Rev. Dave Schlager, Senior Pastor (Email Dave)
Rev. Laurie McHugh, Associate Pastor (Email Laurie)
Rev. Danny Huang, Pastor of Taiwanese Ministries (Email Danny)
Kevin Morgenstern, Associate Leader for Contemporary Worship (Email Kevin)
Thierry Spelle, Organist/Chancel Choir Director (Email Thierry)
Ursula Morgenstern, Office Manager (Email Ursula)
JoJo Bernardo, Security Custodian
Gina Esguerra, Security Custodian
The Rev. David Schlager comes to BUMC from El Sobrante UMC where he served as pastor for eleven years. Prior to that he served at First UMC in Hayward, First UMC in Tulare, Iglesia Emanuel in Sacramento, Iglesia Betania in Bakersfield, and New Cuyama UMC.
David is the son of a Methodist Pastor and grew up on the Mission field in Argentina. He graduated High School in Palo Alto and graduated from the University of the Pacific in Stockton, CA. He spent his junior year of College at the University of Madrid in Spain. His Seminary Education was at Pacific School of Religion in Berkley. He is fluent in Spanish and has pastored two of our Hispanic United Methodist Churches.
Rev Schlager is active in denominational and ecumenical ministries and has a deep passion for the mission of the church. He is currently on the Board of the Pacific network for Mission Education, an ecumenical group that organizes missions conferences every year. He chairs the Conference Committtee for Hispanic Ministries for the Cal/Nev. Conference of the UMC.
He loves baseball and particularly loves the SF Giants. He is married to the Rev. Jane E. Schlager, who serves as a District Superintendent in the S.F. Area. They have a 26 year old son, Matthew, who is working as a teacher in Sacramento and another son, John, who is currently attending Sacramento State University.
Rev. Laurie McHugh, Associate Pastor
On July 1, 2001, BUMC warmly welcomed the arrival of Rev. Laurie McHugh as Associate Pastor at BUMC. Her presence has brought a new energy and creativity to our church community.
Pastor Laurie McHugh was raised in the Denver, CO area and graduated summa cum laude from Knox College in Galesburg, IL, with a B.A. in sociology-anthropology in 1988. After marrying husband Tim, a public servant, they settled in California, where McHugh attended Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkeley. She graduated with a M.Div. in 1992, having completed Clinical Pastoral Education at Yuma Regional Medical Center in Yuma, AZ., a cross-cultural experience in an African-American church in Inglewood, CA, and a one year full-time internship at Messiah Lutheran Church in Redwood City, CA.
Pastor Laurie served for 7 years at predominantly Filipino-American Fellowship United Methodist Church in Vallejo, where her ministry focused on youth, children, and music. For two years she served as pastor-in-charge of Ridge View United Methodist Church in San Francisco, a small African-American congregation. She has also co-led a number of camping ministries within the larger Methodist connection.
A musician at heart as well as a minister, Pastor Laurie has been singing and playing piano for most of her life and employs these gifts in her ministry with children and young people and in worship. She has directed choirs of all ages, led a contemporary praise band, and currently sings and plays keyboard for contemporary worship services at BUMC. She is the initiator and chief worship designer for Evenings at the River, a multisensory, multimedia worship experience at the church on Friday evenings. Laurie also cultivates an interest in drama, having spent many of her off-hours in college onstage and behind the scenes. When she is not hard at work in ministerial or parenting duties, she enjoys practicing qigong, making art from gourds, and reading mystery novels.
The McHughs have two school-age children and they are a welcome addition to BUMC.
Rev. Danny Huang, Pastor of Taiwanese Ministries
Danny was born in Taiwan in 1944 into a Christian family and grew up in a Presbyterian environment. After graduating from the Catholic Fu-Jen University, he worked as an Import-export representative for Nan-Ya Plastic Corporation for five years before coming to Canada.
In 1973, he immigrated to Canada for advanced study. He graduated from Humber College and then worked at Massey Ferguson Industries for 10 years. In 1986 he responded to Gods call to enroll at Emmanuel College of the University of Toronto in the program of Master of Divinity to prepare himself for full-time ministry. After graduation from Emmanuel College, Danny was ordained by the Toronto Conference of the United Church of Canada in 1990 and since then served in the Taiwanese United Church for 14 years before moving to the Burlingame Methodist Church Taiwanese Ministry in San Francisco.
Besides working in his own congregation, Danny is always interested in being involved in the wider church and the community. He served as Chair of the Taiwanese Christian Church Association and was Chair of the Worldwide Taiwanese Christian Church Association from 2000 to 2001. He was Chair of the Ethnic Ministry Committee of the Toronto Conference of the United Church of Canada and served on the national Ethnic Ministry Council for many years until moving to this new post.
