Mo goff, interim minister

Mo Goff (he/him/his) is in his final year attending United Lutheran Seminary and an endorsed candidate to be Minister of Word & Sacrament. He is very excited to be serving Interim Minister for Dreams & Visions. His first career was spent working in politics in Washington, DC, developing expertise within the political arena and spending time with all sorts of characters on Capitol Hill. Mo holds a passion for social justice and a love for the LGBTQ+ community. In his private time, he worked in support of LGBTQ+ concerns both federally and within the ELCA. Most recently, Mo is a leading voice among LGBTQ+ Lutheran seminarians in the ELCA in Maryland and nationally. He's a graduate of the University of Oklahoma where he was selected by his graduating class as the Homecoming King. His husband is an ELCA pastor serving in the Delaware-Maryland Synod. Their daughter lives in Washington, DC, and you might see her around sometimes. Mo’s interests are politics, travel, and telling stories.

Email Mo at vicar@stmarksbaltimore.org

dan and claudia zanes, guest musicians

Dreams and Visions is thrilled that we are sometimes graced by the presence of Grammy award winning children’s performer Dan Zanes and Haitian-American music therapist / jazz vocalist Claudia Zanes who have been making music with each other since the day they met in the fall of 2016.

The two decided while sitting at Dan’s kitchen table that afternoon that they would continue singing together and, in the spirit of progress and inclusion, would work with presenters to try and make all of their concerts sensory friendly.

Inspired by their artful modern-day all-ages folk music and their commitment to accessibility, the Kennedy Center commissioned Claudia and Dan to create a theater piece for young audiences. Night Train 57: A Sensory Friendly Comic Folk Opera premiered in October 2017 and has been performed several times since.

Their love of songs and communal music-making lead to a publishing deal with the Quarto Group USA and the result, an award winning songbook entitled Dan Zanes’ House Party: A Family Roots Music Treasury, was released in 2018.

In late 2019 the couple - now married! - moved from Brooklyn to Baltimore and what had been a full schedule of theater, school, and festival performances evaporated with the advent of the coronavirus. When a national state of emergency was declared in March, Dan and Claudia started their Social Isolation Song Series. For the next 200 days, in an effort to stay connected and uplift others, they performed a different song every day. This series of videos currently resides in the Library of Congress.

The two continue to adapt and reinvent and sing their way to new beginnings. In addition to music making, Claudia runs her flourishing handmade skin care business called CLEO Soaps and Dan continues his work with Constructive White Conversations, a white antiracist organization he co-founded in 2011.

Emily Scott, founding pastor

Emily (she/they) served as founding pastor of Dreams and Visions from 2018-2025. It was her great honor to be a part of drawing together this worshiping community, cultivate a pattern of worship, and nurture the start of the Skylight Boutique.

Emily Lutheran pastor of the ELCA who loves to create spiritual spaces that are brimming with life, questions, and hope for a more just world. Queer and gender-queer, Emily works toward faith community that dismantle fear and hate, affirms LGBTQ people, and confronts racial injustice. 

From 2008-2017, Emily founded and served as pastor of St. Lydia's Dinner Church in Brooklyn, where worship is a full meal, shared around a dinner table. Emily and the congregation were involved on combating police brutality and a lack of affordable housing with organizations such as Faith in New York. 

A graduate of Yale Divinity School, Emily received the Alumni Award for Distinction in Congregational Ministry in 2016. She now currently serves as pastor to First Presbyterian Church in New Haven, Connecticut.

Lean more about Emily’s work on their website.

Email Emily at emily@emilymdscott.com