1 Peter 4:8-10: “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling”

 

Rev. Mary Jo Gessner, born and raised in Miami, Florida, received a Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of Florida in 1982 and a Master of Divinity degree from Southern Seminary in 1986. Rev. Gessner began serving First Baptist Madison in 1987 as Minister of Youth, was licensed in 1990, and was ordained to the Gospel Ministry in 2007. After serving as Minister of Youth for 21 years, Rev. Gessner began serving our congregation as Minister of Pastoral Care in July of 2008. She is a Certified Pastoral Counselor with the American Association of Pastoral Counselors and presently recruits and organizes the volunteer Chaplains for our new Madison Hospital. She and her husband, Mark Gessner, have two grown children: Jessye Gaines (married to Luke Gaines), who teaches in the Engineering Academy at Bob Jones High School, and Harris Gessner, who is the Choral Director at Mountain Gap Middle School in Huntsville. Mary Jo and Mark have two beautiful granddaughters, Kay and Glenne.

Mark Gessner was raised in Port St. Lucie, Florida and grew up attending First Baptist Church of Ft. Pierce. While attending The University of Florida, Mark was active at the Baptist Campus Ministry and served two different summers as a student missionary (in Key West in 1979 and in Singapore in 1980). Mark graduated from The University of Florida in 1982 with a degree in Music Performance (French Horn) and continued his education at Southern Seminary where he received a Master’s of Church Music degree in 1986. During his time in seminary he served First Southern Baptist Church in Clarksville, IN. In 1987 Mark was hired by First Baptist Madison as the Minister of Music. Mark has played Fourth Horn in the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra for twenty years, has taught private French horn lessons to many students in the Madison City School System, and has directed such musical works with our youth choir as Godspell, and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

dberg@fbcmadison.net 

 

Rev. David Berg was born in Birmingham, AL and grew up in the Hoover area. He attended both UAB and Samford University, receiving his B.A. in Music from Samford. After recognizing his calling to ministry, he attended the McAfee School of Theology in Atlanta where he received his Master of Divinity with a focus in Christian Education. After graduating from McAfee, David was called to be the Minister of Youth and Children at Fellowship Baptist Church in Fitzgerald, GA where he was also ordained to Ministry in 2013.

David has served in churches in Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee as a children’s minister although his vision of ministry extends more broadly to helping build up Christ-centered families. David is the son of Ken & Susan Berg, both of whom are widely known and highly regarded music educators. He has an older brother, Michael, who lives with his wife, Joanie, in New York City. Outside of ministry, David enjoys good coffee, playing D&D and other games with his friends, taking his dog, Coco, to the dog park, and all things Tennessee Volunteers.

 

Rev Dan Venzin was born in Detroit and has lived in Ohio, England, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Alabama, and Texas. 

He graduated from Texas A&M and obtained his Masters of Divinity from Baylor University.

He lives in Huntsville with his wife Katie and two children.