Meet the Team

  • Lead Pastor

    Brett has over 30 years of pastoral experience. He holds an MDiv from Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta, GA and a PhD in Theological Studies from the Graduate Theological Foundation with his residency at Christ Church College, Oxford University, UK.

    He has served churches in the Oregon-Idaho Conferences: Lake Oswego UMC; Parkrose UMC (Portland); Newman UMC (Grants Pass); and Christ UMC (Portland).

    He and his wife Melinda have two grown sons. They are both excited to back in Southern Oregon.

  • Minister of Outreach and Spiritual Formation

    Dorita was born & raised in Brazil, as the daughter of Methodist missionaries, She moved to Oregon in 1989 with her husband Bruce and has served in three churches in the Rogue Valley.  

    Dorita has a B.A. and a Master's Degree in Christian Education and is an ordained Deacon in the United Methodist Church. Dorita’s passion is to create spaces where people can form meaningful relationships, with one another and with God, while growing in their faith journey and serving the world through actions of justice and mercy.

    Dorita and Bruce have raised two wonderful children, both now young adults, and together they also created a third beloved “offspring” – a fuzzy, free-spirited puppet named Sherman. A lifelong athlete, Dorita enjoys cycling, running and volunteering as a volleyball coach at the YMCA and Ashland High School.

  • Director of Music

    Sacred music has been a part of Adam’s life from the very beginning. He attended his first church choir rehearsal in-utero. This was followed up by yearly treks to Wisconsin for family reunions that culminated in a day-long Welsh hymn sing - a Gymanfa Ganu. Since then, he has sung, played and prayed with Presbyterians, Disciples of Christ, United Church of Christ, Methodist, Episcopal, Reformed and Conservative Jewish, Catholic, and Non-Denominational congregations in Ohio, Minnesota, Oregon and beyond. He is excited to live out what he understands as God's calling in his life: to help people worship God through music. 

    • Locally, he has performed with Camelot Theater (piano), sung with the Southern Oregon Repertory Singers (tenor) and joined Jefferson Baroque Orchestra as Tenor soloist, in addition to other work with local congregations and choirs. Currently, he is the General Music Specialist at Hoover Elementary in Medford, molding musical minds from Kinder to 5th grade. His wife, Christina is a Clinical Chaplain with Providence Hospice. Together they parent two teenagers attending Ashland High School. 

  • Office Manager

    Hi, I’m Patti Kirsch, I am the office Manager at FUMC. I am responsible for the weekly Eblast, the Sunday bulletin, and taking care of facility rentals.

    My background has been in television production where I worked as a post - production supervisor and a voice director for an animation company.

    Pre pandemic, I owned a small gourmet cheese, wine and charcuterie shop in Jacksonville.

    I have two daughters, one in Portland and one in Pasadena.

    In my spare time last year, I participated in a work group along with Rep. Pam Marsh and Sen. Ron Golden to pass legislation limiting rent increases in mobile home parks to 6%, an insightful journey which taught me a lot about how people can organize to affect change.

  • Questioner par Excellence

    You might say that I am Dorita's "Right Hand Man", and frequently help out with the Children’s Message.

    When everyone else is confused, I lead the way in setting the record straight.

    Occasionally, I get it all wrong and Dorita has to gently explain where my logic has failed me.

    But that doesn't happen too often. Wait ... why is everyone groaning now?