First Presbyterian Staff

Rob is a progressive Presbyterian Minister who has a passion for Biblical studies, writing contemporary liturgy and hymns, and helping people to live together in whole and healthy community.

A graduate of St. Andrews Presbyterian College in Laurinburg, North Carolina with a double major in Creative Writing and Marxian Political Analysis, Rob also holds a Masters of Divinity degree from San Francisco Theological Seminary in San Anselmo, California.

Rob’s first pastorate was at Covenant Presbyterian Church in New Orleans where he worked diligently for reform (and the repair) of public schools in the poorest neighborhoods of that city. He also was the co-founder of the Religious Access Channel which was housed at Covenant and served of the board of the Regional AIDS Interfaith Network (R.A.I.N.).

After leaving New Orleans, Rob served as the Chaplain for Warren Wilson College in Asheville, North Carolina and as the Pastor-in-Residence for the congregation that worshipped in the Warren Wilson Chapel. Rob also taught for the college in the area of Religion and Social Justice.

For over 6 years, Rob has served as the Pastor / Head of Staff of First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto while diligently working to make the National Church a more welcoming and inclusive body. He has been married to Do Martin (a talented liturgical artist) for the past 25 years, and they have two adult children—Cali Lee Martin and Bobby Martin.

Nan Swanson joined the staff as Associate Pastor in 2003.  Her areas of ministry have included Social Justice, Spiritual Direction, pastoral care, deacons, and worship. Growing up in Texas, you can still hear a bit of her southern origins in her speech patterns.  Married to Rollin, they have three grown children and 7 grandchildren. Outside of church, her loves are books, stitchery, cooking, art, opera, and nature. People are important to her both in church and out. Ministry really lights her lamp. She feels it a real privilege to serve such a gifted and committed congregation. 

Marissa is the newest staff person at First Pres. A local girl, Marissa grew up in Cupertino, attending Sunnyvale Presbyterian Church. Montreat, NC is a second home to Marissa, as she spent summers at her family's cottage in the mountains there in western North Carolina. She is also a student at Columbia Theological Seminary in Atlanta, and will graduate in May with Master of Divinity. She is convinced that God did some of God's best work in creating kids. She loves their energy, openness, caring and passion. She believes that youth ministry is about holding a young person's deepest identity until he or she is able to see it, too. The goal of her ministry is to be prayerfully present to them as loved and gifted and see and delighted in - until they see it, until they believe it, until they can live from it grounded in God's love. She is grateful to her own great cloud of witnesses - adults in her family and extended church family - that loved her and saw her and delighted in her as she grew up (and they still do!). Marissa is always up for a game of tennis. She is all about the Wii right now -- talking, laughing, jumping around all together as a family or group of friends, what could be better?
 

Music ministry is a powerfully motivating life force for Brad Croushorn.  There has never been a time when music, and sacred music in particular, was not an ever-present companion.  It is Brad’s hope that through creating music with others here at First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto, the outcome will be a church that is more intimate with God and loving to each other—a church that is better-equipped to communicate the compassion and love of Christ to all with whom we interact.

Brad joined the staff as Music Minister at First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto in 2008.  A diverse church musician, he plays organ and piano, conducts the children and adult choirs, accompanies talented musicians in the church and sings solos from time to time.  The palette of Brad’s musical taste and talent is reflected in the music in worship services.  It is also complemented by the colorful variety of members who participate in the music ministry in this church.  On any given Sunday you might hear standards of the classic church music repertoire, some very refreshing modern music and sometimes rare works which too often remain under-performed. 

A native of Virginia, Brad has spent well over a decade in New Jersey as an active church and temple musician, voice and piano teacher, choral and solo performer, accompanist and recording hobbyist.  While a graduate student at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, NJ he performed at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia and Avery Fisher Hall in New York. For many years he performed with the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival at his undergraduate alma mater, Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, VA.  He has also performed and recorded under the DTR label with the early music group, Collegium Musicum of Rutgers University and has sung with other community-based choirs and as a lyric bass-baritone in the genres of musical theater and light opera.  Currently, he sings with the Stanford University Early Music Singers.

As a Methodist Michigander, I was married into First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto with Peter Barney in October of 1966.  He had been a member since the mid 50's.  We were married almost 34 years when he died.  I have been part of various committees over the last 40 years, including membership and two Mission Study Task Forces in preparation for calling two new pastors.  I have been the Pledge and Gift Accountant since 1994 and pride myself as one of the congregants with a "church memory".  I am committed to the natural beauty of my transplanted home and First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto.

As the church’s main volunteer receptionist, Frances is the welcoming face that greets most visitors three mornings a week. Frances and her husband Jim moved to Palo Alto in 1963 and joined First Presbyterian Church in 1964, beginning an active life within the church community serving as choir member, elder, church school teacher, deacon and member of various committees. Their children--Margaret, Sarah and David--all attended church school and the youth group. All these opportunities were important gifts from the members of this church family. Now she gives back to the church, working with a fun, dedicated, talented and loving staff and helping make First Presbyterian Church a more welcoming community of faith.

I was born in Veracruz, Mexico in 1980. My family was very poor so I was only able to go to school until I was 13 years old. That was the year I was given my first pair of shoes so that I could work with the grownups. Mornings, I worked for our bosses and in the afternoons I helped cultivate the little plot of land that they let us use for our family. As a child living in our tiny cardboard shack, I dreamt of one day owning a nice solid house with its own yard, so when one of my brothers decided to make the trip north to the United States, I asked to come with him even though I was only 17. It was a difficult journey and an even harder transition to make once I got here and everything was new and different, especially the language.

I worked for 3 months in a carwash before getting a job as a dishwasher in a restaurant. I used my free time to help the cooks who taught me how to be a prep cook. When that job opened up I was promoted to work the grill with a guy whose cousin introduced me to my future wife, Rosa. It was while I was hanging out and trying to impress Rosa that I met and hit it off with Ozzie Osborne, a good and friendly man who taught me the art of gardening. When Rosa was offered the janitorial post here at First Pres, I came along to help her out and little by little wear down her resistance to my proposal (she said I was too young for her!). It worked. We were married on the anniversary of our first encounter, on March 6, 2001. Since that was also the year we became independent contractors with the church as one of our clients, we decided it was a good time for me to get my Green Card and start the process of becoming a US citizen. In 2007 I became a citizen and in 2008 I accepted the full-time job as sexton/custodian here at First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto.