Staff

Bob Brite, Transitional Pastor

Bob started ministry at FCC Minneapolis in February, 2008, with the specific 2-5 year task of leading FCC through a time of transition which has included, to this point, the sale of the FCC facility. The church has the next 4 – 7 years to figure out their next moves.

Bob was born in Wichita, Kansas, grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, attended Indiana University and Christian Theological Seminary in Indiana, and then spent most of his career in ministry in Illinois (with a short stint in Iowa), serving pastorates in Peoria, IL, and Winterset, IA, before going on to an 8 year stint on the Regional Staff for Illinois/Wisconsin, where he ran the youth/camp programs, ecumenical ministries, Christian nurture, and regional assemblies. Bob then went to Pekin, IL, as senior pastor for 8 years. Bob came to Minneapolis from Indianapolis, where he lived for 3 years after leaving Illinois and ministry for a time; during that three years, among other things, he learned the honorable art of bartending.

Bob has formal training in event planning, fund raising, strategic planning, purpose-driven church organizations, and other facets of ministry. He is also a musician, writer, and lover of the musical theatre.

Bob is single, has two daughters, Corrie, who is a senior at Bradley University in Peoria, IL, and Katie, who is starting as a freshperson at Princeton Univeristy in Princeton, New Jersey, in the fall of 2009.

Dennis Sanders, Associate Pastor for Diversity and Mission

Dennis Sanders is a native of Flint, Michigan, the son of two retired autoworkers. He went to Michigan State University with a degree in Journalism. Dennis moved to Washington, DC in the early 90s to work for various non-profits on issues ranging from the environment to hunger. It was while in Washington that he began exploring a call to ministry and entered Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota in the fall of 1997 to begin his seminary education.

Dennis graduated in 2001 from Luther and was ordained as a minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in 2002. From 2004 to 2007, Dennis was the founding pastor of Community of Grace Christian Church in St. Paul.

Dennis is responsible matters concerning mission and outreach at First Christian along with helping the church become more diverse on various fronts, including race, ethnicity and sexual orientation.

When he isn’t at First, Dennis works full time as the Communications Specialist for the Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area. He also is an avid Star Trek fan and blogger. He lives with his partner Daniel in Minneapolis and blogs at A Pastor Named Questor and at Theobot, a blog where he comments on the weekly lectionary texts.

Deb Murphy, Director of Spiritual Formation and Community Ministry

Deb is a life-long Disciple and a preacher?s kid to boot. Born in Omaha, Nebraska, she spent most of her growing up years in West Central Illinois and her senior year of high school in Germany. She received her BA from Knox College earned an MS in Health Science at Western Illinois University.

Theater became a passionate avocation and after moving to the Twin Cities in November 1988, it eventually became a passionate vocation. She worked at the Guthrie Theater from 1995-2009 and continues to costume for schools and community theaters.

She joined First Christian in the spring of 1989. From 1995-2006 she was the newsletter editor, as well as having been fairly active in the life of the church. She started attending United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities in the fall of 2007, taking classes parttime in the Master of Arts in Theology and Arts program. Her particular art emphases have been theater and photography. She plans to graduate in May 2011.

For Deb, art is a means of encountering God, the Holy, the Sacred, the Divine. She started a class for children in the fall of 2009, called “Art of the Covenant”. The class reads Bible stories and does art work to go along with the stories (to date, the origami jumping frogs to go along with the plagues of Egypt has been the favorite, although flying kites on Pentecost runs a very close second).

Jim Baumgartner, Interim Music Director

James “Jim” Baumgartner has been a vital part of First Christian’s music program for ten years as tenor section leader and occasional soloist and became our new Interim Music Director in January 2011.

The “interim” term reflects the fact that FCC may see significant changes in the next few years, and Jim will be here at least through the next 12 months to lead the music program in the transition period.

Jim has experience as a worship leader; he served as Worship Pastor at Oakridge Community Church in Stillwater, and as Choir Director/Worship Leader for Trinity Covenant Church in Crystal, MN. Jim also sang for three years with the Chancellors Quartet, singing concerts throughout the Midwest, Canada and Caribbean, and producing four recordings.

Bryon Wilson, Interim Organist

Bryon is our Interim Organist and is currently in the Doctoral Program for Collaborative Piano at the University of Minnesota.

Chris Wogaman, Office Manager

Chris Wogaman is Office Manager at First Christian Church, Minneapolis.  Originally from East Grand Forks, MN, Chris moved to Minneapolis last year, after completing preparation for ministry in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America at Yale University Divinity School/Institute of Sacred Music (M. Div, 2005) and Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary (Lutheran year, 2007).For over two years, he has been waiting for his first call as a Lutheran pastor.  Chris is on the Board of Lutherans Concerned/Twin Cities, a singing member of the Twin Cities Gay Men’s Chorus, and enjoys genealogy, piano, writing, cooking, and walks around the lakes.

Rick Bowman, Building Manager