Staff
Paul Sweet is the pastor of Christ Church UMC.
“I have only just begun my vocation as a faith leader. I am currently in my last seminary course at Drew University and doing a Clinical Pastoral Education program at The New Jewish Home. I hope to continue gaining skills for ministry and fostering a sense of curiosity continuously through my career as a pastor.
“Though Christ Church Troy is my first appointment in the United Methodist system, I have spent my whole life around faith communities. Through seminary, I worked as the ministry intern at the Saratoga Springs United Methodist Church. I have been exceptionally active in denominational work since 2010. This work was helped by growing up with my mother as a United Methodist Pastor.
“In undergrad, I studied Psychology and Theatre Technology & Design. I find that I apply things that I learned in both fields every day in my life and ministry. Whether it is looking at a family system to gain more understanding about a person, or breaking down 1st Samuel as I would a script. More importantly, these two areas of study taught me how to think about people as individuals outside of their habituated systems, and how to engage them not only through word but through setting and media.”
Melora Creager is the Music Director at Christ Church. There she plays the world-class grand piano, as well as the cello and organ. She loves connecting with the band-members (and all the church’s members!), who are from such varied backgrounds and levels of expertise, and her piano improvisations during the pastor’s prayer are moving and unique.
Melora is from Kansas, and grew up in the Methodist Church there. She has played music since she was a small child, and has spent her adult life creating projects (albums and tours) for her own cello-rock ensemble, Rasputina.