Staff

Rev. Colin Kerr-Carpenter was appointed as senior pastor to our church on July 1, 2017. Previous to his appointment to our church, he served as pastor of the Federated Church of Orland in Orland, California. Rev. Kerr-Carpenter began his ministry in upstate New York. He also has served as Conference Coordinator of Youth and Camping Ministries for the California-Nevada Conference of The United Methodist Church.

Pastor Colin, as he prefers to be called, is a graduate of the University of the Pacific and the Boston University School of Theology. He is a sixth generation Californian and grew up in Kerman, California. He is married to the Rev. Dr. Kathy Kerr-Carpenter and they have three daughters: Emma, who lives in Billings, Montana, and is a state representative to the Montana State Legislature; Katie Morgan, a middle school math teacher living in Elk Grove; and Anna, also living in Billings and working as communications coordinator for a non-profit organization in Montana.

With over 30 years of ministry experience, Pastor Colin considers it a blessing to be serving such a dynamic community as the Walnut Creek United Methodist Church. He is passionate about providing a space for ALL to experience and grow in the life-giving message of Jesus that proclaims the power of God’s love.

Carol Morris has served as the Director of Music/Arts in some capacity since 1990. She developed a mid-week children’s choir, a youth choir and a one week summer music camp that is still building the love of musicals in the lives of elementary children.

A graduate of Indiana State University, she earned her Bachelors and Master’s degree in music education majoring in piano and bassoon. Simultaneously with her first job as a high school choral director in Indiana, she also began a lifelong career of directing Methodist Church Choirs. Along the way, she has directed musicals including the King and I, Once Upon a Mattress and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat. Expanding the Sanctuary Choir’s experiences to sing in venues like the Lesher Theater with the Diablo Symphony, the Concord Pavilion, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Masterworks Festival Chorus at Carnegie Hall have created a broad scope for her music passion and mission.

At Walnut Creek United Methodist Church Carol serves as the Director of Music/Arts. She developed a mid-week children’s choir, a youth choir and a one week summer music camp that is still building the love of musicals in the lives of elementary children. She is a past president of Chorister’s Guild and Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity. Carol is the mother of two daughters and six grandchildren.

Tessique Houston became our Director of Handbells in August, 2013. She began ringing here in 2005. Tessique holds a Bachelor of Music in Music Education from the University of Nevada, Reno, where her main instrument was flute. She has been ringing handbells since she fell in love with them during her student teaching in 1995.

As an active musician, Tessique currently rings with Sonos Handbell Ensemble and Tapestry Ringers and Singers, teaches at various handbell clinics throughout the area, and works part time as a substitute teacher for the Mt. Diablo School District. She is also an active member of The Handbell Musicians of America and Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity.

Tessique has reconnected with the son she gave up for adoption years ago. She and her husband, Brian, are enjoying their new status as grandparents. In her spare time she enjoys reading, crossword puzzles, and pushing Brian off cliffs!

Dr. Natalie Chan Ning has been our resident organist and pianist since June 2019. She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Southern California. Previous to her position at our church, Natalie served as Parish Organist for the Saint Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Fullerton, California. She also is a private teacher in organ, piano, and music theory.

Natalie is our principal organist and pianist for our Sunday worship service. She also accompanies when needed for special musical offerings and acts as our organist/pianist for weddings and memorial services.

Michelle Brown has been the youth director for our church since 2012 and a member since 2008. With a Bachelors of Music degree in education and a Masters of Music degree in trumpet performance, she is a music teacher, trumpet player and all around lover of kids. When not with students, she can be found at the dog park with her two “little’s”- Louie and CoCo.

Michelle and her wife Tina have been together for over 20 years and found our church through a brass performance group. Born and raised in Mississippi, Michelle was shocked by the rainbow flag on the church sign and wondered if they knew what it meant. After attending services as a trumpet performer, she and Tina realized that a faith community was something they both had been missing and began attending regularly. They eventually joined the choir and became members.

When the last youth director moved away for bigger things, Michelle decided to offer her gifts and bring some long-term stability to the program. She frequently tells the youth that they will never get rid of her and feels so blessed to work for a church that always goes the extra mile for the youth. Her favorite thing about working at our church is that we don’t just talk the talk; we truly walk the walk as both disciples of Jesus Christ and as a dedicated reconciling congregation. All absolutely means All.

Corrie Binker began attending our church in August of 2000 when she moved here with her husband Monty, and 2 daughters Hilary and Claire, from Truckee, California.

Corrie is an alumna of many colleges and universities owing to her persistent vision of attaining her BA in English, even as she and her family moved around the West. She finally received her BA, Teaching Credential, and Special Ed Certificate from California State University, East Bay, in 2005.

With her background in teaching and church work, it was an easy transition for her to start heading up the Sunday School at WCUMC in 2010, and then adding in directing the Bus Stop After School Program in 2011, thereby creating what is currently called the Children’s Ministries Program.

Sharing books, art, music and nature with children, as well as the love of the Lord, are Corrie’s callings. She considers herself blessed many times over to be fulfilling her callings and doing it all right here at WCUMC. She believes that people should grow up but never grow old.

Randy Short has been at Walnut Creek UMC since October 2016 after returning to California after living in Alaska. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from California Baptist University in Riverside, CA where he played soccer on scholarship. Randy currently coordinates our building use, and the receiving and disseminating of both written and email communications. He’s responsible for publishing our weekly e-newsletter, is the editor of our monthly newsletter, the Walnut Leaves, and updates our church website. He is also responsible for creating our Sunday worship bulletin (or for now, the on-line bulletin/slides).

When not at Walnut Creek UMC, Randy enjoys camping and overlanding, theater, and living history. Originally from Livermore, Randy presently resides in Martinez with his two children.

Bethany Lim began working at Walnut Creek in July 2020, previously having worked at Rainbow Community Center as the Communications Coordinator and Event Planning/Fundraising Director. At WCUMC, she manages all social media platforms, supports website development and maintenance, and collaborates with other staff on various other forms of communication.

She has her BA from New College of CA, and her Masters from John F. Kennedy University. Originally from Upstate New York (Syracuse area), Bethany has lived in various places around the Bay Area for the last 20 years, finally settling in Concord with her twins.

A lifelong Methodist, Bethany found out about WCUMC in 2016 through Rainbow, and began attending regularly in 2017, becoming a member in November that year- Pastor Colin’s first member class.