Our Chaplain

Pastor John Tirro

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John worked as a Nashville songwriter for 15 years, working for Hayes Street Music, Universal Music, Sony, and other subsidiary publishing companies before he became a music minister at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Knoxville and at Tyson House. In the fall of 2006, John began his M.Div. studies at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. In the fall of 2007, he was awarded a full scholarship from the Institute of Sacred Music at Yale and continued his degree at Yale Divinity School, from which he graduated in 2009. After graduating, he returned to Knoxville and served an internship at Messiah Lutheran Church while simultaneously serving Tyson House as chaplain. In August 2010, John was ordained and installed as the new Pastor of Congregational Life and Campus Ministry at St. John’s Lutheran Church, a position which enables him to continue his ministry here at Tyson House. He lives in Knoxville with his wife Misty, an Associate Professor of English at UT, and sons Andy and Trevor. His skills at pointing never-before-imagined Old Testament parallels during Bible studies are renowned throughout the Tyson House community.

Peer Ministry Team

Emilie Casey, Peer Ministry Team Leader

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Emilie Casey is a junior in Music Education. While in constant discussion about Tyson House’s role as a ministry to the university community, she has had quite a few roles at Tyson House herself: small group facilitator, Church 101 mentor, retreat/event planner, former peer minister for outreach, resident, council member, and super-delegator. She currently worships at St. John’s Cathedral, where she works part time as an intern for youth and children’s ministry. During her summers, Emilie serves on staff at Lutheridge Camp as well as the South Eastern Synod’s AFFIRM. When not doing ministry, she plays clarinet in UT’s Wind Ensemble and clarinet choir as well as saxophone in The Pride of the Southland Marching Band. Her combined love of music and working with children and youth is put to good use throughout the week. She teaches an inner city children’s choir at Wesley House’s after school program, which is an outreach of the United Methodist Church. Emilie also is a volunteer teacher at the Joy of Music School, a nonprofit organization which brings free private music lessons to children who qualify for reduced lunch. Emilie is currently in the Candidacy process with the ELCA with hopes of becoming a Pastor. During her free time she enjoys traveling and being outdoors.

David Burman, Education Team

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David is a junior in Religious Studies. An attender at Tyson House for almost three years now, he helps to lead our interdenominational Transformed Theological Seminar (Thursdays at seven!), and is a member of the Tyson House Council. In addition, he selflessly helps to eat leftover communion bread after services on Sunday evenings. He is geekishly interested in the historical background behind books of the Bible, loves incarnational theology, and is going to Uganda this summer as part of service and learning study abroad project! In his free time, he enjoys hiking, following his beloved Denver Broncos and Seattle Mariners (they both stink), and watching video feeds of members of the British Parliament arguing with each other (“The Right Honourable Member for Berwick and Squatney ought to RESIGN!”). He also loves trains. Plus, he was born in Canada, and has dual citizenship.

Morgun Custer, Head Resident and Peer Minister for Environmental Awareness

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Morgun is a junior in Psychology and Philosophy and comes from Franklin, Tennessee. As Head Resident at Tyson House, Morgun fulfills a number of duties related to the maintenance of the ministry itself and the facilitation of the residents living in it. Although Morgun doesn’t ascribe to any denomination in particular, he does his best to take an active role in theological discussion within the community. This involves his role on the future board of Education, and active participation in events sponsored by the Religious Studies Department. Morgun’s academic interests include the Philosophy and Psychology of Religion, Psychoanalytic theory and the practice of Analytical and Clinical Psychotherapy. A member in the Psi Chi honors society, Morgun is also an associate of the APA, and conducts research in the Psychodynamic lab under Dr. Mike Nash on the terminology of the Unconscious Mind. Morgun aspires to earn a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, open his own therapy clinic, and assist people in dealing with the pathology of being a human being in the modern era.

