Staff

[ Bios ]

BJ Woodworth

B.J. Woodworth is the lead pastor of the Open Door, a six year old PCUSA church plant in Pittsburgh’s East End. He serves the community by being a visionary guide, worship choreographer, mission equipper, community catalyst, and prophetic poet.

He is a graduate of Westminster College and Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.  He worked for the CCO at Bellefield Presbyterian Church and the University of Pittsburgh from 1992-2003.  B.J. loves playing racquetball, basketball and soccer, biking, brewing beer, watching movies, and dabbling in writing poetry.

He is married to Katrina and has four children, Kyra, Elena, Zach and Alex (who are twins). He is particularly passionate about social justice and community development which is evidenced, in his involvement in racial reconciliation initiatives, Habitat for Humanity and living in an intentional urban community in Pittsburgh’s East End. And if you can’t find him at home or at the church, he’s most likely at a local pub called the Sharp Edge sampling the latest cask conditioned or Belgium beer or a West Cost IPA.

John Creasy

John Creasy is the Associate Pastor for the Open Door and director of Garfield Community Farm. He serves the Open Door by leading the band, equipping new members to use their gifts and explore their dreams, and by developing and implementing ways for the Open Door to serve the larger community in which we find ourselves.

As director of Garfield Farm, John has worked to create an ecologically diverse neighborhood farm on nearly three acres of land at the top of the Garfield neighborhood. This farm serves to educate the local church on our call as Christians toward environmental sustainability and to provide healthy organic produce to those of lower income in the Garfield neighborhood. In 2010 the Garfield Farm team began a Community Supported Agriculture project, or CSA, in which local families receive weekly vegetables for 20 weeks out of the year.

John and his wife, Alyssa; have three children, Téah, Micah and Lyle; two large dogs and three chickens. They’ve lived in the East End of Pittsburgh for the past seven years.

Lisa Collier

Lisa Collier works part-time as the church administrator and has held this position since September, 2009.  She assists BJ and John in their roles as pastors and supports other leadership within the Open Door.  She enjoys serving in this unique way–ministering to those in the Open Door through various administrative tasks and projects.  One of the activities Lisa helps coordinate is AIS (a children’s soccer program and ministry in the east end), and this is one of her favorite events to plan and be a part of.  Jesus is all about relationship, and that is one piece about ministry that she loves to find herself in–building relationships with people in the area (from church and un-churched backgrounds) is a wonderful way to show them the love of God.

Lisa has lived in Pittsburgh for the past 3 years since moving from Wisconsin.  She enjoys time spent with her husband Ben, daughter Sophia, and dog Tozer as well as many friends in the area!  When not working at the Open Door, she’s busy running around with her daughter, reading books, watching movies, writing poetry, and sewing.

Christy Valencheck

Christy Valencheck works part-time for the Open Door as the Children’s Ministry Coordinator.  She loves the unique opportunity the Open Door provides her to write children’s lessons that mirror the sermon topics each week, and enjoys working alongside other church leaders to create an atmosphere that regards children as integral to the community and to worship.

Over the past 14 years, Christy has worked therapeutically with children with autism, Asperger’s syndrome, and developmental delays; directed after-school programs and camps focused on peace, justice, and community service; and tutored and mentored children targeted as “high-risk” for dropping out of school.  She believes that God wants to embrace all children, and that He wants to do this through the arms of His disciples.  Christy is happy that she is able to work among so many artists, dreamers, peacemakers, and builders in Pittsburgh to deliver messages of God’s love to kids in the east end.

Christy lives in East Liberty with her husband, Terry, and their two children, Julian and Sonora.  Much like a child, she loves to dance, drum, play, salvage, tinker, doodle, and ask why.

Kelly Dee

Coming soon…