Guest Ministers at HUU

Each of our visiting ministers bring unique gifts to our congregation. Below are biographical sketches for each of our guest ministers:

Janet Onnie

The Reverend Janet Onnie has supplied pulpits, trained congregations in Lay Pastoral Care, and facilitated workshops on organizational and leadership development and conflict management. As an outspoken supporter of professional clergy Rev. Onnie has served as a mentor and intern supervisor to ministers in formation and a good officer to troubled ministries.   She served first, as treasurer, then as President of the Florida Chapter of the UU Ministers Association.  As a founder of and contributor to interfaith organizations she is a passionate advocate for social justice issues in cooperation with interfaith partners and allies and is a frequent contributor to newspapers and public forums.

Upon retirement in 2022 she was named Minister Emerita of the Tri-County Unitarian Universalists (FL). 

Rev. Onnie retired to Staunton, Virginia in January 2021, where she continues to supply local pulpits and, via Zoom, pulpits in North America.  She has recently completed service as sabbatical minister for congregations in Canada and California.  She also revived her pre-ministerial career as a professional musician, serving on the Board of Directors and as the volunteer coordinator for the Staunton Music Festival.  She performs with the Charlottesville Band, the Charlottesville Flutes, and Rockbridge Symphony Orchestra.

Her husband of 56 years is involved in the Staunton-based food distribution programs and initiatives addressing the needs of the unhoused population.  Their daughter and son-in-love live in Asheville, NC where she holds an MSW specializing in female trauma, and he is a local musician.

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Kirk Ballin

Kirk was born in Colorado Springs. Colorado, and lived in many places in the U.S., Geneva, Switzerland and Kuwait. He obtained his BA from Colorado College, Masters work in Cultural Anthropology, University of Virginia, and Master of Divinity from Harvard Divinity School. Kirk has been a UU Minister for 31 years and served 3 UU Congregations: Meadville, PA (1984-1987); Roanoke, VA (1987-1999); Lynchburg, VA (1999-2003). He worked as a Trauma Unit Chaplain with Carilion Health System, and Executive Director of the National Conference for Community-Roanoke and Justice - Roanoke Region. Currently, Kirk is Program Coordinator of AgrAbility Virginia, a joint USDA funded project of Virginia Tech and Easter Seals UCP NC/ VA, serving farmers and ranchers with disabilities in the Commonwealth of Virginia. He lives with his wife, Robin Poteet, a Salem, VA artist and teacher. Kirk also has a loving history with HUU, having provided ministerial services dating back to the earliest years of the Fellowship.

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Paul Britner

Rev. Rev. Paul Britner serves part-time as the consulting minister for the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Greater Cumberland while working his “day job” as a high school history and government teacher in Front Royal, Virginia. Previously, Paul served as the settled minister of the UU Church of the Shenandoah Valley and the UU Fellowship of Montgomery, Alabama. He has a Master of Divinity from the Earlham School of Religion (2004) and a Doctor of Ministry from Meadville-Lombard Theological School (2011). Before entering the ministry, Paul was a lawyer for the Federal government in Washington, D.C. He lives with his wife, Karen, in Stephens City, VA, near Winchester, VA.

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Barbro Hansson

Originally from Sweden, the Reverend Barbro Hansson came to the U.S. in 1974 as a newlywed. Her then husband introduced her to the World of Unitarian Universalism.

After acclimating to a new culture, Barbro became an active lay leader, first within the local U.U. Fellowship where she lived in the Shenandoah Valley, then the Virginia U.U. Cluster and the Board of what was at that time known as the Thomas Jefferson District of the U.U.A.

At the U.U. General Assembly in Charlotte, N.C., in 1993, while serving as T.J. District President, Barbro felt the call to ministry amidst racial tension. When her term as District President expired in 1994, she enrolled at Meadville Lombard Theological School and received her Master of Divinity degree there in 1998. 

During the 1998-99 church year, Barbro was back in Staunton and provided ministerial services to HUU. She preached on a regular basis and officiated at the wedding of Chris and Robin.

In August 1999, Barbro accepted the position as Extension Minister at the U.U. Fellowship of Plattsburgh, in the northeastern corner of New York State. While there, Barbro met and married Thomas Robinson. 

In 2002, she accepted a call to serve as the minister of All Souls Church in Brattleboro, Vermont, a congregation that had been traumatized by a fatal shooting in its sanctuary. Her ministry there was focused on healing, reestablishing trust and recovering a sense of community.

After 12 years at All Souls, Barbro retired from full time ministry to spend more time with her family. Tom and Barbro have three children between them, Suzanne Robinson, Nicholas Robinson and Karin Taylor, as well as two grandchildren, Mateo Taylor Leon and Mariana Taylor Leon. 

Since her retirement, Tom and Barbro split their time between Peterborough, NH, and Staunton, Virginia, staying up north in the summer and early fall and spending winters and spring in the milder climate of the Shenandoah Valley.

Emma Chattin

Emma was born in the Allegheny Mountains.  She has been blessed to live in many different places, all over the state of Virginia.  In 1997, she discovered and joined the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches, a denomination founded in 1968 with a primary outreach to Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered, and Questioning individuals.  Soon after, she resumed her studies to enter the ministry.  She was ordained in 2004 at MCC Richmond.  Her father and her Uncle, both Methodist ministers, participated in the service (Her father spent 50 years in the pulpit, and did occasional preaching up to his death in 2008 at the age of 87).  Emma currently resides in Fairfax, Virginia, with Heather, her life-partner of 18 years  -  they were legally married in DC in 2010.  While she lives and works in Northern Virginia, she currently spends a portion of her time in the Shenandoah Valley.  She enjoys religious diversity, and her theological perspective can be succinctly summed up with the words of her bumper sticker: "God [Divinity] is too big to fit into one religion."