Rev. David C. Fisher, Senior Minister

Reverend David Fisher has been a parish pastor for thirty-eight years. After graduating from seminary, he learned the pastoral craft in a decade of ministry in rural America. He has also served suburban and urban congregations in Minneapolis and Boston. In 2004, Plymouth Church called him to serve as its 10th “Settled Minister.” 

A graduate of Bryan College and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Reverend Fisher earned his Ph.D. in New Testament Interpretation at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He has also done additional graduate studies at Hebrew Union College and Indiana University. His academic specialty is the Jewish background of early Christianity. He has served as Instructor of New Testament at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and as Adjunct Professor of New Testament at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

Nearly forty years in pastoral ministry has honed a deep interest the theology and practice of the Christian ministry. He is a frequent speaker at clergy and denominational gatherings and has written numerous articles and a monograph, The Twenty-First Century Pastor: A Vision Based on the Apostle Paul (Zondervan, 1996).

He also has a life-long interest in preaching and the craft of preaching. In 2001 he served as a Fellow of College of Preachers at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., where he did research and writing on the New Homiletic.

The son of a pastor, David and his wife, Gloria, have three grown children and six grandchildren. His hobbies are motorcycling and gardening.

Bruce Oelschlager, Minister of Music

Bruce Oelschlager has an extensive background in choral conducting, which he studied with Kenneth Jennings at St. Olaf College. In Austria he studied with Frederick Gillespie, director of the Vienna Boys Choir. He has conducted choirs of all ages throughout his career and has directed youth musicals in several of the churches he has served. His work with youth choirs provides choristers with a solid foundation for choral singing when they reach adulthood. His adult choirs regularly perform oratorios and choral masterpieces. Besides his expertise in choral conducting, Mr. Oelschlager is an accomplished concert organist who has performed throughout the U.S.

Julia Rassmann, Director of Ministry to Children and Families 

After over a decade in the corporate world, Julia decided to return to  her first love: teaching children. Her introduction to Plymouth Church came as a Vacation Bible Camp parent, and she worked as a substitute teacher at Plymouth Church School. Julia then spent three years teaching kindergarten at Little Red School House in Manhattan.

Born in Germany, Julia grew up in Brooklyn Heights and Manhattan, and returned to Brooklyn Heights about ten years ago to raise her daughter, Emily. She has a B.A. in English from Tufts University and an M.A. in Education from New York University.

Rev. Yvette De Larainé Wilson, Minister-in-Training

Minister Yvette De Larainé Wilson originates from London, England but was raised in the Bushwick Section of Brooklyn where she still resides. She is the former Executive Director of the HELP Supportive Employment Center, a residential program shelter on Wards Island serving 200 homeless men and women with histories of substance abuse. She was also the Chief Operating Officer of a housing counseling and economic development organization in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. She recently graduated from Union Theological Seminary with an M.Div in Psychiatry & Religion and a minor focus in Social Ethics. Minister Wilson is a recipient of the Anne McGrew Bennett & John Coleman Bennett Fellowship of Auburn Seminary which is awarded to the graduating student who by decision of a Union Faculty Committee shows promise of excellence in a ministry of social service and advocacy for justice in the public arena. Minister Wilson spent her summer in Indonesia after receiving a Henry Luce Interreligious Studies Fellowship and in 2008 received a Service Trip Beatitudes Society Scholarship to the Gulf Coast where she assisted a Hurricane Katrina victim with the rebuilding of her home.

In 2008, Minister Wilson co-founded the Union Interfaith Caucus, a student organization that encourages and facilitates open and constructive conversations and collective social action between people of diverse faiths and religions. She is presently Minister-in-Training at Plymouth under the leadership of Rev. David Fisher, where she will be ordained in the fall of 2010. In addition, Minister Wilson is a full-time Chaplain Resident at a VA Medical Center in Brooklyn.

One of Minister Wilson’s favorite text is Micah 6:8, “…what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Minister Wilson is committed to the study of complex social issues from a perspective of faith and is deeply concerned with how social and biblical interpretations affect personal agency and social change. It is her life’s work to be engaged in faith based advocacy/activism/social justice and to empower others to do the same.
 
Minister Wilson additionally holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies, a Master of Arts in Sociology: Applied Social Research and a Juris Doctor.