On January 22, 2023, the congregation voted unanimously to call The Rev. Bladimer Paeste to be our Co-Pastor. He both serves as our intentional liaison to Filipino Community and as part of our ministerial team to the whole congregation.
Rev. Bladimer B. Paeste has a Bachelor of Theology, and is a 1992 graduate of Silliman University Divinity School in Dumaguete City, Philippines. He was ordained by the United Church of Christ in the Philippines on April 9, 1995, and served in different capacities in the rural, suburban, and urban churches in the Philippines for 11 years. He is also a Charter Member of the Butuan Habitat for Humanity (Butuan City, Philippines). Pastor Bladimer immigrated to the United States in October 2003 to serve Faith Community Church UCC in Oakland where he served the church for almost 16 years. He also worked as a Chaplain at Kaiser Permanente Oakland and Richmond from 2007 to 2010. He currently serves as a Hospice Chaplain, which he started doing in 2010. Pastor Bladimer is married to his lovely wife, Lilibeth (formerly Lilibeth Leonero Villanueva), and together they are blessed with three grown daughters, Kristine, Lei, and Maika.
