Born in Pennsylvania, Tara moved to the sunshine state as an eighth grader. A faithful Pittsburgh sports fan, Tara hoped to return to PA for college. Instead, God led her to Jacksonville, FL and the University of North Florida where she earned a degree in Psychology. Upon college graduation, Tara worked at Publix as a department manager for several years before attending Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Massachusetts and earning her Master’s of Divinity degree. She served two churches in Florida and one in Pittsburgh, PA before Jesus led her to Beaumont to serve as St. Andrew’s pastor.

Tara is a teacher at heart and loves helping others discover how Jesus has gifted them for service in building His Church. She describes her ministry style as relational, which involves experiencing life together, bearing witness to Christ's activity, and encouraging one another on the journey of faith.

Tara's hobbies include sports, reading, art, and traveling. She has visited six of the seven continents and has nurtured ministry partnerships in ten countries. She loves meeting new people and is excited to do life and ministry with us in southeast Texas.

Melissa brings experience in business as an assistant office manager, previously a small business owner for five years, which she built up and subsequently sold, and as a volunteer in church record keeping. She has worked as a substitute teacher in public schools and as a preschool teacher at a church in Baytown.

She attended Chenier Business School, Lamar University in Beaumont, and Lee College in Baytown where she earned her Associate’s Degree in Education. She has also taken accounting, computer, and business courses.

She grew up in Winnie and has family in this area. She is married with two sons. One is married, has a new baby, and resides in Waxahachie and the other is in the ninth grade and loves robotics, camping and tubing.

She and her family enjoys movies, board games, camping, anything with the water (fishing, swimming, etc.) and just hanging out at their home.

Thomas came to St. Andrew's with a variety of musical experiences. From childhood, he has played piano and sang in church. He has served as assistant director and head music director leading worship in church since 2011. He has studied under many great professors of piano, organ, and voice. Thomas is always practicing or studying music to continue his growth as a musician and to continue honoring God with the talents he was blessed with. Thomas's love for music and worship is evident every Sunday. His leadership from the piano and organ will encourage you to worship God through songs of praise.

Rachel is our Administrative Assistant as well as our Accompanist/Pianist. In May 2021, she graduated from Lamar with a Bachelors of Music. Playing piano in church is her favorite thing to do as she has played in church for almost ten years. When she was in elementary school, her dad played in church and her initial reason for taking up piano was so she could play in church too. Her    secondary instrument is harp and in her spare time, she enjoys baking, reading and blessing the neighborhood with her accordion.