Genoa Wolford, Peer Minister for Administration

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Genoa is a freshman from Knoxville majoring in Psychology. Many things make her happy, one of which is being the Tyson House secretary…a.k.a. making lists, writing on white boards, making announcements, coordinating meals, sending emails, and fetching doughnuts. Among other things, she aspires to spend some portion of her life following around a celebrity/member of the royal family/famous athlete and taking copious notes, so working with the Tyson House bigwigs is a dream come true. In her spare time, she aims to become an expert on lowbrow culture by devouring pop culture phenomena such as Jersey Shore, your #1 hit music station: Star 102.1, Cheetos, PerezHilton.com, and the Real Housewives of…series (all cities). However, she also enjoys reading tragic memoirs, visiting museums, watching HBO, and eating goat cheese & spinach salads. Make of that what you will. She is very excited to be living at Tyson House next year (despite her sadness at leaving her roommate/soulmate) and hopes to bring a certain je ne sais quoi to the church. She loves compline and Julie P. from Dunkin’ Donuts who prepares the Munchkins for Transformed every Thursday. She has never won any awards but hopes to be remembered for her indiscriminate laughter and huge crush on Rahm Emanuel.

Mark Walker, Peer Minister for High Culture and Circle Group Facilitator

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Mark is a junior in Nuclear Engineering. Although some people may raise their eyebrows at Zack’s ethnicity, many others will find Mark’s heritage to be even more confusing, since he does carry the slightest hint of a foreign accent. Born in Oak Ridge, TN to a Chinese mother and an English father, Mark moved to Cardiff, Wales at the age of five. After moving across the Atlantic another three times, he finally settled back in East Tennessee, where life could not be finer. Even though he is working hard towards a nuclear engineering degree, Mark still enjoys tinkering with neutron generators and Monte Carlo code at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Since he is also an avid pianist, he is often featured at Tyson House on Sunday evenings. He does wish, however, that he were better at handbells. Once he has completed his BSc, Mark plans on earning a doctorate in either Nuclear Engineering or Nuclear Physics, and pursuing a career in nuclear nonproliferation. Failing this, law school is always on the horizon.

Blaire Hamilton, Peer Minister for Outreach and Circle Group Facilitator

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Blaire is a freshman from the tiny town of Tullahoma, TN, and loves living in a city with more then one main street. She is a member of the Baker Center learning community, and this semester she is volunteering at Pond Gap Elementary, where she acts as a jungle gym for eight children .She is currently planning on earning an honors degree in political science with minors in Russian and global studies, and hopes to one day work with human rights advocacy groups, especially in Eastern Europe. Even though she hasn’t been at Tyson House long, she has managed to find a few things to really get involved with and enjoy. At church, Blaire is the group facilitator for the Meal Plan (Eaters) Circle, and head of Community Outreach. She is passionate about service, and is a huge fan of the Ronald McDonald House. LET HER KNOW if there is any specific needs you are aware of in the community that you want us as a group to address. Outside of church and school, Blaire is best known as being a colossal nerd. In her free time she enjoys reading, baking, running, going to electronic(music, not toasters) shows, knitting, jewelry wire bending, and Wikipedia. She has an entirely unfounded idea that she is in fact a world-class rapper, a notion which she feeds daily by loudly proclaiming dirty and impromptu poems to her friends.

Gabi Caballero, Peer Minister for Media

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Gabi is a sophomore majoring in journalism and electronic media aspiring to be a documentary film maker that inspires people to care about their environment. With a passion for visual communication, she creates video announcements about events going on around Tyson house. After discovering the ministry over a year ago, she has grown close to the community and continues to get involved wherever she can to keep strengthening the ties she has with the place. Baptized as an Episcopalian, Gabi is not confirmed as a Lutheran or Episcopal. When she is not at Tyson House, there is no doubt you will find Gabi taking pictures at a local concert or kayaking down wild raging rivers.

Paige Burchell, Peer Minister for the Arts

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Paige is an Art Education major. She has an Associates of Applied Science Degree in Graphic Design from Pellissippi State, but was felt called to study her first passion; the fine arts. Determined to keep the importance of art alive in our schools, she inspires to be an art educator. Sharing her love of art, she has started the circle ART CLUB. This circle mets once a month to create beautiful works of art to be hung in Tyson House’s common room. ART CLUB gives college students a time of fellowship, and relaxation after a busy school week. With her background in Graphic Design, she also makes flyers for Tyson House events. Paige worships at St. John’s Cathedral, where she works part time as an intern for youth and children’s ministry. When not working in the ministry, Paige enjoys painting, drawing, volunteering at the Knoxville Museum of Art, spending time with friends, and good cups of coffee.