Rev. Dr. Lea Brown - Senior Pastor
Rev. Dr. Lea D. Brown is proud to be serving MCC of the Palm Beaches in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida as Senior Pastor. She has also served as the senior minister of the Metropolitan Community Church of San Francisco (MCCSF) and as the senior pastor of Wichita Falls MCC in Texas. Before that, she was the acting executive director of the Metropolitan Community Foundation in San Francisco. In addition to leading the foundation, Rev. Brown served as volunteer clergy at MCCSF following her ordination there in 1996. During that time, she preached, led retreats, served as the pastor of spiritual development, and taught many classes and programs on spiritual growth, and the intersections of gender, sexuality and spirituality, and social justice.
Throughout the 1990s, Rev. Brown was a staff member at the Spectrum Center for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Concerns in Marin County, just north of San Francisco. As the program director there, she developed and coordinated an extensive Speakers’ Bureau and numerous community programs for LGBT youth, young adults, seniors and families. During her years in seminary, Brown served as a Chaplain Candidate (2nd Lieutenant) in the U.S. Army from 1988 to 1989. Rev. Brown received her education from Oklahoma Baptist University, Shawnee, Oklahoma; Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary, Mill Valley, California; Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley, California; and the Episcopal Divinity School, Cambridge, MA.
Email Rev. Lea at Lea@MCCPalmBeach.org
Jeremiah Cummings - Music Minister/Office
Jeremiah Cummings joined the MCC of the Palm Beaches' staff at the beginning of January 2009, after serving as the Minister of Celebration of The Rock MCC for the past five years. Originally from Camden, Ohio, he was raised as a devout Pentecostal, attending the Church of God that his grandmother still pastors. He came to MCC after several years in music ministry in the Church of God and Assembly of God denominations.
Jeremiah has studied Sacred Music at Lee University and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, and is looking forward to continuing his education here in the Palm Beaches.
As a performer, Jeremiah has sung across the world, including Ireland and London, and has been given the opportunity to sing backup vocals for gospel artists Karen Wheaton, Alvin Slaughter and country queen Dolly Parton. As a worship leader in the MCC, he has been a part of MCC's Rainbow Revival in New Orleans and Regional Conference 2006 in Ft. Lauderdale, where he also presented a workshop on Blended Music as a part of the worship experience.
Email Jeremiah at Jeremiah@MCCPalmBeach.org.
Brian Ladd - Pastoral Associate
Our Pastoral Associate, Brian Ladd, came to MCC of the Palm Beaches in 2006. Having served as an ordained minister in the Church of God of Prophecy for twenty years, Brian has a folksy, humorous ministry style and a tremendous passion for worship and community outreach.
As a teenager, Brian began traveling throughout the country preaching and singing in local churches, denominational conventions and conferences, and in youth camps. He studied Practical Ministry at Tomlinson College in Cleveland, TN. Brian has served on the pastoral staffs of three local churches. After serving one loving congregation in Florida for 13 years, Brian resigned from active ministry to pursue a deeper relationship with God that would lead him to a greater understanding of God’s radical grace and acceptance and also to a place of peace and acceptance of himself as a gay man.
Brian’s mantra is, “God created us to live!” and encourages everyone, where ever they are on their journeys, to find the grace and freedom to live as God intended. “There is no greater way to serve the One who made us,” he says.
Brian and his partner, contemporary Christian singer and writer, Shawn Thomas, live in Boynton Beach with their dog, Zoe.
Email Brian at Brian@MCCPalmBeach.org.
Board of Directors
LuAnn Ellsworth
Bill Parrott
Cyndi Stigall
Matt Chambers
Barry Nicholson
Martha Varela
Deacons
Nancy Blaschke
Gail Gill
Kathy Olejniczak