As Senior Pastor, Chris provides visionary leadership for the church and broader community, leading the staff and working alongside the church Session to faithfully and courageously guide the congregation. He is a gifted preacher, strategic leader, and devoted teacher. At Second, Chris lives out his call to congregational ministry and leads out of his conviction that churches have both the capacity and the mandate to be places of transformation in individual lives, the broader community, and the world.

Chris is a graduate of Duke University (B.A. in Religion) and Columbia Theological Seminary, and previously served churches in Atlanta, GA. He began ministry at Second Presbyterian Church in June of 2018. Chris is married to Rev. Sara Hayden, who serves as Director of Apprenticeships, Residencies and Leadership Cohorts for the 1001 New Worshipping Communities movement of the PC(USA). Sara and Chris met as students at Columbia Seminary and were married in 2008. They are the parents of two sons, Samuel and Benjamin.

Chris loves running long distances, grilling on the Big Green Egg, watching Duke basketball, reading biographies and novels, traveling (especially to the mountains of western Colorado and North Carolina), and spending time with Sara, Sam, and Ben.

Book recommendations: Gilead (Marilynne Robinson), Jayber Crow (Wendell Berry), After Virtue (Alasdair MacIntyre), Telling the Truth (Frederick Buechner)

Please contact Maggie Platt, Executive Assistant to the Senior Pastor, if you would like to arrange a time to meet with Chris.