Pastor Chris Repp
Pastor Repp was called to Grace in 2015 after serving for 12 years as the pastor of Epiphany Lutheran Church in Carbondale, Illinois. Before that he served for four years as an ELCA missionary in St. Petersburg, Russia, where he taught theology and church history at a Russian Lutheran seminary after completing a Ph.D. in Russian history. That was not his first time in Russia. As an undergraduate Russian language major, he studied for a semester in Moscow in 1984, and that’s how he met his wife, Helen, also then a Russian language major from the UK. They were married 2 years later and now have three grown children: Andrew, James, and Marian.
Jessica Hunt, Office Assistant
Jessica joined the staff at Grace as Office Assistant in May 2022.
Born in Indianapolis, Indiana and raised in Richmond, Indiana, Jessica moved to the Champaign/Urbana area in 2017. She lives in Urbana with her mother.
Jessica likes singing, listening to a variety of music, reading if there is free time, writing and dancing. Jessica has her Masters in Social Work and enjoys working with children, youth and families in different ways.
Andy Bruhn, Director of Music
Andrew Bruhn is a versatile musician, who has worked as a professional choral conductor, educator, composer, and trumpeter. Andrew is currently a Doctor of Musical Arts student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He has taught at the middle school and high school level, and worked as a church musician for several years. His school choirs regularly received superior ratings in organizational contests, and have been a featured performer at the Illinois Music Education Conference. Mr. Bruhn spent two years as the director of the Luther Seminary Choir and Luther Brass in St. Paul, MN. He received his Master of Sacred Music degree in choral conducting from Luther Seminary and St. Olaf College, and a BM in Trumpet Performance from Wheaton College. He has studied composition with David Cherwien and Alice Parker and his music is published by many major publishers. Andrew won the 2017 Illinois American Choral Directors Association Composition Contest, and was a semi-finalist for The American Prize in Choral Composition in 2019, a finalist in 2020, and a 2020 finalist for the Philip Stopford Composition Contest. Mr. Bruhn loves spending time with his musical wife, Lydia, their two daughters, and golden retriever.
Dana Robinson, Organist
Dana Robinson has been Grace’s organist for many years. He is associate professor of organ in the University of Illinois School of Music. A native of Boston, he has performed on some of the most significant modern and historic organs in the United States, and has presented recitals, master classes, and lectures throughout the country. He maintains an active schedule of teaching and performing, and he and his students can often be heard practicing or engaged in lessons throughout the week at Grace
Support Staff
Walter Snowden
