Introducing Drew

Reflections from the APNC

When I first met Drew on paper, I was intrigued to learn more about this person who seemed to embody our search so perfectly. As I have come to know him over many hours of conversations, I have seen Drew’s heart and passion to love our neighbors, often by simply showing up and standing in solidarity with anyone in need. We are blessed to have been led to this call, and I am so excited to see how we at First Pres Berkeley will lean into our call to show up in the days and years ahead.
—Eric Mowat, Co-Chair

We found ourselves thinking about our conversations with Drew long after they ended. There was something about the way he brought together scripture, art, history, and local context that cultivated internal spiritual work in us but also made us want to roll up our sleeves and get to work. He gently showed us the ways in which outreach and justice ministry are both inner and outer work.
—Bridget Satchwell, Co-Chair

Aristotle was on to something when he said “friendship is a slow ripening fruit.” Many wonder why this process takes so long (including us at times!), but the fruit of this time and labor is finding a candidate (and friend) right here in Berkeley. Drew is wise beyond his years yet humble, compassionate, and passionate, and he’s a deep listener who shows up close to the pain to serve again and again.
—Julia Bailey

What a blessing it is that God brought to us a candidate who not only lives in the Bay Area, but actually lives in Berkeley. Drew and his wife consciously chose to move their family across the country to live in Berkeley. Drew is already familiar with many of the local areas of need, and he has shown us his heart in trying to address these needs.
—Kathy Dwyer

Every time we asked Drew to prepare something and share it with us, he blew us away. He’s creative, authentic, a collaborator at heart and has had a long-term passion for faith-based justice and outreach work. I’m excited to see what’s ahead for our church and our community with Drew as part of the pastoral team.
—Cathy Laymon

Drew is passionate about justice, and his past experiences working with poverty, racial justice, and immigration really impressed me. It is clear that he would be serving in these areas whether or not they were part of his job. Paired with his artistic side, Drew brings a unique combination of skills and interests, and I am excited to see how he leads our church forward.
—Paul Loscutoff

Drew is a person whose quiet, shy demeanor doesn’t immediately reveal his unique vision, compassionate heart, and commitment to justice. The complexity yet simplicity of his ideas is infused with scripture at every level. He was totally authentic and humble with us. He is a relational, innovative, and insightful pastor who listens with both his heart and mind. He will be a breath of fresh air to First Pres. He truly wants to walk closely in Christ’s footsteps, reaching out to those on the margin, those who want to be in community, and those who are seekers.
—Monica Munger

From our first interview with Drew, I sadly had to abandon the idea of searching for a person of color and accept that our job was to find the best person and the best fit for First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley. Without any reservation, Drew was our “guy.” We could feel the presence of the Lord with every step we took with Drew. Our congregation will be blessed in ways even our APNC haven’t imagined.
—Vent Traylor

A Note from the Senior Pastor

In every conversation and interaction I have had with Drew, I have found that my hope and excitement and joy for ministry has grown. His love of Jesus, people, and the church is contagious in a way that you can’t help but want to turn around and spread that love in your own life. I am confident that Drew will not only be a gift to the congregation but also to his colleagues on staff.
—The Rev. Dr. Charlene Han Powell

A Note from our Missional Engagement Pastor, Temporary Supply

At last I was to meet the new candidate. We met on the Plaza, and in this first encounter with Drew he was welcoming and comfortable in ways that drew me into meaningful conversation. I have a sense that Drew will build strong relationships with congregants and community leaders. I cherish my time on the Mission and Outreach Committee and thank you for your love and support. I look forward to beginning my new role as Parish Associate, working with seminarians, teaching, and deepening my relationship with you, the staff, and Drew in the years ahead.
—The Rev. Tom Elson

Drew’s Biography

I was born in Yonkers, NY and raised in nearby Irvington—a small, affluent, 90% white village and suburb to NYC. I studied theatre at the State University of New York in Albany, and then received my BA from Hunter College while I (briefly) pursued a career as an actor in NYC. After graduation I took a job as a project coordinator for Bridges to Community in Nicaragua, where I had previously volunteered. I lived and worked among some of the most severely impoverished people in the western hemisphere—and learned from them more than I could ever possibly convey. It was there that I became committed to economic and racial justice work and to immigrant rights, and from there that I discerned a call to ministry.

While completing my MDiv at Union Theological Seminary in NYC I interned with the Poverty Initiative, Interfaith Worker Justice, and in the homeless outreach program at Jan Hus Presbyterian Church. I also met my wife Selene—a student at Columbia University School of Social Work at the time—in a joint “poverty-immersion” course. We traveled through Appalachia meeting with poor peoples organizations, wept and raged together over mountaintop-removal mining and human deprivation, and fell in love.

