Meet the Grace United Methodist Church Staff
Jeffery Babb - Senior Pastor
Rev. Jeff joined the staff at Grace in July 2006. He has been a pastor in the Rocky Mountain Conference since 1982 serving churches in Westcliffe CO, Walsenburg/Gardner CO, Pinebluffs WY, and Burlington CO. A Lakewood, CO native who attended Jefferson High School in the 1970's, Red Rocks Community College and Metro State College. Seminary was in Enid, OK and Iliff Denver where he received his MDiv.
From 1972 to 1975 Jeff served in the U.S. Army as a Chaplains Assistant at Atlanta GA and Frankfurt Germany. Married in 1975 to Kathy Bailey they have two children Sarah and Andy who are both in College. Ministry means "building community" learning to work together to find ways of sharing God's love and grace. Jeff believes that life should be celebrated and that the love of Christ is best received in a community that is committed to one another. Give him a call or set up an appointment to meet him. Jeff would be glad to see you in church on Sunday!
Jim Reuteler - Pastor of Christian Disciplship
Jim joined the staff at Grace in 2002. He has been in the ministry since 1964 and
has served churches in Texas, Georgia, and Wisconsin. From 1968 to 1976, he taught at the Methodist Theological
School in Sibu, Sarawak (Malaysia), where he and his wife Barbara were missionaries. The Reutelers have two
children, David and Jane.
In 1964, Jim graduated from Texas Wesleyan University in Fort Worth, Texas with a B.A. in the Humanities. In 1967 he earned his B.D. from the Candler School of Theology in Atlanta, Georgia, and in 1979, he earned his Ph.D. in Christian Social Ethics from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.
Jim's primary task at Grace is to teach Bible Studies, courses in theology and ethics, with the aim of developing discipleship groups. Jim also serves on the Council for Accountability in The United Methodist Church, which is affiliated with the General Board of Discipleship in Nashville. Jim believes that every member ought to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.
Pastor Karen W. Schneider - Pastor of Congregational Care
Karen W. Schneider is Pastor of Congregational Care at Grace United Methodist Church. Karen is a
Candidate for Ordainted Ministry within the United Methodist Church. She received her undergraduate Degree in Fine Arts from the
University of Colorado and attended Denver Community College for two years where she studied Business Management. In May of 2004,
she was awarded a Masters of Divinity Degree from the Iliff School of Theology. As of recent, she was appointed by the United Methodist
Conference as a Local Pastor to Grace United Methodist Church.
Karen not only serves as a Pastor at Grace UMC, she is also an on-call Chaplain at St. Joseph Hospital in Denver where she has worked for two years. Prior to her calling, she worked for the Denver Post for over 10 years, was on a Board of Directors of a Corporation for 15 years, and had her own business for over 18 years. She is an artist and has had several One Woman Shows coupled with loving to play the piano. She has also been awarded a publication in the United Methodist Interpreter Magazine. She is presently writing a book called "You Don't Have to Impress Anyone but God". Karen is married and has two sons.
Karen Snyder - Director of Christian Education
Karen has been on the Grace Staff since November, 1997. She joined the church in 1989 and she and her husband, John, were married at Grace in 1991. They have two sons, who were both baptized at Grace. Karen has been a life-long Methodist, originally a member of Faith UMC in Dolton, Illinois. In addition to her Staff responsibilities, Karen volunteers at her sons' schools, is attending Metro State College, and enjoys reading and scrapbooking.
Greg Gibson - Music Director
Greg Gibson has been singing since birth and has played musical instruments
since the age of five. He has been very active in music throughout his educational career and continues to be
very involved in the music scene in many genres of music. Greg received a B.A. in music education from the University
of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and taught music in the public schools for thirteen years. He studied trumpet with the late
Vincent Chicowicz of the Chicago Symphony and Joe Docksey of the Denver Brass. Greg has performed professionally
since he was 18 with orchestras, choruses, brass ensembles, blues, jazz, Dixieland, country and rock bands in
Wisconsin, Kansas and Colorado. Greg has been involved in the music at Grace for over 13 years and has been the
Director of Music for 10 years. He plays keyboards, trumpet, drums and sings. Greg has been active in Christian
music all of his life and has been directing church groups for over 30 years. He keeps his skills honed by attending
classes in choral conducting and church music ministry. Greg has attended workshops with Mark Hayes, Joe Martin,
Lloyd Larson, Pepper Choplin, Benjamin Harlan and many other present-day composers and conductors.
Greg comes from a musical family. His father still plays the violin and his mother still plays the piano. His passion for music is evident in the rehearsals he conducts. Greg has written over forty songs for children, choir, and bands that he has been involved with. Greg is a huge fan of The Andy Griffith Show and lives by the same philosophy that Briscoe Darling declared in one show, "If you've got time to breathe, you've got time for music."
Stuart Davis – Youth Director
Stuart joined the Grace staff in July 2007. A lifelong United Methodist, he was raised in Willits, a
small town in northwestern California, where he was very active in United Methodist Youth Fellowship as a teen. While he felt called to the ministry at an early age, he decided to spend “a few years” in the secular world first, and this turned into two decades of doing such things as buying an 18-wheeler and trucking the country, working as a restaurant manager, publishing a magazine, selling real estate, owning a house-painting business and much more.
Stuart finally “gave in” to God and began the process of answering the call by returning to college. He received his B.A. in English from Humboldt State University in Arcata, CA, in 2003, and entered seminary at Saint Paul School of Theology in Kansas City, MO, later that year. In 2004 he was appointed Student Local Pastor and served God in the Dawson Bethel and Barada United Methodist Churches in southeast Nebraska for two years. He will return to theological studies at Iliff School of Theology in Denver in January 2008. Stuart lives in Aurora with his daughter Megan, 8, and son Eddie, 6.
His philosophy of youth ministry is that everything needs to be fun and he brings a keen sense of humor to everything he does. Whether it is Bible study, service projects, mission trips, fund-raisers or “fun & family nights,” Stuart feels that laughter is a good place to start examining what it means to be a young Christian in the 21st century!