Jim began his ministry at First Church in July 2006.  Prior to coming to Baldwin, he served as an associate pastor at Morrow Memorial United Methodist Church in Maplewood, NJ.  Jim had a 27-year career in corporate finance before ministry.

He is a 2005 graduate of The Theological School at Drew University.  In addition, he holds an MBA from Columbia Business School, and an undergraduate degree from Franklin and Marshall College.

Jim and his wife, Gillian, have two children, Austin (11), and Sara (8).  They love Long Island, and are excited to be a part of the First Church family.

Barbara has been working with church choirs since 1996, and began directing the music ministry at First Church in 2004.

 

After earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Adelphi University, Barb moved to New York to pursue a career in musical theatre as a performer and choreographer. She has performed professionally in the United States, Europe, and the Caribbean.

 

She now lives with her son, Robert, and works at her second career in insurance services. Her hobbies are dancing, singing, musical theatre, crocheting and doing puzzles.

Joe, a native Long Islander,  has been the pianist/organist with First Church Baldwin since October 2004, and has recently taken on the additional role of  Director of our youth choir, the Choralaires. 

 He currently teaches private piano lessons with the Suffolk County-based academy Music Simply Music. He also plays many solo and ensemble "gigs" throughout the tri-state area, most notably with Glass Houses, a Billy Joel tribute band featuring Henry Haid from Broadway's hit show Movin' Out. Joe has written a wide variety of original musical compositions, incuding piano solos,  pop songs, musical theater scores, a solo version of the Lord's Prayer, and a choral Alleluia. Joe has a BA in music from Cornell University.
 

Erika is retired from managing commercial real estate for foreign investors.  She lives in Oceanside with her daughter, Samantha.