Pastor Jeri Gray-Reneberg

Pastor Jeri Gray-Reneberg was ordained a Lutheran pastor nearly 35 years ago (December 13, 1987, St. Lucy’s Day) at Community of Christ Lutheran/Episcopal Church in Westminster, Colorado, at a time when Episcopalians and Lutherans (now the ELCA) were unofficially beginning joint ministry. She has officiated using the Book of Common Prayer since that time.
Her first ministry, through Community of Christ, was with survivors of abuse and with churches in the field of domestic violence in the Denver area. She has many years’ experience in domestic violence programs, serving as domestic violence program manager in Ventura, California, developing domestic violence materials for clergy and the general public in Lincoln, Nebraska, and as a member of the board of directors of Humboldt Domestic Violence Services. She also has many years’ experience with Planned Parenthood in reproductive health, serving as staff and on governing and advisory boards. She has been a member of local group Clergy for
Choice (now Clergy for Reproductive Health) since 2004. Pastor Jeri and her family relocated to Humboldt County in August of 2003, when her husband Perry Gray-Reneberg began to teach as a lecturer at Humboldt State University (now Cal Poly Humboldt). She served as pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Redway from 2008-2010, welcoming former members of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church after their church closure. From 2010-2017 she was priest-in-charge of St. Francis’ in Fortuna, serving under the terms of Called to Common Mission, the agreement between The Episcopal Church and the ELCA which allows for full clergy exchange.
During her 2017 sabbatical, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent treatment over the next year, leaving St Francis’ at that time. She has been cancer free since.
She has a Bachelor of Arts in English and History (double major) from California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, California, and a Master of Divinity from Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. Pastor Jeri and Perry married in Colorado in April of 1989. Perry is an industrial technologist, a Renaissance man, with a strong faith of his own. Perry has two children from a previous marriage, Jonathan (who lives near Indianapolis) and Shanna (who lives in eastern Washington). He currently works as the Greens Mechanic for the Baywood Golf and Country Club. Pastor Jeri and Perry also have two grown daughters. Wren, an Episcopalian, was formerly on the vestry and junior warden at St. Jude the Apostle Episcopal Church in Cupertino. Wren married Erik Stayton in 2020 and they combined their names into a new name. They go by “St. Gray.” They moved to Tacoma, Washington a few months ago and are getting involved with their new community. Wren is a licensed MFT therapist and Erik is a research scientist who works for Nissan. They have two dogs, Penny, a Whoodle (Wheaten Terrier-Poodle), and Dottie, a Tibetan Terrier. Linden Gray-Reneberg, Pastor Jeri and Perry’s younger daughter, is a paralegal in Southern California, working with Facebook’s program Oculus. She is also trained as a User Experience Designer, and hopes to make a career change soon. She is a member of a local Lutheran church and has been active in vocal music with her congregation. Her boyfriend’s name is Mason. She has a cat named Hughie, who is a Bengal-Sphinx mix. Both daughters sing and play the piano, as Pastor Jeri does. They have all sung together in church when possible.
Wren and Linden were involved for several years as staff and campers of Camp Living Waters. Linden also served on the Sierra Pacific Synod Youth Committee while in high school.
Both daughters are also graduates of California Lutheran University. Pastor Jeri serves as a Convocator for that institution, representing the congregations of the Sierra Pacific Synod, ELCA. Pastor Jeri is happy to join Christ Church’s ministry team as an Associate Priest!