Pastoral Staff
Rev. Neal Kentch, Interim Minister
(309) 532-4818
Neal Kentch was ordained by the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in 1982. Since then he has served Disciples and UCC churches from Houston to St. Paul and from Gettysburg to Sacramento. He is a graduate of Phillips University and the Divinity School of the University of Chicago.
Neal has been married to his wife Mary Knutsen for 40 years. He doesn’t do anything fun. Wait, strike that. He enjoys walking in his neighborhood, bicycling, playing golf, and reading.
Pastor neal will serve as Senior Minister until such time as a new settled pastor is called.
Rev. Holly Irvin, Associate Minister
(864) 921-4874 hirvin@blmfcc.org
Holly came to First Christian Church in January 2017 as our Director of Music and Youth Ministries. She is from Pekin, IL and attended Western Illinois University in Macomb, Il, and Southern Seminary in Louisville, KY. She has two children, Shelby and Lydia.
Holly loves walking, biking, reading, laughing, and making music, especially playing the flute. She also enjoys meeting new people and developing relationships and friendships. She is passionate about involving children, youth, and adults in the church and in helping them deepen their relationship with God.
She has been in ministry for over 35 years in Georgia, Virginia, and South Carolina and is glad to be back home in central Illinois (but not for the weather!). Her greatest enjoyment is in helping people use their spiritual gifts to praise and serve God, and find the joy and fulfillment that comes from that!
Her favorite scripture is Micah 6:8: What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and walk humbly with your God. She believes the best symmetry in life is when justice, kindness, and humility are equally embraced and practiced.
Administrative Staff
Debbie Stumm, Financial Secretary
(309) 829-9327 dstumm@blmfcc.org
Debbie has an Office Administration degree from ISU, and joined the FCC staff in August of 1981. She came to type the bulletin for one Friday afternoon and has now stayed almost 42 years. As our Financial Secretary, she is responsible for managing our income and expenses. She also keeps track of prayer joys and concerns and the church’s membership records.
Debbie is a member of First Baptist Church of Bloomington where she is also the Financial Secretary there, teaches preschool Sunday School, and sings in the choir. She also enjoys singing in the Passion Play Choir, playing games, cats, flower gardening, and square and round dancing. One of Debbie’s favorite Bible verses is the 100th Psalm which is read each year as the prayer at her family’s Thanksgiving dinner: “Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come into his presence with singing …”
Facilities Staff
John Dailey (volunteer), Facilities Manager
John has an engineering degree from the University of Cincinnati and worked for GTE and Verizon for 35 years, retiring in 2009 as the engineering manager. With the engineering background and a “do-it-yourself” attitude about building and maintenance projects, he wanted something to do after retirement that would put those skills to use and help others. The Caretaker position at FCC was the perfect fit and he has been doing that since 2013. In that role, John does routine maintenance of the building mechanical items and also does building projects as needed for block party, VBS, Sunday School, etc. When contractors are needed for major projects, he serves as the church’s representative in managing that process.
John and his wife Kathy moved to Bloomington in 1995 with their two children, Sarah and Mark. Sarah is in San Francisco now and Mark is in San Diego, so visits to California are a welcome wintertime break. John and Kathy are also involved in supporting Boy Scouts and make several trips each year to the Scout camp in Canada to help maintain the camp.
Fishing and golfing are among John’s other hobbies.
Worship Staff
Lou Ann Fillingham, Service Musician (organ/piano)
(309) 310-8394
Lou Ann received bachelor’s degrees in sacred music and in organ performance from Illinois Wesleyan University prior to completing master’s degrees in organ performance and in business administration from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. She became the organist of First Christian Church in March 2006.
Lou Ann and her husband, Dan, are the parents of one son, Nathan. Lou Ann also has a daughter, Stephanie, step-sons Michael and Christopher, and step-grandson Andrew.
Lane Gibbons, Audio/Visual Technician
(309) 830-5735
Lane recently graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Recording Arts from Full Sail University, which is an arts and entertainment college located near Orlando, FL. He decided to pursue this career path due to his long time passion for all things audio. It started with wanting to make music when he was younger, but slowly grew into wanting to do sound design and mixing as he got older and went through college. He eventually would like to work as a sound designer for movies or video games, and he’s always working on new projects to challenge himself and to gain experience in his field.
Clark Kosier, Custodian
Clark is currently a Junior attending Normal Community High School. He plans on enlisting in the Marine Corps upon his graduation in May of 2024. He aspires to work in either construction or auto mechanics, but knows that he has time to make that choice.
Clark is not only our custodian extraordinaire, but also an active member of our high school youth program.
Clark enjoys lifting weights, climbing, video games, and all things teenager. He’s a rad doode.
Abby Logan, Youth Ministry Assistant
Abby has been attending First Christian since she can remember! She’s always loved helping out in the church since she was first given the opportunity. Now she is beyond excited to be the brand new Youth Ministry Assistant! She’s excited to give the youth the most enjoyable experience they can have at church! She’s always enjoyed working with children in any she can, and couldn’t be happier to do it on a larger scale at FCC!
Abby plans to continue her education towards being an elementary school teacher, and loves to bake in her free time!
Child Care Staff
Trish Logan, Coordinator
(309) 829-9327 tllogan4@hotmail.com