Pastor
Having served as Solo Pastor in Vallejo, Co-Pastor in El Cerrito, and as an advocate to set up food programs for children, Pastor Barbara has a heart for urban outreach. She likes the idea of going where people are naturally forming communities to find Christ. She’s happy to be the first female Pastor of Faith Lutheran in Castro Valley and appreciates the three-part mission focus on music, youth and a food pantry which feeds 10,000 per year.
Originally from upstate NY, Pastor Barbara earned her BS from Cornell University, where she was awarded the Freeman Prize in Peace Studies. Finding a spiritual home in the Bay Area, she completed her M. Div. at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary (PLTS). Having lived in Russia and Slovakia, she now lives in Berkeley with her husband and 2 sons, is chairperson of the Synod’s Stewardship Discipling Team and on the C-4 (anti-racism committee) of PLTS. In her free time, she loves to dance, bike and do yoga.