In the years that followed she ascended through the ranks of the ACLU to become a deputy national political director, and I went on to serve progressive, eclectic, justice-oriented congregations in urban, rural, and suburban New York. I served on the national board of More Light Presbyterians, helped to found two local chapters of Showing Up For Racial Justice, and led South Presbyterian Church in Dobbs Ferry, NY, to become the first worshipping community in its county to provide sanctuary to an immigrant family facing imminent threat of deportation. We also became parents. Beckett (7) is a perceptive and deeply feeling kid with startingly good rhythm and a deep love of words. Serafina (5) is an impish and adventurous kid with a sidesplitting sense of humor and a deep love of dance. They both love bugs.

At the end of July, 16 months into the pandemic, we made the extraordinarily difficult decision to pick up and move our family across the country. This strange season—for all its challenges—has given us space to dream that was unavailable to us in seasons past. We’ve thought long and hard about what we most want for our children. We’ve thought, felt, listened, and remembered our way to some key truths: A) We want them to grow up surrounded by the splendor of the natural world—near to the ocean, the forest, the hills. B) We want them to grow up immersed in human diversity and committed to progressive social movements. C) We want them to grow up nourished by the arts—not just highly-polished final products, but gritty, playful, collaborative art in progress. As we began to hone in on these things it became clear that the Bay Area would be the place of greatest possibility for our family.

A colleague in ministry used to say that of all the words used to describe our role—minister, pastor, preacher, priest—the one he most preferred was the Old French “parson,” which simply meant “person.” It’s the simplest, oldest, most universal, most important, and, I suppose, most difficult calling which is reflected also in the mission statement of the church I served for the last five years: “To aid one another in the work of becoming more fully human.” That’s the only work that really interests me. I think this is what I’ve always been after: in punk rock and parenthood, vegetable gardening and antiracist organizing, in yoga and EMDR therapy, in slam poetry and parish ministry, in Brooklyn, the ‘burbs, and the barrios of Nicaragua, and—most recently, for me—onstage and in front of the camera, as an actor. It seems that what the world needs now more than ever is people willing and wanting and working to be human. I’m trying to answer that call.

Drew’s Statement of Faith

I believe in one God, encountered and engaged in many and diverse legitimate ways.

God loved the world into being
and from many disparate threads
wove one great and colorful tapestry of relationship,
so that by knowing one another we might come to know God
and experience together the joy of sharing God’s rich abundance.
Creation isn’t an isolated event in the distant past
but an ongoing work in which God invites our participation.
Though human brokenness disfigures God’s good creation,
God still provides for us and persists with us,
renewing in every moment our call
to be both stewards of the world that is
and heralds of the world to come.

The Holy Spirit is the invisible, invigorating, and uniting current that runs through all creation—
within us, among us, and beyond us—
igniting human imagination
confounding earthly expectation
breathing life into lost causes
and unleashing new possibilities.

God’s identity and will are embodied in Jesus Christ.
Born to an impoverished, unwed, teenage mother,
reared under the thumb of empire,
and steeped in the tradition of the prophets,
Jesus saw the world from the underside of history and the vantage point of God,
and proclaimed the already/not yet Kingdom of Heaven.

Jesus fed the hungry, healed the sick, and proclaimed release to prisoners.
He offered community to those cast out and forgiveness to those burdened with guilt.
He spoke the truth in love from the streets to the temple to the halls of power.
He railed against the conventional wisdom
concerning power, wisdom, wealth, and worth;
and promised that in God’s new reality the last would be first.
It was in this way that Jesus offered a salvation that was both material and spiritual,
both personal and societal,
with implications for this world and the next.
It was in this way that Jesus came to be known to us as Lord and Savior,
and to others as heretic, outside agitator, and enemy of the state.
It was because of this that we learned the meaning of love
and named him God with us,
and because of this that he was killed.

With his willingness to die for God’s vision and people,
Jesus pried open the grip of sin and injustice,
transformed pain into purpose,
unraveled the powers of death,
and paved the way for resurrection life.
In the weeks after Jesus’ execution the disciples experienced his presence among them.
They heard his peace, touched his wounds, and tasted his bread.
By the power of the Holy Spirit
they were driven out from the locked room where they had huddled in fear
into the world that still thirsted for good news.

Rooted in the still-speaking word of God,
claimed as God’s beloved in the waters of baptism,
restored by the bread of life,
and propelled by the power of the Holy Spirit,
the church too is called out
and drawn together as Christ’s body in the world—
each member with her own integral gifts to share
and her own sacred role to play
in the still unfolding drama of God’s love and justice.