Rev. Ricky Hoyt grew up in Santa Monica, California. He attended Santa Monica College and UCLA, before receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Music Composition from California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, CA.
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| In the mid-80s and early 90s at the height of the AIDS epidemic, he worked for the AIDS Project Los Angeles in their Human Resources Department. |
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| In 1991 he began attending the Unitarian Universalist Church in Santa Monica, and became involved in the lay leadership of the church. Two ministers there encouraged Ricky to consider the ministry for himself, and in 1995 he left his job at APLA and entered the Claremont School of Theology in Claremont, CA. |
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| While in seminary Ricky worked as an intern with the Studio City Unitarian church, and served one summer as a Chaplain at the UCLA Medical Center. In 1998, he earned his Master of Divinity degree and was called and ordained by the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Verdugo Hills, in La Crescenta, CA. |
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| In early 2001 Ricky responded to a request for assistance in organizing a new congregation in the Santa Clarita area. While continuing to serve at Verdugo Hills Ricky worked with this emerging group and then in 2003 left his position at Verdugo Hills in order to work exclusively with the Santa Clarita congregation, who now number about 60 members. |
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| Rev. Ricky is a popular guest preacher. He is also a trained spiritual director working with private clients in the Los Angeles area. He is the author of a book of children’s stories on spiritual themes titled, Room for an Elephant, and a collection of theology-based sermons called, Good Thinking. He continues his interest in music by singing with the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles, and stays involved in fighting AIDS by participating in the annual AIDS/LifeCycle event. He lives with his (soon to be legal!) husband in the Silver lake neighborhood of Los Angeles. |
