About Us

How We Got Here

In the summer of 2012, our family sold or gave away most of our stuff, packed up the rest and moved to Dublin, Ireland with a desire to help start community-based churches and missional communities across the city of Dublin.

This was not something we’d planned for, but after a year of prayer & discernment, it was clear that this move was the next step the Father had for our family.  So here we are…

 

A little history

Liz & I first met as college students in Fredonia, NY, where Liz was majoring in Music (violin), and I was studying Human Resources Management. We were married in 1990 and live in the Donaghmede area on the city’s Northside.

Elizabeth was born in San Francisco, California and grew up on Long Island. She served as worship pastor at a church we planted and led in Ithaca, NY for 5 years. She was part of the leadership team since the church started in 1999.

In addition to guitar, Elizabeth also plays violin, and viola, and teaches private lessons as well as in 3 Dublin area primary schools (pre-Covid). Elizabeth has played the violin in the Erie Philharmonic, the Glens Falls Symphony, the Schenectady Symphony and currently performs with the Dublin Co-Orch.

While in Dublin, most of her time is spent keeping up with Méabh, teaching violin lessons, and working to keep our lives running smoothly.

I (Bob) grew up in Chautauqua County in western New York.

In addition to serving as the planting and lead pastor for a Vineyard Church in Ithaca from 1999 to 2012, I started and led university ministries in Albany and at Cornell University. While in Ithaca, I served as a University Chaplain at Cornell

I still dream of playing right field for the Boston Red Sox.

Here a few other random facts about me…

who is this website for?
The scope of this site is somewhat limited. It is mainly about our family’s life in Dublin as we embed ourselves on the city’s Northside…but we also throw in some thoughts about spiritual formation, church culture, and random stuff here and there. As you might guess, this blog is written mainly for family and friends who have been part of our lives and are interested in our new lives in our new country.

Hopefully, anyone interested in Ireland or church planting will find it helpful as well.

bob’s contact info

As you may or may not know, Bob is the one who does most of the writing and site maintenance here. You can contact him using our contact page or follow him on Twitter or Facebook.

finally…

If you’re interested in becoming one of our ministry partners. We’d love to chat. Contact us and we’ll set up a time! In the meantime, use the form below to sign up for our monthly newsletter, which arrives around the 15th of each month.