Our Staff

Our Senior Pastor: Reverend Ryan Thrasher

As an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) faith tradition, Reverend Ryan Thrasher has served congregations in Texas, Missouri (as a Lilly Clergy Resident), and North Carolina before accepting the call to become the settled pastor of The Palisades Community Church. As a pastor with a deep commitment to the work of the neighborhood church, Ryan deeply enjoys preaching, teaching, and the continual practice of building relationships in the church and in the community. However, more broadly, Ryan sees his larger call as one of exploring and embodying the deep connections between worship, the arts, and God’s call for wholeness, justice, and reconciliation. 
 
Before earning his Master of Divinity degree from Brite Divinity School-TCU, Ryan worked as a professional musician and teacher, earning degrees in music from West Texas A&M University, Michigan State University, and the School of Music at Yale University and performing as a bassist in orchestras in Texas, Michigan, and Connecticut. 
 
Ryan makes his home in Clarksburg, MD with his spouse, the Rev. Monica Banks, and with Jojo, the cutest and hungriest English Bulldog in the world!
 
 

Our Parish Associate: The Reverend Beth McKinney

Our congregation is blessed to have Rev. Beth McKinney as a Parish Associate. Beth is a lifelong member of our community, having been baptized here as a child in 1963, nurtured as a youth, and serving as an active leader in adulthood. She has also received seminary training. Educated in Catholic schools as a young person, Beth began theological studies at Virginia Theological Seminary, and completed her Master of Divinity degree at nearby Wesley Theological Seminary.

On May 5, 2012, she was ordained at PCC, and in October of 2013 she was installed as Assistant Pastor. Since then she has volunteered her pastoral services at PCC by preaching, teaching and making pastoral visits. In recent years she has developed a passion for Biblical Storytelling, and has earned a certificate from the Network of Biblical Storytellers. While doing all this, Beth has also pursued a 30 year career in public health. She is currently a dental hygienist working with undocumented immigrants, often children.

In 2021 the Church Council changed her official title to Parish Associate to better reflect her relationship to the church, since she performs pastoral services without remuneration. As before, Beth continues to exercise her gifts within this congregation, for which the members are exceedingly grateful.