Terry Fitzgerald
Terry was born and raised in Tampa and spent her life in the Tampa Bay Area. After returning to the church in 2007, Terry became an instructor and then Director of Lay Servant Ministries for the Gulf Central District.
She has enjoyed teaching, speaking and preaching in the church for several years. Her passion for teaching grew from her years as a Personal Trainer and Fitness Instructor.
Terry is Director of Development at Allendale United Methodist Church. She is currently a Candidate for Deaconess in the United Methodist Church and hopes to be consecrated in 2026.
Elaine Henderson
Elaine was born in Columbus, Ohio and moved to Florida in the sixth grade. She has been married to Joe for 44 years, and has two adult sons, a daughter-in-law and two young grandchildren.
She graduated from FSU with a major in Child Development and a minor in Social Work.
Currently, she is the Treasurer for Gulf Central District United Women in Faith. At Temple Terrace UMC United Women in Faith, she served as treasurer, president and vice president. Besides teaching preschool and 4th grade Sunday school, as a college student she twice served as a counselor with the Youth Group. One year they hiked the Appalachian Trail for 5 very rainy days.
Along with spoiling her grandchildren, her hobbies include sewing, gardening, crafting and decorating. She enjoys participating in classes at a gym for both exercise and socialization, because it is good for the body and soul.
As her dad, Dr. Pat, would say “One of the best ways to learn something is to teach it to others.” Teaching portions of the lesson at District Mission u gatherings has proven this to be true.
Debbie Bracewell
Debbie has been a member of United Women in Faith since 2004 and is a member of St. Luke UMC in Enterprise, AL. She has been the Dothan District President and has served as Membership, Nurture, & Outreach chair and Communications chair on the district level as well as serving as interim Communications Coordinator on the conference level. She currently is the president for the Southeastern Jurisdiction United Women in Faith and has served as the President of the Alabama-West Florida Conference United Women in Faith. She also enjoys teaching mission studies which she has done at conference and district levels since 2014.
Debbie’s professional experience includes the positions of high school English teacher, cheer coach and judge, executive director of the National Council for Spirit Safety and Education, an editor of online cheer magazine, and public speaker. She is currently a volunteer for church and community. Bracewell has a degree in English Education, Master’s Degree in Secondary Administration, and a Master’s Degree in Strategic Communication from Troy University.
Bracewell is a widow with 2 sons, 2 stepsons, and 10 grandchildren. In her spare time, she enjoys gardening, traveling and hand embroidery.
Rev. Dr. Tino Espinoza
The Rev. Dr. Tino Espinoza is a native of Mexico. After planting three churches in Texas and Oklahoma and revitalizing two ministries, and having pastored churches in Oklahoma for 25 years, he is now the Senior Pastor of Miami Lakes United Methodist Church.
Dr. Espinoza was ordained an Elder at the Oklahoma Annual Conference. His academic background includes a BA from Oklahoma City University in Oklahoma City, OK, a master’s in divinity from Perkins School of Theology, SMU, in Dallas, TX, and a Doctor of Ministry from St. Paul School of Theology in Kansas City, KS, plus, a Church Planters Coach certificate from United Theological Seminary in Dayton, OH.
Pastor Espinoza is an Old Testament professor at United Theological Seminary’s online Master’s in Divinity program in Spanish.
Dr. Espinoza is married to Mode Espinoza, and they have two sons Brian, Raul, Raul's wife Kym, and granddaughter Finley Sky.
Dr. Judith Pierre-Okerson, Haitian Creole
As a Deaconess and a longtime member of United Women in Faith, Dr. Judith Pierre-Okerson has served as Conference Past President and in leadership positions at the local, district, conference and national levels of the organization. A former Assistant Dean and Dean of Mission u (formerly School of Christian Mission), Judith has been a frequent Mission u study leader at both the National and Conference levels and the author of the study guide for The Missionary Conference in the United States Mission Study.
Judith also serves Christ through The United Methodist Church at the local, district, conference and general church levels. She served as delegate to several general and jurisdictional conferences. She was a member of the Florida Conference delegation to the General Conference that met in April 2024 in Charlotte, NC. She also serves as the South East District Lay Leader and is a member at Miramar United Methodist Church.
Currently as an educator, Dr. Pierre-Okerson oversees the Exceptional Student Education Program at a K-8 Academy in Miami-Dade County Public Schools. She is the proud mother of Grace Okerson, who will graduate from Candler School of Theology in May.
YOUTH STUDY LEADER Paulette Monroe
Born in Newport News, Virginia to the late Jessie, Sr. and Elvin Taylor, she is the second child of eight siblings. She attended grammar school, high school and college in the Newport News and Hampton, Virginia area, and in Florida. Relocating to the state of Florida, she began working in different school districts, retiring after 30 years of service.
Currently, Paulette is on the Nominations Committee for the UWFaith Florida Conference and is a Certified Lay Servant Leader. She has served in many different leadership roles of the local church.
United Women in Faith benefits greatly from her servant’s heart. She has served as Dean of Mission u, Past Conference President, Secretary, Social Action Liaison, and Spiritual Growth Coordinator. She especially enjoys serving children and youth within UWFaith, the church, and the community. Paulette is married to the Rev. Dr. Walter Monroe, Jr., who recently retired as the District Superintendent of the South-Central District. Walter has a love for United Women in Faith as well. Together they have three adult children and seven “wonderful” grandchildren. They currently reside in Orlando, FL.
Children’s Study Leader Jackie Brooks
Jacqueline Brooks is a member of the North East District and lives in Jacksonville. She has served in the Florida Conference as Secretary of Program Resources, Secretary, and Chair of Nominations. In the North East district, she served as Secretary, Communications Coordinator, and at her local church as Unit President. She has taught Early Childhood Education for over 35 years.
Jackie currently volunteers her time with the Florida Chapter of the Association for the Education of Young Children as the Secretary and now as their Treasurer, and as a mentor with
Duval Regional Juvenile Detention.
Virtual Study Leader Rev. Dr. Juana Jordan
Rev. Dr. Juana Jordan, is a pastor, preacher, pod caster, writer, church planter, theologian, and self-proclaimed hope dealer.
As a former award-winning journalist, radio host and media consultant turned Gospel storyteller, she has a knack for seeing and showing the hope in every person’s story and connecting their story with God’s story.
A native of Jacksonville, Florida, she is an ordained elder of the Florida Conference of United Methodist Church, where for years she led congregations. That was until God called her to the front lines in January 2023 to do life with young adults and create spiritual formation spaces for them. She is currently the Executive Director of FAMU Wesley IMPACT, a campus ministry at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, Fl, where she and her students are re-imagining campus ministry in ways that help them become and remain spiritually rooted.
She holds a Master of Divinity degree from Emory University Candler School of Theology and a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism from the HBCU Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, NC. In 2024, she finished her DMin. in Spirituality and Story from Wesley Theological Seminary, where she centered her work on Thriving in Contested Spaces: Using the Dislocation Stories of Hagar and the Babylonian Exiles and the Reclamation of the Imago Dei as Frameworks for Black Clergywomen's Flourishing in Cross-Cultural Settings.
In early 2026, she helped author, along with some 200 other writers "A Year of Hope" Devotional, found on Amazon, and launched her podcast, "In the Processor: Where Grief is Re-imagined", which can be found on all podcast platforms.
When time permits, she loves kickboxing, African dance, listening to her favorite podcasts, thrift store and consignment shopping, racking up sky miles and sharing her thoughts about faith, God, and her spiritual journey on her various social media platforms.
https://www.instagram.com/preachergirl_in_the_city
