Meet our Pastor - Laurel Underwood Brundage

The Reverend Laurel Underwood Brundage is the first woman ordained to ministry of Word and Sacrament in a family that celebrates two generations of ministry in the U.S. and four generations of mission service in Korea.

She and her husband are both second career pastors who began their ministry together, serving churches in Ohio and Western Pennsylvania as co-pastors before six years in Eastern PA, where Steve did interim work while Laurel served as an installed pastor. They moved to Delaware early in 2009, after Steve accepted a call to be the pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Newark. Laurel was the interim pastor of Rock Presbyterian in Fair Hill, Maryland before coming here to Pencader as our "temporary supply" pastor.

Laurel's childhood fascination with the Korean culture led to a life-long appreciation of the marvelous diversity of God's created peoples and a passion for multicultural ministry that she shares with friends, colleagues and churches. She is a frequent presenter at national PC(USA) multicultural conferences.

Laurel is a musician (her first career) who sings, plays piano, accompanies University Singers at U.D. and occasionally writes songs, hymns and anthems. She loves reading, her cat Lilly, and outdoor air, especially swimming, sailing, or anything to do with water (especially the salty ocean). She also loves to travel to new places, favorite spots, or to see her grown children, Bonnie and son-in-law Tim, James, and Amy and son-in-law Shaun.

Meet our Session

Moderator- The Rev. Laurel Brundage, Class of 2011 - Mignon Gravett, Denise Marino, Diane Shorter. Class of 2012 - Brian Huffman, Joy Mauthe, Lance Shorter. Class of 2013 - Ann Cool, Earnie Davis.

Our clerk of session is Sandy Averitt.

Treasurer - Denise Marino

Worship Team - Diane Shorter

Church Property Team - Lance Shorter

Acts 16:5 Vision Team - Mignon Gravett

Stewardship Team - Earnie Davis

IT Team- Brian Huffman

Meet Melinda Benson – Director of Music and Pianist

Melinda is a native of upstate NY. Always an avid performer, she went on to pursue music in college. As an undergrad, she attended SUNY Potsdam Crane School of Music, where she majored in music and voice and received her Bachelor of Arts degree in 2000. In 2000 Melinda moved to Newark to pursue an assistant management job at Music and Arts Center in Wilmington. After three years in this position, Melinda and her husband, Michael Carbone, moved to Iowa in order for her to pursue her Masters degree in voice performance. At Iowa, Melinda was offered both a teaching assistantship and an opera scholarship. After completing her Masters degree in 2005, she went on to complete her doctorate in voice performance and pedagogy at Iowa in December of 2007. Melinda is currently finishing her thesis paper and plans to graduate in May 2011.

After completing the coursework and necessary recitals for her doctorate at Iowa, Melinda and her husband decided to move closer to family before the birth of their first child. She and Michael currently reside in the Glasgow area and have two children, Enzo Carbone, who will be three in January, and Lucia Carbone, 21 months. She is a certified Kindermusik instructor and taught most recently at the Bear-Glasgow YMCA. She is also an active performer in the Philadelphia area and have performed with the Opera Company of Philadelphia, Center Stage Opera, Center City Opera, Delaware Valley Opera, and Concert Opera Philadelphia. Melinda currently teaches private voice and piano lessons at her home and runs her own jewelry business, Premier Designs Jewelry.