featuredRev. Rebecca Yowler was born and adopted in Kentucky and grew up in two small rural towns. She considers Bedford, KY her hometown. Bedford is a town of about 700 people in one of Kentucky’s smallest counties. There is one stoplight in the whole county. She is a 1993 graduate of Trimble County High School where she was active in Yearbook, Future Homemakers of America, Tennis, and a variety of Other clubs.

Rebecca was the recipient of a President’s Scholarship to Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky (no there are no vampires, yes there is a curse). At Transylvania, she was active in Phi Mu, Crimson Crew, and Disciples on Campus. She graduated from Transy in 1997 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Secondary Education.

She is a sixth-generation member of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). She grew up in the Carrollton Christian Church and the Bedford Christian Church and spent a week each summer at Camp Wa’Kon-Da Ho in Casey County Kentucky where she eventually realized her call to ministry.

In 2005, Rebecca earned her Master of Divinity at Lexington Theological Seminary. She also earned an additional certificate in youth ministry. She was the recipient of the Riley Montgomery Award for Excellence in Christian Education. She served as the student associate youth minister at First Christian Church in Jeffersonville, Indiana. Rev. Yowler was ordained on January 20, 2007, and was the first (and still the only) woman to ever be ordained in Trimble County, Kentucky.

As a new minister, Rev. Yowler served as the Director of Christian Education at a methodist church in IL. While there she created a downtown Vacation Bible School program that cooperatively rotated between four churches to serve over 100 children each summer. She also led the youth group and award-winning puppetry team on two mission tours across the US. When she was maliciously outed for her sexuality in 2009, she lost that job despite her service to that church.

Realizing that the church really does not have a place for LGBTQ+ ministers, Rebecca decided to return to school yet again, this time for a Master of Library and Information Science degree from Dominican University.

After graduation in 2013, she was the inaugural fellow in the Valparaiso University Library Fellows program. She served as the liaison to the Theology and Philosophy departments. She also served as the chair of the American Library Association’s Over The Rainbow Book List and as a member of the conference planning committee for the American Theological Library Association. After a brief adventure of living in southern California, she returned yet again to Valparaiso University to serve as a science librarian.

Currently, Rev. Yowler resides in Ames, Iowa where is the Unit Lead for Arts and Humanities Research and Instruction in the Parks Library at Iowa State University. She is the liaison to the History and World Languages & Cultures departments. Previously, she has served on the CARLI Instruction committee, attended the ACRL Immersion program, and participated in Cohort 3 of CARLI Counts, a consortial research immersion program. Becca served as a mentor for Cohort 4 of the same program.

In addition to her work as a librarian and minister, Rebecca is a figure skater and is working toward her Adult Silver moves. She has competed at US Figure Skating Synchronized Skating Nationals where her team placed 7th in the US in 2016. She is a two-time USFS Midwestern Sectionals Gold Medalist, and will again compete at USFS Adult Nationals in 2025. She is a National Showcase Champion; she won gold in Adult Bronze Character in 2022 for her portrayal of Ursula. US Figure Skating featred a profile on Becca for Pride Month in 2022. She currently coaches at two rinks in Central Iowa. Click here for more information on private lessons.

Rebecca is a regular contributor to educational materials within the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and loves to preach when given the opportunity. She currently preaches weekly at the Kensington retirement home in Galesburg, IL. She is the leader of the LGBTQ+ Alliance group with the Christian Church in Illinois and Wisconsin.

Reverend Yowler is a proudly out queer woman and advocates for LGBTQ+ communities. She has worked with churches considering becoming “Open and Affirming” and was invited to speak at Valparaiso University on the topic of Queer Spirituality. Currently, she has recently finished a book discussing religious institutions of higher education that do not follow the law of Title IX and her research has been used by the Religious Exemption Accountability Project.

Becca lives in Ames, Iowa with her pug Ziggy and a small black cat named Coffee Bean.