Who We Are

​Xan joined the staff team in early 2017. She has years of experience in the field, as the Director of Children and Family Ministries for nine years at St. Clare’s Episcopal Church and as a Middle School math teacher at Ann Arbor Christian School for five. Xan graduated from the University of Michigan in 2004 with a Bachelor of Science in Education. Xan and Kevin have three children – Emmanuel, Asher and Piper. They love to play team sports, knit, kayak, and act for justice together. Xan and Kevin take their role as the primary faith formers in their children’s lives seriously. Xan is passionate about creating time and space for kids to meet with God and about partnering with the parents of First Baptist Church as they guide their children on their faith journeys.

Shin-Ae Chun has been serving First Baptist Church of Ann Arbor as Organist since 2011, helping the congregation from the three-manual Robert Noehren Organ to praise God in worship. She also accompanies the sanctuary choir and provides worshipful music with instrumentalists. With her experience of being a chorister and of directing Children’s Choirs, and also adult choirs, for many years in the past, she takes her duty of directing the Children’s Choir (2nd-5th grades) preciously. Separately from her responsibilities at church, she runs the Coffee Break Concert Series (October-May) connecting local audiences and professional musicians from all places through variety of music.

Shin-Ae received degrees from the University of Michigan in Organ Performance (DMA) and Harpsichord Performance (MM). She also holds degrees from Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea, in Nursing Science (BS), Church Music (BM) and Organ Performance (MM). She is a concert organist and harpsichordist represented by Concert Artist Cooperative and has given concerts on festivals and concert series as soloist and with ensembles and orchestras in the U.S, South Korea, Germany, Poland and Romania. She has two organ solo recordings: The Angels Dance and On Cherubim Wings. Music selections from these CDs were featured on Pipedreams, a nationally broadcasted radio station devoted to organ music in the U.S.

For more information, visit www.concertartistcooperative.com/chun16.htm.

​Bonnie Kidd has served as our Sanctuary Choir Director since 2011; prior to that, she was the choir’s soprano section leader for twenty years. Bonnie is Director of Choirs at Tappan Middle School and Co-Director of Choirs at Ann Arbor Huron High School; her middle and high school choirs have consistently received outstanding ratings at both District and State levels. In 2006, she assumed the role of Concert Choir conductor for the Ann Arbor Youth Chorale, a community children’s choir. Bonnie trained as an opera singer at the Julliard School and Boston University School for the Arts. She received her Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance from The Cleveland Institute of Music and her Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance from the University of Michigan. She lives in Ann Arbor with her husband, Bob, their son Sam, a vocal performance student at the University of Michigan (and the choir’s bass section leader), and four beautiful cats.

Kat Becker has been with FBC for more than nine years. Prior to that, she spent over 20 years working in the financial industry, including working and living abroad for eight years. As church administrator, Kat wears a lot of different hats at FBC, and can usually be found running around the church buildings, checking up on things.

Kat went to Kenyon College and NYU Stern School of Business. She was co-captain and assistant coach of the Kenyon Women’s Varsity Soccer team. She grew up on Long Island (NY) and eventually made her way to Ann Arbor, by way of London and Paris. She is happy to be in Ann Arbor and close to family. Kat is a loving aunt to three nieces and three nephews. She is an avid reader and loves music, cooking, walking, and needlepoint.

In October 2017, Lee Foley joined our staff as our half-time Facilities Manager. With a deep background in facilities management and maintenance, Lee has worked on a contract basis for a number of years on various church facilities projects. In this newly created-position, Lee is responsible for managing the daily continued operations, maintenance, and safety of our buildings and grounds. As our congregation, programs, and facility-use needs have grown and continue to grow, so has the need for staff resources to support the use of our facilities for ministry within our community. We’re so thrilled to welcome Lee as an integral part of this ministry and of our staff team. He is generally at the church in the mornings, Monday through Friday.