On Sunday, November 11th, the First Baptist Church of Waltham welcomed their Interim Pastor, The Rev. Dr. Frank H. Armstrong. During his time in Waltham, Dr. Armstrong (a Watertown native) will lead the members of the church during their search for a Settled Pastor.
Pastor Armstrong recently finished a two-year Interim in Grafton, MA after retirement from the First Baptist Church of Weston, MA. He has served parishes in New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, Andover Newton Theological School, and holds a Doctorate in Pastoral Psychotherapy from the Department of Psychology and Clinical Studies at Andover Newton Theological School.
Dr. Armstrong has also served as a volunteer Fire-Fighter in Rhode Island during Graduate studies and then moved on to become a Certified Call Fire-Fighter, Chaplain and Nationally Registered EMT with the Strafford and Gilford/Laconia Fire Departments. He has taught Crisis Intervention and Management in a number of Public Safety Units and with the EMS C2 District in Laconia New Hampshire. He has been the Protestant Chaplain for the Waltham Fire Department for the last thirteen years.
Pastor Frank resides in Maynard with his wife Kristine. Before retiring, Kris taught 5th grade at The Brimmer and May School in Chestnut Hill.
Pastor Armstrong hopes to set a solid foundation in Ministry and mission for the next settled pastor using years of ministerial experience and training as an Interim pastor. This is an exciting time for the church and community as they anticipate bringing a new Settled Pastor on board in their efforts to serve the spiritual needs of the Waltham community. Please feel free to join us during this transitional period to welcome our new Interim Pastor.
Mrs. Suzanne DeGisi is our office manager. She is a dependable presence in our office. DeGisi stays on top of many of the little things that go unnoticed. She organizes parishioner data, filters and sorts the mail, and troubleshoots the office equipment or finds someone who can. DeGisi always is looking for better and more efficient ways to do things.
Ms. Elizabeth Keusch is our organist and choir director. Also, Beth is one of our soloists. Her singing and that of Maxwell Li’s enhance our worship services. As a vocalist, one of Beth’s specialties is difficult music, at which she excels. As our organist and choir director, Beth works well with our choir. She is a patient and professional director who pays attention to the little things that are so important to a choir. Our organ was refurbished a little over a year ago, and Beth gets the most out of it.
Our church is blessed with two custodians, Roselvia and Fredy Orozco. They work tirelessly to keep our church clean and tidy. Roselvia focuses on the building, and Fredy on the grounds, yet it is quite common to see them working together on a project. They diligently work to keep things in order, and to keep the church looking beautiful inside and out.