Reverend Duke Tufty was born in the beautiful town of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. One of four children, he was raised to someday take over the family business which was an automobile dealership. His father died when Duke was 24 years old. Duke, his brother Ted and sister Trudy inherited the business.
After fifteen years in the business Duke had a spiritual awakening and discovered the automobile business was not for him. He embarked on a spiritual path that led him to Unity. Eventually he became the Senior Minister at Unity Temple on the Plaza as well as Chairman of the Board of Directors for Unity Worldwide Ministries located at Unity Village. Above all, Duke cherishes his family life – wife, Leesa; kids, Cathy, Adam, Duke II, Kristin, Isaiah, Tanya, Merrill, Darin; and grand kids Owen, Landon, Isaiah IV.
Email: Duke@unitytemple.com Phone: 816-994-8000
Rev. Sandra Campbell
Associate Minister
Rev. Sandra Campbell, MSM, has been a member of Unity Temple on the Plaza since 1980, where she served three terms on the Board of Directors, co-founded the Temple Toastmasters Club, taught Sunday School, and was a member of the Chancel Choir. Sandra completed ministerial training through Unity Urban Ministerial School in 2012 and was licensed and ordained by Unity Worldwide Ministries in 2013. Sandra currently serves as an Associate Minister at Unity Temple on the Plaza. She leads the Sunday morning Metaphysical Bible Interpretation class and the Mid-Week service on Wednesday evenings. She is Vice-President of the UUMS Board of Directors and a member of the school’s Adjunct Faculty. Sandra has taught various Unity courses, including Metaphysical Interpretation of Christian Scriptures, Spiritual Economics, Discover the Power Within You, Lessons in Truth, Prosperity Plus, and many others. In addition to the ministry, Sandra is an Adjunct Professor with Webster University.
Email: sandra@unitytemple.com Phone: 816-561-4466
Rev. Nhien Vuong
Associate Minister
Reverend Nhien Vuong, M.Div., J.D., is a former Stanford Law attorney who left her San Francisco law career in 2012 to pursue a calling to Unity ministry. An ordained Unity Minister, Nhien has been serving as an Associate Minister at Unity Temple since 2015. Passionate about transformative education, Nhien heads up Unity's interspiritual education program. She is also an Accredited Professional Enneagram teacher with the International Enneagram Association and regularly teaches classes on a range of topics, including prayer, meditation, and the Enneagram. Nhien had the honor of serving on the Daily Word writing team for six years (she stepped down in 2018) and, since 2012, she has been a regular contributor to Unity Magazine.
Email: Nhien@unitytemple.com Phone: 816-994-8003
Victor Dougherty
Director of Temple Buddhist Center
“Through our chanting we merge our personal consciousness momentarily with the infinite consciousness that is our origin and our destiny. It is the drop of water finding its way back into the ocean from which it came.”
Complete strangers can stand silent next to each other in an elevator and not even look each other in the eye. But at a concert, those same strangers could find themselves dancing and singing together like best friends. That's the power of music.
America urgently needs a stronger protest movement dedicated to reducing the glorification of violence in our culture - in music, film, television, video games, and even the Internet.
Jennifer Watts was born and raised in Kansas City and is the proud mom of two amazing young women. She has spent the last 15 years working in finance in the non-profit sector and prior to that in the corporate arena. She took her position of Chief Financial Officer in August of 2018 and loves the sense of community and energy at the Temple and feels blessed to be part of a place that fosters acceptance, growth, family, love and spirituality.
Kathy Sweany was born and raised in Tennessee and relocated to Kansas in 1997 with her job at Sprint. She began attending Unity Temple in 2000 and became a member in 2002. She took early retirement from Sprint in 2008 and volunteered as a receptionist at Unity for a year. Kathy was elected to the Unity Board of Directors in 2008. She became a staff member at Unity in 2009 as the Bookstore Manager. She then moved to Operations Manager and is currently the Finance Manager. Kathy felt at home her first Sunday at Unity Temple and feels truly blessed to be a part of this church community.
Email: Kathy@unitytemple.com Phone: 816-994-8002
Vilma De Leon
Director of Youth and Family Education
Vilma De Leon was born and raised in the Dominican Republic. She has been a Sunday School Teacher at Unity Temple on the Plaza for over 12 years. Vilma recently started her new position as Director of Youth Education & Family Ministry and teaches children three to five years old. With passion, a sense of responsibility and ability to have fun, Vilma comes every Sunday ready to receive not only her students, but all the children attending the Youth Program. She and her staff of teachers and volunteers are committed to continue developing the youth program and to offer a safe, educational, spiritual, creative and fun environment for the children and their families.
Email: vilma@unitytemple.com Phone: 816-994-8027
Christine Garvey
Executive Director
Christine Kotzias Garvey is proud to be born and raised in the heart of America, Kansas City. Since coming to Unity Temple in 1998, Christine has been blessed to serve in various ways including Director of the Cornerstone Foundation, volunteer coordinator, community relations coordinator and is currently the Executive Director of Unity Temple.
Sharon Kelly was born and raised in the Kansas City area. She began working at Unity Temple on the Plaza in 2001 as an Administrative Assistant. She spent ten years as the Building Supervisor but now holds the position of Executive Assistant to the Senior Minister.
Email: sharon@unitytemple.com Phone: 816-994-8017
Cassie Bender
Director of Special Events
Cassie Bender has worked at Unity Temple since 2008. She has served in the positions of Conservator and Wedding Coordinator. Cassie is now the new Director of Special Events.
Email: cassie@unitytemple.com Phone: 816-561-4466
Ben Nesbitt
Wedding Officiant
Ben Nesbitt moved to Kansas City in 2012. He found his way to Unity Temple and instantly knew it was his spiritual home. Ben now officiates weddings, teaches Sunday School, and facilitates Serenity Pause. He is grateful to be a part of things and hopes others also find acceptance and peace here at Unity.