Since his students time, he has always been active and involved in the service of the poor. He worked in several hostels and the Canadian Asian Working Group, which specialized in helping people who were struggling in their human rights issues in Asia. In Toronto, he worked closely with the English-speaking church in the "Drop-In" center in serving breakfast and lunch to an average of 80 homeless and hungry people every Wednesday all year round. He was also one of the founders of the NUC-TUCT Affordable Housing project, which will build 56 units of apartment for the poor, handicapped, seniors and single mothers.
In 2000, Danny organized the Canadian Mackay Committee which includes the Presbyterian Church in Canada, The United Church of Canada, the Mackay family, Oxford County, the Academia, the Taiwanese community and the Taiwanese government for the purpose of recognizing Dr. George Leslie Mackay, the first Canadian missionary to Taiwan in 1872, as a significant Canadian and promoting the friendship between people of Taiwan and Canada through his legacy. The Committee has successfully persuaded the Ontario government to erect a plaque in memory of Dr. Mackay in 2001 and brought smoothly the twinning relationship between the township of Tamsuia and Oxford in 2000. The statue of Dr. Mackay is expected to be unveiled in November of 2003.
In his spare time, Danny enjoys reading, studying and listening to music. He likes to play Ping-Pong and basketball and he runs regularly in the morning. Danny's wife Peggy is a very active leader in the Taiwanese ministry. Jessica is a senior at Burlingame High School.
Kevin Morgenstern was born in Brooklyn, New York and raised in Westchester County, which lies in New York's beautiful Hudson River Valley. In 1973, Kevin relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area. An aspiring rock and roll guitarist and songwriter, Kevin played locally in many bands through the 1970's and 80's. In 1980 he married and has three children.
In 1993, Kevin and his family joined BUMC. They became very active members and took advantage of the many educational and discipleship formation opportunities available at BUMC, including Disciple Bible Study and the Stephen Ministry.
Not long after her arrival at BUMC, Associate Pastor Laurie McHugh launched Evenings at the River, a multi-sensory worship experience. Kevin was invited to join the worship band she was forming, Healing Stream. His role with Healing Stream as musician, songwriter and worshiper evolved and he is currently Associate Leader for Contemporary Worship at Burlingame United Methodist Church. As is the case with all of the members of Healing Stream, using music to help people focus on and connect with God, is Kevin's passion. He currently leads the band and congregation in musical worship at "Evenings at the River" on Friday evenings at 7:30 p.m. & on Sundays at the 9:00 a.m. contemporary service.
Thierry Spelle was born in Paris, France. He received his early musical training there, and as a choirboy at the Cathedral of Chartres, France, where, later, he became Assistant Organist. He has held positions in Paris, France, in New York City and New Jersey, and more recently in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He holds music degrees from France, and a Master of Music degree from Westminster Choir College, Princeton, New Jersey. He is a resident of San Francisco.
Born in Lucerne, Switzerland in 1957 Ursula was raised in Millbrae, Ca., and was the third of what would become a family of seven children. A graduate of Mills High School, Ursula attended the Bryman School and was employed as a Medical Assistant before accepting a position at Peninsula Hospitals Radiology department. She was married in 1980 and had the first of her three children in 1982. Shortly thereafter, Ursula left the work force to devote herself to raising her three children. Wellalmostbecause it was at this time that Ursula served as part time office manager for her husband Kevins business. Additionally in her spare time, Ursula took floral design classes at CSM. She became an accomplished floral designer and ran Morninglory Floral Design.
The obligations of driving to soccer games, piano and guitar lessons, serving as PTA president, keeping house, managing her husbands business and running Morninglory Floral Design was rewarding but demanding. In 1998 with her children all in school and on their way, Ursula decided to re-enter the work force. Her timing was perfect, as the position of Office Manager at BUMC had just opened. Her application was accepted and Ursula began a new career that has evolved into a ministry.
Like many of her generation, Ursula's spiritual journey began as a child, attending weekly Sunday School at both Methodist and Lutheran Churches. After leaving the church for a period of time, she renewed her faith as she began to attend BUMC in 1991. At first Ursula came primarily to give her children the same experience shed had as a child. But God had other plans and Ursula found herself becoming more committed to her church as God took center stage in her life. Ursula served as a Stephen Minister, completed the Disciple I and II in-depth Bible study program, taught Sunday School, served as the Wedding Coordinator for five years, served on the Missions team, Church and Society teams, Council on Ministries, Vision Board and currently serves on the Church Council and the Finance Team and helps to provide crafts for children at 9 a.m. Sunday Worship Celebration.
I really couldn't have a more rewarding job, Ursula says. Yes, at times its a very busy office, but surrounded by giving, caring, volunteers and a very supportive staff, I am constantly reminded of Gods presence.
Ursula and Kevin just celebrated their 25th wedding anniversay. Son Matthew is 25, and daughters Danielle and Hailey are 22 and 16 respectively. They are the joys of her life. Others joys include biking, gardening, and long walks with Kevin.