The Reverend Chris Sorensen is the President and Founder of The Rising Group. A few years ago, Chris decided to start a new kind of worship service named “Evensong” at Stanwich Church in Greenwich, CT. Evensong grew quickly, as more and more college students made the trip to Stanwich on Sunday nights. The hallmark of the service is the music. In the winter of 2004-2005, the band, Evensong Rising, signed a four album recording contract. Their “Blue” album was released in June of 2005 to critical acclaim. Following the success of the Evensong service and Evensong Rising, Chris began receiving encouragement to begin touring with the band. Although he had no interest in touring for the sake of the music in itself, Chris became interested in utilizing the momentum gained from the success of Evensong Rising’s music as a catapult for launching The Rising Group. Prior to launching Evensong, he directed one of the most successful Young Life areas in New England. It is estimated that over 50% of the students in the public high school participated in Young Life during his tenure. In addition to his experience as a speaker, Young Life Director, and Pastor, Chris has worked as a consultant to several churches in helping them launch worship services similar to Evensong at Stanwich.
The idea of The Rising Group first started to take shape in September of 2005. On October 1st, 2005, Bethany Olson started working under the board as the executive director of The Rising Group. The organization had already started the process of becoming incorporated as a legal non-profit, and people in the Evensong community were already using their time and talents to contribute to The Rising Group's Mission. Listed below are the board members, their qualifications, and some introductory information in their own words.
Rev. Christopher Sorenson: See above. Rising Group President. Pastor of Evensong at Stanwich, Greenwich CT. Graduate of Alliance Theological Seminary with MDiv. Lead Singer and Songwriter of Evensong Rising.
David Tolley: Rising Group Ethicist. Managing Editor of Journal of the Institution for Social and Policy Studies at Yale University. Yale University Center for Bio-Ethics. Graduated from Yale Theological Seminary with a Masters degree in Ethics. David Tolley is a researcher and editor for the Center for Bioethics at Yale University. He received his BA in medical humanities from Davidson College in Davidson, NC and his master's degree in ethics from Yale Divinity School. Dave grew up in Norwalk, CT and learned to play the violin at a young age. He is excited about participating with The Rising Group as a founding member of Evensong Rising. Dave is also enthusiastic about helping the Rising Group achieve its goal of promoting awareness and action for social justice issues.
Dr. Eve Tolley: Rising Group Humanitarian Aide Associate. Professor at Alliance Theological Seminary. She holds a PhD. in Social Policy and Social Work from Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA and an MDiv. and S.T.M. in Evangelistic Missions from Yale Divinity School, New Haven, CT Dr. Eve Tolley, ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and Licensed Professional Counselor, currently serves on the faculty of Alliance Theological Seminary, Nyack, NY and as liaison between the Tumaini Destitute Children's Welfare Project, Nyeri, Kenya and The Outreach Foundation of the Presbyterian Church (USA). She and her husband Cary reside in Norwalk, CT and Key Biscayne, FL.
Mark Curtis: is the President of Splash Management Group, owners and operators of 22 carwash facilities for the past 26 years. Mark Curtis served as a trustee and moderator of Stanwich Congregational Church where he has, along with his wife Laurie, been a member for 13 years. He is on the board of Life Spring Network, the OGRCC, the Greenwich Chamber of Commerce, and the International Carwash Association. Mark Curtis also coaches travel soccer for his son Sam's team. He is a Greenwich native who now lives in Riverside with Laurie, Sam and his daughter, Erin.
Scott Greenlee: Rising Group Visual Vocalist. Vice President, Senior Art Director at Creative Partners in Stamford, CT. Scott is Vice President, Senior Art Director at Creative Partners in Stamford CT. Scott has 20 years experience in graphic design management and concept development. He has a strong background in corporate collateral, integrated marketing programs, Web site design, direct mail, advertising, as well as brand identity development. A resident of Norwalk, CT., Mr. Greenlee earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Cleveland Institute of Art in 1984. While striving to achieve graphic excellence in the corporate communications field, Scott has also sought to serve the church in visual communication arts. He has been instrumental in developing the identity and visual nomenclature for Evensong Rising's first two CDs.He believes that The Rising Group embodies gospel narrative in the form of artful music and worship experience that just may steal past those watchful dragons, past the stained glass and sunday school associations, to the real potency of the Christian faith. Scott is positioned to develop communication tools as the "visual vocalist" to that end.
Steve Sorensen: Rising Group Strategic Planning. Commercial Property Developer. Citrus Grower. President of Sorensen Chevrolet. President of Sorensen Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep Steve, a successful businessman, was born and raised in the ‘Chicagoland’ area. He attended Northern Illinois University, where he met his wife, Georgianna. Over the years, the Sorensen's have served their community in many capacities. In the area of ministry, they together sponsored the Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter at Lake Wales High School. Steve is a past chairman of Lake Wales Care Center, a cutting edge Christian social service agency in Lake Wales. In 1995, he co-founded Hire-A-Teen, a Christian based summer jobs program for economically disadvantaged teens. H.A.T. includes pre-employment training, mock interviews, on the job mentoring and mandatory weekly life skills seminars. This program provides over forty jobs each summer. Steve's interest in cross cultured ministry and racial reconciliation has led to speaking engagements at two African American Churches. He took a graduate level course in Urban Ministries three years ago. This course, offered by Reformed Theological Seminary, was conducted on site at Desire Street Ministries in New Orleans. As a member of First Presbyterian Church in Lake Wales, Steve has served as a Deacon and an Elder twice. He was chairman of the Mission and Outreach.
