Pastor/Head of Staff

Rev. Dr. Brian Maguire
bmaguire@fairmontchurch.org

Brian Maguire has served as the pastor and head of staff of Fairmont Church since 2014. His nursery school teacher warned him that he was too serious. Don’t worry; in reality he is just a little bit shy at first and a trifle nerdy. Brian is a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary and served as the Presbyterian chaplain at Princeton University before serving ten years as the pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Xenia, Ohio. His passions and gifts for ministry center on preaching, teaching, spiritual formation, building up congregational leaders, and helping each person live into her or his individual call. He enjoys working with teenagers and young adults, especially after they discover irony. His chief qualification for teaching Vacation Bible School is that he has little sense of shame and will wear any costume assigned to him. Most importantly, Brian is committed to sharing the treasures of the Christian spiritual tradition with new generations.

Unlike most Presbyterian pastors, Brian does not have a call story so much as a hide story. He asked too many questions in confirmation class and was asked to leave assorted Bible studies for the same reason. But, despite best efforts to the contrary, God kept after him with tenacious resolve.

Brian is originally from Minnesota, which explains his occasional funny accent and his skeptical attitude toward Ohio winters. A graduate of Carleton College and the University of Minnesota Law School, he practiced law as a corporate attorney before entering ministry. Brian obtained his Doctor of Ministry degree from Duke University School of Divinity focused on congregational development. He is also a graduate of the Living School at the Center for Action and Contemplation where he focused on classical Christian contemplative practices with Richard Rohr, Cynthia Bourgeault, and James Finley.

Brian lives with his wife Lisa Hess, who is also an ordained Presbyterian pastor serving as a professor of practical theology at United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. Lisa teaches Christian Spirituality and interreligious encounter, and is finding an avocation in gathering circles of women to listen more deeply to a communal call to contemplative life.

Brian regularly leads pilgrimage trips for pastors and chaplains (including both U.S. Army and F.B.I. chaplains) to the Holy Land. Brian serves as a Senior Teaching Fellow at the Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership where he provides interfaith perspectives on spiritual formation alongside his teaching in Biblical archeology and ancient history.

Brian and Lisa live in Beavercreek, Ohio next to Mount St. John and the Bergamo Center with their dog, Nala. For fun, Brian cooks complicated French food, studies naval architecture, reads history, and plays overly involved computer strategy games. Lisa recently learned to knit and loves to eat outrageously complicated French food. Brian knows absolutely nothing about sports, but a great deal about the Royal Navy, Middle Earth, late antiquity, and tree sloths. For the larger church, he cleans up ecclesial messes for the Synod of the Covenant. Brian and Lisa are very susceptible to bribes in the form of muffins and are rumored to have killed every plant that has ever been placed in their care.