We, the Session of Great Bridge Presbyterian Church, are pleased to announce that Rev. Dr.  Lou Ventura has accepted our invitation to serve as our interim pastor!  Pastor Lou comes to us from our very own presbytery, the Presbytery of Eastern Virginia.  She is as excited as we are and begins her service at GBPC on July 25, with her first Sunday leading worship on July 31.  Be sure to join us that day as we celebrate this important day for Pastor Lou and our congregation! Read her bio here: Lou's Bio and Interim Intro

Billye Brown Youmans is Director of Music at GBPC. Billye began her ministry at GBPC in August of 1994 bringing years of professional music experience to our church. Billye’s main areas of ministry include direction, programming and leadership for a variety of choirs including the Chancel Choir, Senior Adult Choir, Flute Choir, Handbell Choirs and three children’s choirs. She has a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance and a Masters of Science in Voice Performance and Pedagogy. Billye is also a voice instructor at Virginia Wesleyan College and provides private voice instruction to area students. When relaxing, Billye enjoys cooking and reading. She is married to Rusty and has three adult children, Carter, Taylor, and Hannah, and two grandchildren, Claire and William Ray.

Brad is a Chesapeake native and graduated from Old Dominion University with a degree in Music Education.  After college he was led back to Eastern Virginia Medical School where he continued his education by earning a master’s degree as a Physician Assistant.  Despite working full-time in the medical field Brad still felt called to into music ministry and has served in roles as a church minister of music, youth choir director, as well as a guest vocalist and instrumentalist at various area churches.  Brad and his wife Quinn joined the congregation here at GBPC in 2018 and enrolled their daughter Aria, now 6 and in the 1st grade, into the preschool.  Quinn also serves in the church on Session as the Elder of children’s ministry.  Brad is excited to be a part of the contemporary worship at GBPC.

Cheryl Madison became our church organist in January of 1999 after moving to Chesapeake in the summer of 1998 with her husband, Tom, and youngest son, Michael. Cheryl has been involved with church music for many years and prior to moving to Virginia she held the position of organist at Zion Covenant Church in Jamestown, NY for nine years. She studied piano and organ in western New York and has continued to study in the Tidewater area with Peggy Kelley Reinburg and Jean Thiel. She is a member of the American Guild of Organists and has two other children, J.T. in Chicago and Kelly in Atlanta.

 

Most recently Tara has been a proud stay at home mom with her son, Gabriel, age 7, and she has been looking forward to getting back into the workforce.  Tara has roots at GBPC, graduated from Great Bridge High School, spent three years studying political science and business at George Mason University, and has professional experience working at a local law firm as a legal assistant, as well as a mortgage banking company.  At the mortgage banking company, she reported to the Vice President of Marketing in the role of Internal Communications Coordinator.  We are excited about having Tara in the role of Office Manager and we believe her skills and abilities will be of great benefit to our church.    

Tara is a member of St. Stephen, Martyr Catholic Church.  In her spare time, she likes going to concerts, baking and cooking with Gabriel.  They have just taken the 1,000 Hours Outside challenge to spend time outdoors!

Debbie Acors joined the staff as Treasurer in the summer of 2007. She received her Bachelors Degree in Accounting from The University of Texas at Austin in 1988. She earned her CPA in 1994 and has been in private practice as a tax preparer/auditor in Chesapeake since 2000. Her interests include scrap-booking, gardening & reading, and of course, anything involving numbers! She is married to Lee and has two daughters, Brittany & Elizabeth.

Sam Chalk joined our staff in the fall of 2017.  Sam is an experienced electrician, plumber, and all around handyman.  Sam is a member of GBPC and attends with his wife, Marianne.  

Becky Miles joined our preschool staff in 2015. Becky has been involved in educating children for over 20 years. She has a BS in education from Vanderbilt University and a M.Ed. from Cumberland University. Becky began her career as a kindergarten teacher at a private school in Nashville, TN. While there, she also taught fourth and fifth grade and had many opportunities to participate in school development activities such as developing new curriculum, choosing textbooks, and maintaining school accreditation. Before having two wonderful boys of her own, she taught fifth grade at Great Bridge Intermediate school. Becky and her husband JD live in Great Bridge with their sons Joseph and Joshua and have been members of Great Bridge Presbyterian since 2006.