Pastor Alex is the Associate Pastor at FUPC. She grew up in Peoria, IL, and went to Coe College (Cedar Rapids, IA) for her undergraduate studies, earning her Bachelor of Arts. While in Cedar Rapids she was involved in InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. Her call to ministry led her to complete her Master of Divinity at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, MI and her Master of Social Work from Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, Michigan. During graduate school, she was able to engage in ministry in a number of settings including college campus ministry, chaplaincy with the retired community, and as a social worker at a skilled nursing facility. Alex served as a hospital chaplain and a licensed social worker at a dialysis clinic prior to joining the team at FUPC in October of 2018. She remains a Licensed Social Worker (LSW) in the state of Illinois. Alex is passionate about meeting people where they are at and caring for all of God's people.  Alex's husband, Rev. Zach Lysdahl, is also a pastor serving a local church. They have two dogs (Nala and Phil). Alex enjoys spending time in God's creation, baking, gardening, and trying new things.

Stephanie Foltz joined the staff in November 2000. As Director of Christian Education, she works with the Christian Education Committee to oversee educational programming from birth through fifth grade and adults. Stephanie and her family relocated to this area on a military move in 1993. Originally from Winchester, Virginia, she has an undergraduate degree in History from Westhampton College of the University of Richmond and a graduate degree in Museum Education from the College of William and Mary. She is a member of the Association of Presbyterian Church Educators and volunteers in the Resource Center of the Presbytery of Giddings-Lovejoy. Stephanie enjoys taking walks, gardening, learning how to paint with watercolors, traveling to see her family (especially her grandsons, two in Alaska and one in Delaware), plus exploring and photographing God’s awesome creation. 

Renée joined the staff in August of 2021. She will be working with us primarily remotely from Ohio handling all of the ministry organization, training and communications that happen behind the scenes while we begin our search for a new Director of Youth Ministries + Digital Media. Renée will be doing some onsite visits as well helping us implement our youth ministry activities for the fall. Through her 15+ years of mentoring and ministering with children, youth, and young adults, Renée knows the value of building healthy teams and loves creating approaches around the vision of seeing more and more people come to know Christ. She is currently a consultant with Ministry Architects, a church consulting company that FUPC has worked with in the past. Although, Renée is working directly for us in this new role. Before devoting her days to full-time ministry, Renée earned her B.S. in Psychology from The Ohio State University and her Masters of Education and Educational Specialist Degree in School Psychology from the University of Cincinnati. She has served churches in rural, urban, and suburban settings, currently calling the east side of Columbus, Ohio home.

Andy Jensen joined our First United staff on August 1, 2012. As Director of Music Ministries his work includes directing the Chancel Choir and United Bells, and providing general oversight of our church music program. A native of central Illinois, Andy came to Belleville with a new appointment as Director of Choral Activities at Southwestern Illinois College in 2011. He served in a similar capacity from 2008-2011 at Arkansas Northeastern College. Andy held full graduate assistantships in choral music while pursuing the Master of Music at Illinois State University and Doctor of Musical Arts at The University of Southern Mississippi where he studied both conducting and educational pedagogy under Gregory Fuller, John Flannery, Karyl Carlson, James Major, and Timothy Fredstrom. He is married to Cathy, and they have two children, James and Eli. 

Diana Umali has assisted with the music ministry at the church since Nov. 2017, providing music for Sunday services and accompanying the Chancel Choir. Currently, she is a music professor at Southwestern Illinois College in Belleville, IL and enjoys performing chamber music with various groups in the St. Louis area.

Mat Conway works with Pastor Rob and Andy Jensen to design and implement new musical elements into our worship experiences so that God may be glorified, and that the people who worship at First United find themselves more fully engaged in meaningful and transformative worship. His goal is to use music in new ways that will naturally evolve from our traditional worship experience into something that will be a blessing for our current congregation and new visitors.

Satin Samuels works weekday mornings at the church to assist visitors, callers, and staff in a number of ways. Satin manages much of the schedule and support activities of the office.