MEET  THE  STAFF

DIRECTOR OF “YOUR DREAM JOB” IN MINISTRY

Looking for the perfect ministry position to use the gifts and passions that God has placed on your heart? How would you like to write your own job description? First United Presbyterian Church (FUPC) of Belleville, IL is seeking a partner in ministry to join our team as we step out in faith and build systems to sustain us in a new era of being and doing church. We are a grace-filled church with a flexible staff that believes in doing good ministry while taking good care of one another. FUPC does not believe that the church in 2023 can be the same as it was even in 2019. The world has changed and continues to evolve. As such, we are evolving as well. Click here to read the full "job description."

RETIREMENT ANNOUNCEMENT

Friends in Christ,

 

We have some news to share that is both exciting and sad. Stephanie Foltz has faithfully served God through the position of FUPC’s Director of Christian Education for over 20 years. She has decided to open a new chapter in the great story of her life starting this June. I will let Stephanie share the news with you in her own words below. I will simply say that I will be forever grateful for the impact that Stephanie has had on my ministry, my family, our church, and our community. More updates and future plans will unfold in the months ahead.

 

God bless Stephanie Foltz…

Pastor Rob

 

Letter from Stephanie…

 

After much prayer and discernment, 2023 is the year I will begin a new season in my life! In June, I will retire as FUPC’s Director of Christian Education to become a fulltime grandmother, mother, sister, and daughter. I will be moving to Delaware to share in the care of my two youngest grandsons (one arriving in March!).

 

I am announcing my retirement this early to give the Personnel Committee of Session and the staff time to pray for and dream about FUPC’s future. Knowing that God is faithful, and God’s steadfast love endures forever, I wonder what God already has planned for FUPC?

 

I have loved my ministry here at FUPC. My family arrived in August 1993, and I joined the church staff in 2000. This is the longest I have been a member of a church! You have been my family as well as my church home, and I am so grateful and I will miss you all.

 

Okay! Enough for today! We still have work to do between now and the beginning of June – preparing lessons to share God’s love with children on Wednesdays, leading worship and telling stories of God in Children’s Chapel, organizing Souper Bowl of Caring and PYC Mystery Day, planning adult faith formation, and doing so much more as the hands and feet of Christ.

 

In Christ’s service,

Stephanie

 

  • REV. ROBERT J. DYER    he/him

    senior pastor/head of staff

    Pastor Rob is the Senior Pastor and Head of Staff at FUPC. Born and raised in Belleville, Rob graduated from Belleville West High School and went on to receive degrees in Electrical Engineering from Princeton University and Purdue University. After a career in computers and project management, Rob left engineering to pursue his lifelong passion for ministry in 2002. He earned his Master of Divinity degree from Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond, VA. From July 2005 until November 2012, he served as Pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Mt. Vernon, IL. Rob has a particular interest in linking the needs of the community with the passions of its Christian servants. As a public speaker (www.robdyerspeaker.com), Rob enjoys speaking to various organizations and churches looking to transform lives.  Rob’s wife, Dr. Sarah Dyer, oversees a clinical psychology practice in the area. They have 4 children. Rob enjoys time with family, playing basketball/softball, coaching youth sports, reading, playing guitar/piano and dabbling with technology/computers.

  • REV. ALEXANDRA K. LYSDAHL    she/her

    associate pastor

    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    she/her

    director of christian education

    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 Partners in Christian Education (APCE) and serves as a POINT (Presbyterians Organized in Nurture and Teaching) Rep for the Presbytery of Giddings-Lovejoy. Stephanie enjoys taking walks, gardening, learning to paint with watercolors, traveling to see her family (especially her grandsons, two in Alaska and two in Delaware), plus exploring and photographing God’s awesome creation. 

  • Renée Wilson

    WYATT LENHART    he/him

    director of youth ministries + digital media

    Wyatt is the Director of Youth Ministries and Digital Media at FUPC. Born in Danville, IL, Wyatt has lived back and forth between Illinois and Indiana. He graduated from Georgetown Ridge-Farm High School before attending Lincoln Christian University earning his Bachelor of Arts in Youth and Family Ministry. While there he served at different churches in their youth ministries and many different camp ministries. Wyatt has a passion for students and for his lovely wife, Katelyn Bailey-Lenhart. 

  • JAMI OLSEN    she/her

    Front Office Administrative Assistant

    Jami is the church’s part-time Administrative Assistant.  She was born and raised in Belleville, graduating from Belleville West, Belleville Area College (SWIC), and Illinois State University.  She has lived in Swansea since 1990. Jami retired from full-time employment in the summer of 2021.  To remain active she decided to return to work part-time with a nonprofit organization and joined FUPC's staff in September 2022. Her son and daughter-in-law blessed her with a beautiful granddaughter on her birthday in 2022!  They reside in Belleville.  Jami enjoys spending time with family and friends, yoga, reading, and spending as much time as possible outside walking, hiking, and gardening.  


  • DR. ANDY JENSEN    he/him

    director of music ministries

    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     she/her

    pianist/accompanist

    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     he/him

    worship music leader

    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.