Staff
Rev. Dr. Leslie Taylor, Senior Minister
The Rev. Dr. Leslie Carole Taylor has more than 30 years of experience as an ordained minister, including many years as a Senior Minister, Interim Minister, Higher Education Ministry (Chaplain, Student Services, and Admissions), Non-profit Management, and a member of the United Church of Christ national staff. She has been involved with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) as a friend and pastor for many years, beginning with the partnership between the United Church of Christ and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).
She is passionate about the church being engaged in ministry in the community, which will serve us well as we move into our new focus on our outward mission of helping children in our community and our inward mission of deepening our spiritual development and our interpersonal relationships.
Pastor Leslie holds a BA from Grinnell College, Master of Divinity from Chicago Theological Seminary, and Doctor of Ministry, focusing on Transformational Leadership, from Methodist Theological School in Ohio.
She is (returning to be) a distance walker, loves mysteries, and progressive politics. She and her partner, the Rev. Dr. LaTaunya Bynum, live in Concord.
Ellie McDougal, Director of Senior Adult Ministry
The mother of three and grandmother of six, Ellie has been a member of First Christian Church of Concord for 50 years. She is a retired teacher and librarian and enjoys storytelling in classrooms and other settings. She serves as the director of Senior Ministries, a thriving program here at FCC Concord.
Andie Raymond, Church Administrator
Andie grew up in the Disciples of Christ denomination in the Oakland church and transferred her membership to First Christian Church of Concord in 1977. She spent many years working as an administrative assistant and then as a stay-at-home mom before becoming the office administrator at FCC Concord in 2008, a job she feels is her calling. She loves serving the church in this way.
Andie has two adult daughters. In her spare time, Andie loves to read, sing, spend time with friends, go to as many Oakland A's games as possible and has recently begun playing bocce ball.
Jacob Perez, Youth Education Partner
Jacob Perez (he/his pronouns) is a graduate student in the Theological Studies program at the Pacific School of Religion. Jacob serves on the Board of Directors for the American Academy of Religion Western Region (AARWR) as the Northern California Student Representative, and he is the Co-Chair of the Latinx Religious Studies Unit for the AARWR. Previously, he has served as the Vice-Chairman of the Board for the Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce and on the Board of Directors for the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano County. His co-writing has been recently published in the Feminist Studies in Religion Blog on theoëroticism, and his interests are in artistic and poetic expressions of worship, childhood theological development, liberation and feminist theologies, and social justice—particularly for Palestinian right of return.