Staff

Reed, our pastor since 1998, is a graduate of Andover Newton Theological School, the University of Pennsylvania School of Law, and Brown University. He has primary responsibility for the traditional Sunday worship and the congregation at large. He has served the United Church of Christ in a variety of settings and duties, currently as chair of the Business Committee for the Annual Meeting of the Southern New England Conference of the UCC, and previously as a member of the MACUCC Leadership Development Commission, the MACUCC Unified Fitness Review Committee, and the Church and Ministry Committee of the Barnstable Association. Reed enjoys sailboat racing, cross-country skiing, and his family.

Rev. Christie Burns is a preacher, speaker, and writer. She has served as the Associate Pastor at West Parish for 11 years. Before that, she was the founder and co-director of A Baby Center in Hyannis whose mission is to serve without judgement the youngest in our community. A Baby Center supplements critical basic needs to ensure the good health and safety of babies who live on Cape Cod and the Islands. She also works with asylum seekers and migrants who arrive on Cape Cod and speaks Spanish. With a liberal arts degree from the University of Colorado, Boulder and a Masters of Divinity from Harvard, she strives to connect her passion for the church, people and love in daily work in the community outside the walls of the church as well as leading within.

Christie met her husband, Reed Baer, and his two fabulous daughters; Katherine and Julia Baer at Harvard. The two married, sold their home in Needham and moved to Cape Cod in 1998. Christie and Reed have two more adult children: Camden and Lydia. Christie can frequently be found walking her golden retriever on the beaches and salt water creeks of the Cape.

Susan started working at West Parish in June 2014 and has made life here easier for all. Not only does she keep the office running smoothly, she aides the Family School from time to time, and helps Reed and Christie stay on task. Susan has had a varied work life that enables her to use most, if not all of her skills here at West Parish. After graduating from Mount Holyoke College with a degree in Fine Arts, Susan traveled to Nantucket and worked for the newspaper there for 3 years. After meeting and marrying Bill, they moved to Scotland for two years, and then returned to the island where they started raising their family. They moved to the Cape in 1999 and Susan was able to raise her children and earn her Masters in Early Childhood Education from Wheelock College in 2005. During that time, her two older children decided one Tartan Day to sign up for bagpipe lessons. Needless to say all three children learned to play the pipes, ensuring years of going to parades and competitions for their parents.

Susan has been involved with the Church Office Professionals Conference since 2015. They offer professional development, social and emotional support for its members and meet yearly in person and communicate throughout the year via email to offer technical, social and emotional support for the members.

Susan has a wicked sense of humor, likes searching out new typefaces, actually does enjoy going to parades and competitions, reads (somewhat) voraciously, plays a killer game of Scrabble, enjoys going to the beach before the tourists show up, and has started many needlework projects that still need to be finished.