Staff
Senior Pastor
Larry Bethune
The Rev. Dr. Larry Bethune has been Senior Pastor at the University Baptist Church in Austin since 1987. He is also the Immediate past President of the American Baptist Churches of the South and former president of its Ministers Council. Raised in the Houston area, he earned a B.A. in Greek and Religion from Baylor University, M.Div. in communication and teaching from Princeton Theological Seminary, and Ph.D. in Old and New Testament Theology, also from Princeton. Dr. Bethune has taught Hebrew, Religion, and Bible at Princeton, Baylor and Southwestern University, and has served as adjunct faculty in New Testament and Homiletics at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Ordained in 1973, he has pastored churches in Texas, New York and New Jersey. His wife, the Rev. Gina Bethune, is the Director of Chaplain Services and Director of the Clinical Pastoral Education Program for the Seton Family of Hospitals in Austin. They have three children: Kara, Zachary and Andrew.
Associate Pastor
Rebekah Falk
The Rev. Rebekah Falk started as the Associate Pastor of Spiritual Formation, Minister to Children & Families and Outreach June of 2007. She graduated from George W. Truett Theological Seminary in December 2001 with an M.Div. and from the Graduate School of Baylor University in December 2001 with an M.S.Ed. in Counseling. Before coming to UBC, she served as one of three staff chaplains at Lakeland Regional Medical Center in Lakeland, Florida. Rebekah did her residency for Clinical Pastoral Education in 2002-2003 at Children’s Medical Center in Dallas and at Methodist Health System in Dallas. Rebekah was raised in Florida, where much of her family still resides. She also has a brother and family in Tennessee.
Youth and College Pastor
Amelia Fulbright
The Rev. Amelia Fulbright is back as our youth and college minister, after a brief sabbatical in Colorado. Amelia grew up as a daughter of missionaries in Zambia, where she saved her cat from a black mamba. After completing high school in the United States, she earned a BA in Religion from Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC. In 2007 Amelia completed the MDiv in Greek and New Testament Studies at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. She was also ordained in 2007 and has been serving at UBC since 2008. In addition to her service in ordained ministry, Amelia has previously worked in community mental health services in Cincinnati, OH and as a domestic violence crisis counselor here in Austin. She is especially passionate about the many intersections between spirituality and health. Amelia is also the proud parent of a cactus named Eunice.
Music Minister
Helen Miers
Helen Miers has been the Music Minister at University Baptist Church since 2003. A native Texan from Marlin, Helen received a Bachelor’s degree in music education from Baylor University and a Master’s degree in music education from McNeese State. She also completed post-graduate work in choral conducting at Louisiana State and studied at SMU’s Perkins School of Theology. Helen has thirty years of church music experience conducting choirs at United Methodist, Catholic, and Presbyterian USA churches in Louisiana and Texas. She has taught students for twenty-four years and is currently the choral director at San Marcos High School. Helen is the proud parent of three dogs: a Yorkshire terrier, a soft-coated Wheaton terrier, and a Schnauzer.
Organist
Charles Barnett
Charles Barnett is the organist for the University Baptist Church.
Office Manager
Berta Smoak
Elberta Smoak joined the UBC staff in the fall of 2007 after 18 years in the church administration business. Elberta (or Berta) began her business management career when she purchased a Domino’s Pizza Franchise in New Mexico in 1984. Business was great, but while on vacation in Austin a dream of moving to central Texas was planted in her. Moving to Austin in 1987 she began administrating for a construction firm while managing apartment complex’s on the side when the opportunity to administrate her first church came along. Berta was raised in Washington State where her father was an engineer on the Grand Coulee Dam power plant; most of her family still resides in Washington.
Facilities Manager
Rick Cannon
A member of the staff since 2003, Rick came to University Baptist Church with a varied background having worked for Dell Computer Corporation in both their Facilities Mantenance & Space Planning and IT Departments and before that as a supervisor for a Private Security firm. Rick has also worked as a Property Manager responsible for maintaining multiple properties and has been envolved in community building projects with Habitat for Humanity, and since he joined UBC, Hands on Housing. Rick enjoys the diversity of the work at UBC and the challenges it brings.
Communications Secretary
Robert Carter
Robert is the newest addition to the UBC Staff. Born and raised in Austin, TX, Robert received a BA in Electronic Media & Communication from Texas Tech in May of 2008. After moving back to Austin, Robert worked as a media consultant, legal assistant, process server, and private investigator before coming to work at UBC.
