As Central’s Database Specialist, Sue Hula keeps the church connected and information accessible. She’s also an active church volunteer.

The world runs on digital information, and even the church can’t do without it. Enter Sue Hula, Central’s Database Specialist. Sue is the person you go to if you’re having trouble with Central’s website, CCB, or the church app, or need to change information in the church’s database. Her responsibilities include managing the database, keeping up with new software versions, and updating content; but her favorite part of the job is assisting people who need help with CCB or the app. Sue brings all the right training and experience: a degree in computer science and accounting from Messiah College and employment with the Department of Defense as a database programmer.

Most people first encounter Sue in her volunteer capacities as a leader of Women on Wednesdays (WOW) and as director of the Handbell Choir. The WOW team is very busy at the beginning of both semesters and spends several hours every week managing the ministry. Sue takes the lead in communications, publicity, the website, and the morning’s PowerPoint. She says that WOW has grown her faith, encouraging her to lead both large and small groups, which has been challenging for someone who prefers to be in the background. 

Messiah College’s handbell choir is where Sue first learned to play and began her lifelong love of bells. After college, someone donated bells to her home church, and she was asked to teach and direct interested new ringers. Central also acquired bells,  and she joined the newly formed bell choir. She is the third director to lead the talented, hardworking group in making beautiful music that enhances Central’s worship.

“Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10)

Sue grew up in a Christian home and was a follower of Jesus from a young age. She shared that her faith became more real to her while on a high school mission trip to Venezuela, where the generosity of very poor people moved her. Presbyterian Church of the Atonement, the church her family attended in Wheaton, MD, attracted Kevin Hula who was temporarily in the area doing dissertation research at the Brookings Institution. He and Sue met in the church’s young adults group.

Presbyterian Church of the Atonement also was where Central’s former pastor Ron Scates’ family attended. So in 1994, the year Sue and Kevin got married and moved to Baltimore for Kevin’s teaching position at Loyola University Maryland, Sue’s dad suggested they check out Central where Ron was the pastor. More than 30 years later, they still feel that Central is their home, the place God wants them to be right now. Over the years, Sue and Kevin have raised three children: Megan, Brennan, and Keanan, and recently welcomed son-in-law Nathen, when Megan married last June. 

It’s hard to imagine that Sue has time and energy for anything else, but she has enjoyed Jazzercise for many years, recently becoming certified, and started teaching two mornings a week while continuing to take classes. She enjoys doing crafts, but unsurprisingly has not had time for that lately. For someone as active as Sue, her favorite Bible verse is a good reminder to us all: “Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10)