Lynne Hines-Levy
Pastor Lynne is a second-career Pastor and a life-long Methodist. Her “churchy” history began many years ago at Milwaukee’s Gardner Methodist Church, into which she was born and baptized until the church was sold. She moved to Albright United Methodist Church, where she served various positions including Certified Lay Servant and starting the All’s Bright Project, supporting the homeless and food insecure in the Sherman Park area of Milwaukee.
Like many others, she hesitated to accept God’s call to ministry and spent thirty years as an Ophthalmology Technician before being laid low by medical issues which placed her on the disabled list. She took that time to explore and discern her call and was able to convince the Wisconsin Department of Vocational Rehabilitation to allow her to attend Licensing School in 2017 to return to work. The rest, as they say, is history.
Not being the “traditional type,” she kicked off her licensed ministry with the Salvation Army leading the Faith-Based Initiative group for Milwaukee Police Department’s District 7 and assisting the Salvation Army in beginning their Chaplain program in partnership with Milwaukee Police Department. Until July 2020, as a Chaplain, Pastor Lynne responded alongside MPD to assist the families and neighbors of victims of homicides, suicides, traffic fatalities, and other traumatic loss at the scene of loss as well as assisting the officers themselves in dealing with the situations they find themselves in.
Less than one year later Pastor Lynne was appointed to the struggling Cudahy United Methodist Church, where it didn’t take long for the leaders to make their dreams for the future known. Since that time, the Safe Haven Teen Center of Cudahy has become a reality, serving the youth (and the not so young as well) of Cudahy. COVID-19 has led church leadership and Pastor Lynne to improve their online skills, and this “micro-membership” church now boasts an online presence on six continents.
Pastor Lynne now divides her time between Cudahy and Summerfield where she focuses much of her time on building and promoting the Day Center and Meal Programs. Her hands-on methodology and commitment to the Great Commission have helped establish Summerfield’s center as one of the premier homeless feeding programs in Milwaukee.
