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January 6, 2023
Dear First Congregational Church,
Earlier this week, Kajsa Teitelbaum, our Director of Music, posted a photo of herself with her kids, Signe, Liv, and August, on the veranda of their new home in San Paulo, Brazil. Behind them in the yard, mango, avocado, and banana trees are visible. It’s the beginning of a grand adventure for Kajsa’s whole family, a year’s leave while Ben, Kajsa’s husband and a professor at CU, is on sabbatical.
We will miss Kajsa, but while she is away from us, we are also greatly blessed to welcome three gifted musicians who join us for the year.
Music Staff for 2023
Jessica Kressin, our Chancel Choir Accompanist since 2014, is expanding her responsibilities to direct our Congregational Bells, play piano service music on Sundays at 10:30 am, and serve as the most frequent musician for the Sunday 8:30 am Chapel service. You may know that Jessica is also a piano instructor at Neighborhood Music in Denver and the Music Director for Breaking Glass Arts, a small opera company based in Denver.
Susan Carl will serve as our Organist for the year. Susan lives in Arvada and has been an organist, music director, accompanist, and composer in a variety of church settings. She earned a degree in Music with a concentration in Organ and Voice from Old Dominion University and an advanced Certification from the American Guild of Organists.
Patrick Mason, a former member of First Congregational Church, former Moderator, and retired Professor of Voice at CU School of Music, has returned to Boulder from his home in Ohio to be with us from January to May, and then again from September through December. Patrick will direct the Chancel Choir and coordinate all of our special musicians for the year.
These three join Julia Wirth and Er-Hsuan Li, the Director and Accompanist for our children’s and youth choirs, Joyful Noise and the Faith Singers, to round out our staff of musicians and keep our church filled with beautiful music and joy!
We are grateful to David Skaggs, Stewart Hoover, Jay Rourke, Jane Thomas, and Susan Wilkinson, who worked with Kajsa and me to plan for coverage this year. A special thank you to Stewart and Karen Hoover who have generously donated their home for Patrick’s stay while they are away in Australia for the first half of the year.
Collaborative Youth Minister Search
On another note, I am also writing to formally announce the beginning of an Collaborative Youth Ministry for middle and high school students from three churches – First Congregational Church, Community UCC Boulder, and UCC Longmont. In the fall, when all three churches found ourselves with a staff vacancy to direct our youth programs, we saw an opportunity to explore the possibility of a new model of ministry – a shared youth program and a shared youth minister.
After much discussion and discernment, we are pleased to be moving forward with a search for a single full-time Director of Youth Ministry who will serve all three congregations both separately and together. A Search Committee comprised of a pastor, lay person, and youth member from each of the three congregations begins meeting this month to gather our pool of candidates and prepare for interviews. Tania McEvoy Champlin from our Personnel Committee, Andie Wilkerson, an 8th grader and one of our confirmands, and I are representing our congregation. We hope our innovative model and full-time compensation will draw many interested and creative candidates.
Meanwhile, as we prepare for a new Youth Minister, the middle and high school students of the three churches will begin meeting together on a monthly basis to build community. The first collaborative event is an ice-skating party on Sunday, January 29th at 1:00 pm at the Longmont Ice Pavilion, 725 8th Street, in Roosevelt Park. Our youth will gather for lunch in the Standish Room after 10:30 am worship that day and will carpool to Longmont together. Please contact Deborah Voss at deborah@firstcong.net to sign up to attend.
As we enter 2023 together, First Congregational Church has much to be grateful for – the vitality of our life together, a deep bench of musicians to lead us in song glorifying God, and the vision of new ministry that has the potential of making a big impact on the lives of our youth, their families, the church, and the wider community.
Thanks be to God!
In gratitude,
Rev. Chris Braudaway-Bauman
Senior Minister
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