Leadership & Staff

Pastors of great strength and wisdom have blessed us. They have been leaders who knew when to push us, when to pull us, and when to step out of the way. God has sent us the shepherds we needed, even if we didn’t know it at the time.

Raymond Patch

Interim Pastoral Care

Pastor Raymond Patch will be leading us through this transitional season until our new called pastor arrives in January 2026.

Raymond Patch grew up in a close-knit Italian and Irish Catholic community in New York. His passion for faith and service deepened at the University of Wisconsin–Madison during the civil rights era. After college, he joined the Peace Corps, spending three years teaching in Liberia. Raymond later earned dual master’s degrees from Princeton Theological Seminary and Rutgers University, combining ministry and social work. For 38 years, he served congregations in Illinois and Massachusetts with compassion and wisdom. He and his wife, Dottie—whom he met doing community work in Newark—have three children and four grandchildren, and now live in Maryland, where they continue to find joy in family, faith, and service.

Dr. Michael Streib

Pastor

With great joy and enthusiasm, BUCC anticipates welcoming our new called Pastor, Michael Streib in January 2026.

A native of southwestern Germany, Michael Streib earned his equivalent of a bachelor’s degree in Protestant Theology at Heidelberg University in 2019. He moved to the United States in 2019 and earned a Master of Divinity at Yale Divinity School and a Diploma in Congregational Ministry at the Andover Newton Seminary at Yale Divinity School in 2022. Michael’s ministry has focused on LGBTQ+ outreach and pastoral care, social justice work, as well as traditional ministry.

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Valerie A. Higgs

Director of Music

A native of South Jersey, Valerie A. Higgs began studying classically at 5 years old. In 1978, she placed second at the Wurlitzer Piano Competition in Philadelphia and was later awarded the NJ Governor’s Excellence in Arts Education Award in 1986. Since she was 15, Valerie has been a pianist (and sometime organist) for various churches in South Jersey, Chicago, and the Washington, DC; most notably: Haddonfield United Methodist Church in New Jersey, under the direction of John Wilson, and Chicago’s Metropolitan Missionary Baptist Church, under the direction of Mattie Robertson. Valerie was the music director for the Church in Bethesda from 2013-2015, and has been the music director for the Bethesda United Church of Christ since February 2022.

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