Rev. Dr. Jeff Colarossi is our Pastor of Gardens Presbyterian Church.

A second-career pastor, which included six-year stint working for car dealerships as both a salesman (new and used) and finance manager, Pastor Jeff received his Master of Divinity degree from the Gettysburg Seminary in 2008 and his Doctor of Ministry degree from the Louisville Seminary in 2020. He has served churches in numerous capacities for over twenty years, beginning with youth ministry and Christian Education, moving on to ordered pastoral ministry prior following his ordination in 2009. Pastor Jeff was adopted when he was three months old, born in a Salvation Army hospital. Originally from the Pittsburgh area, Pastor Jeff and his wife Jane have been married for 34 years, having met in college. Jeff is one of several members of his family who are, or were, ordained clergy and comes from a long line of Italian Presbyterians that date back to the early 1900’s when his immigrant maternal grandparents, formed their own church, begun by an Italian Presbyterian missionary by the name of Antonio Pastore! Pastor Jeff loves movies, anything from Alfred Hitchcock to Monty Python, Christopher Nolan to Mel Brooks, and is a big fan of the MCU. A reader by both choice and necessity, his favorite Christian authors are Dietrich Bonhoeffer, C. S. Lewis, N.T. Wright, and will read anything by Malcolm Gladwell, Neil Gaiman, J.R.R. Tolkien and Bill Bryson, as well as anything about the Civil War. His music tastes are eclectic and include anything from Aaron Copland, Miles Davis, Vince Guaraldi, and The Grateful Dead to Pat Metheny, Chris Stapleton, King Crimson and, yes, Jimmy Buffet. He enjoys going to the movies, cooking, collecting wine and good Kentucky bourbon.

Pastor Jeff believes that as those created by God we are to glorify God and enjoy God forever. He seeks, in his daily life, to serve the church with energy, intelligence, imagination and love. Fond of reminding us that “Christ is still risen,” his focus at Gardens will be—first and foremost—to get to know the congregation, and help them to continue to be the people that they have been created and called to be, as they move ever close to be the church that God is calling them to be—and the church that their community needs them to be: an authentic, nurturing community of faith where all are truly welcome; a place where discipleship is of primary importance, where spiritual growth/maturity and lifelong learning are encouraged as ways of deepening one’s relationship with Jesus Christ. He and Jane are thrilled to be here in Palm Beach Gardens!

 

Rev. Linda LeSourd Lader is our Parish Associate.

She is ordained in the Presbytery of Tropical Florida and served as temporary supply pastor to 2nd Presbyterian Church (The Sanctuary) in Ft. Lauderdale from February through August 2011. Before and after her time in Ft. Lauderdale, she served on the pastoral staff at New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC, where she was most recently a Parish Associate. In 1981, together with her husband, Phil, she co-founded Renaissance Weekends, 5-day family retreats for leaders from all walks of life. They continue to host these retreats five times a year, now with their adult daughters, Mary-Catherine and Whitaker.

 

Jane Colarossi is our Director of Family Ministries.

 

{Picture coming soon}  Yinyu Li, is our Director of Music Ministries.

 

     

Lynda Hart is our Executive Administrator.