Who We Are

Meet Our Staff

Rick Maeser, Senior Pastor

Reverend Maeser grew up in Coweta County, GA and went to Newnan High School. He has a BA in Religion from LaGrange College, and a Masters of Divinity from Emory. He served his first appointment, at Ebenezer UMC in Fayetteville, while he was still a student at LaGrange, and has been at various churches in the North Georgia Conference since then, including Carrollton, Hartwell, Elberton, Chickamauga, McDonough, Forsyth, and Greensboro.

Reverend Maeser and his wife Nell have been married 37 years, and have two children, Lydia and Philip. Lydia has a Masters in Organizational/Industrial Psychology, and works in Human Resources at Roper Corporation in Lafayette, GA. Philip is a senior at LaGrange College, majoring in Biology.

Reverend Maeser’s hobbies are reading, and running; and he also enjoys working with his hands, tending to small projects or repairs.

He has three older sisters, and they are responsible for turning his given name, Earl Frederick, into Rick. Two of them live in Los Angeles, CA, and one in Huntsville, AL.

You may reach him at rick.maseer@ngumc.net or call him at the church 770 532-2977.

Joanna Cauller, Administrative Assistant

Joanna Cauller joined the staff at St. Paul UMC as the Administrative Assistant to Senior Pastor, Rev. Rick Maeser in August 2020. Joanna comes to us with over nine years of work in administration and event planning within the Methodist Church. She will work closely with Jennifer Sepulveda and our volunteers. Joanna and her husband, Shane, are natives of this area and have been married since 2011. Both are HUGE Disney fans…loving anything and everything Disney. They are also foster parents to a little boy and they are completely in love with their little mouseketeer. Joanna and Shane share a love baseball, she follows the Braves and Shane pulls for the Phillies and Yankees. The verse Joanna and Shane love is
Ecclesiastes 3:11 – He has made everything beautiful in its time.

Jennifer Sepulveda, Finance Secretary

Jennifer Sepulveda is the Finance Secretary at St. Paul UMC, joining in March 2021. Jennifer has worked
in church finance for five years, coupled with nine years in office management experience. She is from
Columbus Georgia. She moved to Gainesville after meeting her now husband, Johnny, in 2011. Jennifer
and her husband have two girls, Layla, and Sydney. Jennifer’s top hobbies are baking and exercise. She
says her love of exercise stems from her love of baking. The verse that Jennifer and Johnny love is
Philippians 4:13 – I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Tim Gale, Choir Master

Dr. Timothy Gale earned a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Carson-Newman College in Jefferson City, TN; a Master of Music Education degree from the University of North Texas in Denton, TX, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Vocal Performance from the University of Memphis. Before accepting a teaching position at West Hall High School, he taught in Florida and Tennessee. He has been Choral Director at West Hall since 1989 and also is Choral Director at Johnson H. S. Timothy has been in his present position as the Choir Master at St. Paul UMC since 1994. He directs the adult choir, the hand bell choir and he supervises the children’s choirs and other special music events. Prior to coming to St. Paul Timothy served as Minister of Music at Flat Creek Baptist Church in Gainesville for four years. He is married to Laura Gale, the music teacher at McEver Rd. Elementary School in Hall County, and they have three children: Elizabeth, Andrew and Matthew.

Sydney Babb, Children and Youth Services

Sydney Babb joined the staff of St. Paul UMC as the Children and Youth Director to Senior Pastor Rev. Dr. Sondra Jones in August 2020. Sydney has been a member of St. Paul since she was a child and comes to us with many years of volunteer experience with in the children and youth departments. This is her first post as Children and Youth Director. She works closely with Dr. Jones in planning and creating events and lessons for the children and youth. Sydney and her husband, Justin, have been married for 7 years and have two children, Will and Belle. Sydney and Justin were married in the sanctuary at St. Paul. They are a huge Disney family and loving sharing this with their kids! The whole family are college football fans and love cheering on the Georgia Bulldogs! Sydney’s favorite verse is 1 Corinthians 13:13—And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Joyce Preston, Church Accompanist

Joyce Preston is the accompanist for St Paul UMC, having joined the staff in the early part of 2020. Prior to moving to Georgia, she served as Director of Worship Arts at her church in Michigan, where her responsibilities included administration, worship service and special event planning, volunteer leadership, praise team direction, keyboardist for contemporary services and service pianist for traditional services. In addition, she was a member of the music faculty at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, Henry Ford Community College and Oakland University. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in piano performance and a Master of Arts degree in music literature.

Joyce has been a Christ follower since she was a child, and was taught by her parents that God often leads in just being willing to take the next step. “The steps of a good man/woman are ordered by the Lord.” Psalm 37:23. It is in taking those “next steps” at a challenging time after the death of her husband in 2019 that God used in bringing her to participate in the music ministry of SPUMC.