Rev. Thomas Disrud
Associate Minister
Rev. Thomas Disrud was called to serve as Associate Minister of Portland’s First Unitarian Church in 1995. His responsibilities include serving on the Executive Team, which oversees the church’s operations. He is also the “pastor” of the church, tending to pastoral care in the congregation. That includes working with a dedicated team of lay ministers. Rev. Disrud is frequently called upon to officiate at rites of passage for congregation members, such as weddings and memorial services. He served as Acting Senior Minister from 2009-2010 and led the congregation as the search for a new senior minister was conducted.
Disrud hails from Wisconsin and was raised in the Lutheran tradition. He graduated from Marquette University with a B.A. degree in Journalism and Philosophy. His first career was as an editor at the Duluth, Minnesota, News-Tribune. During that time, he became involved with union organizing and was an officer for the local Newspaper Guild. During this chapter, he also became a Unitarian Universalist and discerned a call to ministry.
Rev. Disrud is a Starr King School for the Ministry graduate in Berkeley, California. He received his Master of Divinity degree in 1995 and currently serves on the Board of Trustees at Starr King. He served as Chair of the Board from 2007-2011. Before that position, he served as the President of the school’s Graduates Association. In 2003, Rev. Disrud completed an intensive course of study in spiritual direction at the Mercy Center in Burlingame, California.