocal Performance, from the University of Alabama in Huntsville, and his Master of Music in Choral Conducting at Louisiana State University in New Orleans.
Matthew teaches full-time at Austin High School in Decatur, AL. He has a knack for bringing vocal performance to life in truly inspiring and soul-stirring ways. He is a kid at heart and loves engaging ALL ages in choral and musical arts.
He is married to his beloved Miriam and has a lab that doesn’t know he’s not a human.
Email: vumcchoir@gmail.com
Emeritus Music Director
Elizabeth Stephenson
Charismatic, fun, engaging, and inspiring are just a few of the words that congregants use to describe Elizabeth.
From singing opera at the MET in NYC to leading award-winning shows through decades of work as the Choral Director for Grissom High School at Huntsville City Schools, to serving for nearly three decades as Music Director at Valley, Elizabeth has a plethora of skills and gifts. With her radiant smile and warm welcome, she makes everyone feel as though they have found a home.
Elizabeth’s tenure at Valley continues as an honored and active member of the church and the liturgical leadership of Valley.
Volunteer Organist & Certified Spiritual Director
Dan Miller
A Hoosier by birth, Dan’s Bachelor of Science degree is in Organ Performance and Choral Music Education from Indiana State University. The oldest of five children (the youngest of whom is a set of deaf twins), he was inspired to earn an M.Ed. in Deaf Education at Western Maryland College. He served in a variety of settings beginning in the classroom with the Alabama School for the Deaf in Talladega, AL. He worked his way into postsecondary Disability Support Services, heading up the first-of-its-kind program in the southeast at Jacksonville State University.
Throughout his career in education, he’s served in an avocational role as Music Director and Organist for a variety of protestant and catholic churches for over six decades. Now in retirement, he shares his gifts and talents with Valley.
Spiritual formation work (e.g. Walk to Emmaus, The Upper Room Academy for Spiritual Formation, and Spiritual Direction Training) taught Dan to appreciate various worship forms and alternate musical styles.
In 2015, Dan was a pilgrim to the Isle of Iona, Scotland where he was greatly inspired and influenced by the spirit of Iona, known as a “thin” holy place featuring religious Celtic music. Since 2017 he has continued to volunteer in the liturgical arts to help others express thoughts, evoke feelings, and prepare body, mind, and spirit to gain a more harmonious existence with the HOLY.
Business Manager
Ellen Segrest Fortin
Communications Director
Emily Bains
Born and raised in Huntsville, AL, Emily returned home after adventures in Birmingham and Virginia. She received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from UAB and worked as a pediatric and cardiac nurse before becoming a stay-at-home parent.
She has led the community in multiple volunteer capacities and brings with her a wealth of knowledge, wisdom, and grace.
She enjoys reading, exercising, quilting, and hiking. She’s married to David, and they have two kids, Amelia and Owen, and two dear rescue dogs, Presley and Penny.
Email: news@valleymethodist.org