Leadership
Church Council 2012-2013
     Email: churchcouncil@firstbaptistjp.org


Moderator: Dave Traggorth
Treasurer: Kerson Belizaire
Clerk: Linda Karpeichik
At-Large: Stacy Hightower
At-Large: Mary Little
Ex-Officio: Pastor Ashlee Wiest-Laird





 
Rev. Ashlee Wiest-Laird, Pastor
     Email:  pastor@firstbaptistjp.org

A native of Louisville, Kentucky, I studied religion and sociology at Wake Forest University and received my M.Div. from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1991. For four years, I served as the Southern Baptist chaplain at Harvard University and then spent a year working with Sabeel Liberation Theology Center and the Middle East Council of Churches in Jerusalem. In 1998 I completed an S.T.M. degree in religion and society from the Andover Newton Theological School. Having received standing in the American Baptist Churches of Massachusetts, I served as an interim pastor in Allston, MA and as an associate pastor at Seattle First Baptist Church. In September 2003, I was blessed to be called to pastor the The First Baptist Church in Jamaica Plain.  I am married (for over 20 years) to Lance Laird and mom to Naim, Aidan and Mycah.
Rev. Osagyefo Sekou, Pastor for Formation & Justice
     Email: revsekou@firstbaptistjp.org

 
Raised in the rural Arkansas Delta, Rev. Osagyefo Uhuru Sekou is a
third generation ordained Elder in the Church of God in Christ
(Pentecostal). For close to a decade he served congregations in New
York City. At Judson Memorial Church in New York, he served as a
Senior Community Minister.  He managed a foodpantry, HIV-AIDS, and  a
homeless feeding program as the Social Justice Minister at
Middle Collegiate Church.  He is the former Senior Minister of Lemuel
Haynes Congregational Church (UCC).  As an Ella Baker Fellow at New
York Theological Seminary's Micah Institute, he served as chief
strategist for organizing clergy for economic justice in New York
City.  He published two critically acclaimed collections of essays,
urbansouls (Urban Press, 2001) and Gods, Gays, and Guns: Essays
on Race, Religion, and the Future of Democracy (Campbell and Cannon
Press, 2012). His forthcoming book, Riot Music: Race, Hip Hop, and the
Meaning of the London Riots (Hamilton Books, 2013).
Michael Woolf, Student Pastor
Email: mcw415@mail.harvard.edu

Michael is a second-year Master of Divinity candidate at Harvard Divinity School from very rural Alabama. He graduated from the University of Tennessee [go Vols!], loves college football, and is a life-long Baptist. Michael wants to become an ordained pastor and serve in a congregational setting and is looking forward to spending the coming year at First Baptist. He has previously served as student chaplain at MIT's Protestant Student Chaplaincy, a seminarian organizer at the Massachusetts Committee for Interfaith Worker Justice, and spent several months as an interim youth minister at a congregation in Tennessee before finding himself in the Boston-metro area. 
Laura Stone, Student Pastor
Email: laura.stone.104@facebook.com
 
Laura Stone is from Indiana, where she grew up among pig farms and corn fields with her younger brother.  She studied English and mathematics secondary and middle school education at Manchester College.  She lived in intentional communities for 6 years after college, and during that time she worked in mental health (at a farm in western Massachusetts) and church music (in three settings, including two years as musician at the Iona Community, an ecumenical Christian community in Scotland).  Laura will graduate in May with a Masters of Divinity from Andover Newton Theological School.  She loves cats, the color purple, making music, quilting, crafting, and reading.  You may also catch her dancing, running, or doing yoga from time to time.   A member of the Church of the Brethren, she is excited to be serving in a vibrant and intentionally urban congregation of Baptist folks! 
Mr. Colin Cushman, Minister of Music
     Email:   colintcushman@gmail.com

Colin is a first year Master of Divinity student at Boston University School of Theology and Ministry.  Graduating from Willamette, getting married to Madi, moving to Boston and joining the FBCJP crew has made this a big year!  Colin is a guitarist and worship leader with interest in global music and congregational song.
Ms. Carrie Brown, Office Manager
     Email:  churchoffice@firstbaptistjp.org

Carrie is very much looking forward to being the Office Manager at the First Baptist Church in Jamaica Plain. You may recognize her from the Blue Frog Bakery on Green Street, where she's been helping her husband Brad since 2004.

In addition to spending time at the front counter; Carrie has also worked for a number of non-profits in the Boston area, and is looking forward to meeting the congregation and being part of this very vibrant community.
Mr. Jaime Munoz, Sexton

Jaime was born and raised here in Boston, MA.  He began working at FBCJP in March of 2011.  Married to Marisel, they have three children:  Joslyn, Jaime and Kharali.  Jaime is an active member of St. Mary of the Angels Catholic Church where he loves singing in the choir.  He enjoys sports and is an avid fan of the Red Sox and the Patriots.
We are a Christian community of many cultures, one faith!