Mark Hutchinson: Rising Group Chairman of the Board. President and CEO of GE Real Estate Asia Pacific. Alpha Leader, Greenwich CT. Alpha Leader, London UK.
Angel Hutchinson: Rising Group Secretary of the Board. Co-Director of Thursday Call, Greenwich CT. Director of The Westport Chapter, Westport CT. Alpha Leader, Greenwich CT. Alpha Leader, London UK.
Angela Sorensen: Women's Director of Ecclesia Fellowship, Stanwich Church, Greenwich CT. Former Young Life Staff Member. Co-Founder of The Cabin - College Fellowship, Black Mt NC. My employment background these last five years has consisted of teaching preschool as well as upper grade elementary students in both Darien and Stamford, CT. These teaching assignments were for nursery and elementary schools that were established to uphold the Christian faith. My own education consists of attending a faith based boarding school and college. While I attended Montreat College in North Carolina, I helped found and run a college fellowship in our home with my husband, Chris Sorensen. It was wildly successful and this in turn led my husband, Chris on the path of a seminarian at Alliance Theological Seminary in Nyack, NY. I also attended several graduate courses during our stay there. During this time in New York, I worked alongside Chris in an outreach based inner city youth group. We moved to Darien, CT. in 1999 and I began working as a paid staff worker with Darien Young Life. Our club was the biggest in the New England Region. As a couple, we ministered to hundreds of students every week. This has proven so incredibly fruitful now years later in the Evensong service. Many of the Young Life students, both throughout their high school and college years have remained grounded in faith and have stayed in touch or attend Evensong currently. I am on the prayer team during the Evensong Service which is a wonderful experience. I have been an instructor for both conformation and vacation Bible school and most recently, I help run a young adult group called Ecclesia. It is essentially a gathering of young adults for food, worship, fellowship and Bible study. I lead a women's group known as G2. It is amazing to see lives transformed on a weekly basis. All these years of youth work and teaching (1997-
present) has laid the foundation for a bigger outreach opportunity which I believe is the Rising Group LLC. The ground is fertile and the implications of a ministry directed to the collegiate community is real tangible kingdom work. I am honored to serve on the board of this organization and to witness lives changed by the power of God.
Georgianna W. Sorensen Ph.D: Dr. Sorensen is licensed as an advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner, Licensed Mental Health Counselor and holds certifications in addictions, crisis debriefing and hypnotherapy. She trained at Focus on the Family under Dr. James Dobson and has been a full time psychotherapist in private practice for nearly 20 years. She has taught on the Associate, Baccalaureate and Master's level in colleges and universities in Illinois and Florida. Having been active in the arts council as well as numerous volunteer positions at her church (associate Reform Presbyterian) and community, she enjoys supporting youth programs that are culturally as well as educationally enriching. Leisure activities include painting, hiking, snow skiing and tennis. She has represented Florida in 2004 (Palm Springs) and 2005 (Tucson) in the USTA Championships in her age group.
Richard & Charlotte Jackson: Richard graduated from the University of Birmingham (UK) with a Bachelor of Physics degree. He is an Associate of the Chartered Institute Of Bankers (UK) and is also registered with Financial Services Authority (UK Securities Regulator). Richard’s 15-year career at HSBC Group plc has included numerous roles within strategic planning and management. The focus of his career has been in investment banking – advisory and corporate finance. His current role as a Managing Director within leveraged and acquisition finance has bought Richard and his family to the US. Richard is a senior member of HSBC’s rapidly growing global leveraged finance practice and has been instrumental in building the US team. In ministry Richard has been actively engaged within his home churches over the years, having led small groups, training courses and managed numerous events.
Charlotte Jackson graduated from the University of Birmingham (UK) with a Bachelor of Commerce degree and is an Associate of the Chartered Institute Of Bankers. A change management specialist, she ran a variety of strategic projects in her 8-year career at Barclays Bank plc before stopping to become a full-time mother. Charlotte has utilized her project and change management skills in a variety of roles in ministry over the last 6 years within the church community: assisting in launching and running children’s ministry programmes; pastoring; teaching & development roles in Women’s Ministry.
Barton Bergman: Business and Follow-up Ministry Advisor. Barton is a derivatives trader and risk manager for a private global trading group. A graduate of Wheaton College (IL), he has seved in various outreach ministries for many years.
Beth Bergman: Rising Group Editor and Special Events Advisor, Beth is an editor and former English and Bible teacher. She graduated from Wheaton College (IL) and has developed worship curriculum and directed children's worship.