Jesse, his wife Mary, and children, Graham, Cameron and Connor, arrived in Chico on December 9, 2007 to begin their ministry at First Christian Church and the community of Chico. Both Mary and Jesse went to seminary in Johnson City, Tennessee and each served Disciple congregations in Southwest Virginia.
After seminary, Jesse continued to serve his student church for two years, then he received a call to be the Associate Regional Minister for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Virginia. He spent nine years working for the Region and developed programs for youth and men's ministries, outdoor ministries, new congregational establishment and working with candidates preparing for ordination.
Jesse is currently pursuing his doctor or ministry degree at Lexington Theological Seminary in Kentucky. His project deals with the ministry of the church in postmodern times.
Briony's family moved to the Chico area in late 1996 to be closer to her grandfather. She attended Butte College and received her BS at CSU, Chico. After working on her MS for two years she opened the Yarn Shoppe in Oroville which subsequently closed three years later in 2007. June 23rd, 2008 she started as Secretary at First Christian Church. She lives in Oroville, in the house her grandparents built, with her husband and their menagerie of 5 cats, dog and several aquarium fish.
