“Knitted Together” - 10 am to Noon Featured Speaker: Rev. Debra Brady
Reverend Debra L. Brady was recently appointed on July 1st to return to the First United Methodist Church of Modesto which she previously served from 2002-2013. In between, Pastor Debra served as the Superintendent of the Central Valley District for seven years including four years as Dean of the Cabinet. As the “D.S.,” she appreciated the opportunity to serve as the chief mission strategist of the district including planting new churches and ministries and increasing her intercultural competence.
Prior to her appointment in Modesto, she served as the Associate Pastor at San Ramon Valley UMC in Alamo for eight years. Pastor Debra appreciates the way her first 11-year career as a mid-level manager with Pacific Bell honed her administrative and leadership skills which have greatly aided her pastoral ministry.
Born at Edwards AFB and raised in the rural mining town of Boron in East Kern County, Debra was a first-generation college graduate (UCLA, B.S. Psychobiology, 1980). She was raised in a fundamentalist/evangelical tradition (IFCA) and after a divorce and wilderness period, she found a welcome home in the United Methodist Church in the late 1980’s where her call to pastoral ministry was affirmed. She graduated from the Pacific School of Religion in 1994. She has been married to Steve Veglia for 31 years. Steve’s two adult children live in the East Bay Area and Debra loves having “bonus” children. Debra enjoys hiking, walking, working out, traveling, singing, reading, movies, and sharing delicious meals with good friends.