Our Ministry Team
Rev. Joseph Dorociak
D.Min., Senior Pastor
Pastor Joe, as he prefers to be called, brings a wealth of experience and many gifts to the ministry of the Presbyterian Church of Barrington including incredible preaching skills, an engaging personality and a hands-on approach to working with people of all ages.
“I am very excited, humbled, honored, and blessed to be called to be the Pastor and Head of Staff of the Presbyterian Church of Barrington and look forward to serving here for a long time,” said Rev. Dorociak.
Dana Litwin,
Director of Children’s Ministry
Dana Litwin is excited to be the new Director of Children’s Ministry at The Presbyterian Church of Barrington. Dana lives in Buffalo Grove with her husband Larry and two wonderful kids, Sarah age 15 and Sam age 13, as well as their two dogs named Oreo and Samson. In her spare time she loves to read, go biking with her family, and play with the dogs.
Dana graduated from Indiana University in 1990 and has been a real estate paralegal for the past 8 years, but her real passion has been working with children and youth as a church volunteer, school volunteer and Girl Scout Leader. She has been a Sunday school teacher, youth group volunteer, confirmation mentor, and a member of the Youth Ministry Site Committee at Christ United Methodist Church in Deerfield.
Dana is also currently the PTO Co-President at District 102 in Buffalo Grove where she enjoys organizing events; working with volunteers and developing new programs.
Kirsten Hedegaard
Director of Music
Kirsten Hedegaard has enjoyed a duel career as a singer and conductor. She has performed numerous Bach cantatas and baroque chamber music and has been a soloist with many early music specialists including Nicholas McGegan, Paul Hillier, Ivars Taurins, Kenneth Slowik, and John Butt. Ms. Hedegaard has sung with, Philharmonia Baroque (founding member), Mercury Baroque, Ensemble viii, Baroque Band, the Newberry Consort, Ars Antiqua, the Rook Ensemble, the Callipygian Players, the Opera Company, Bella Voce, and Tafelmusik BSI among other ensembles. Ms. Hedegaard has performed a variety of new works, including an international tour of Louis Andriessens’s The Odyssey with the Beppie Blankert Dance Company and performances with the Grammy-award winning new music ensemble, eighth blackbird.
Currently Director of Choral Activities at Loyola University, Ms. Hedegaard has taught conducting at Concordia University, River Forest and has conducted choirs and orchestras for various institutions including Eastman House, Chicago Children’s Choir, Gallery 37, Loyola Academy, and the University of California. She was guest conductor with Chicago Choral Artists for the 2009-10 season and is the former conductor for the Bella Voce Outreach program. In 2000, she co-founded The Musical Offering, a nonprofit music school in Evanston where she held the position of Executive Director until 2005. She also holds the position of Director of Music at the Presbyterian Church of Barrington.
Ms. Hedegaard holds a BM from Northwestern University and her MA in conducting from the University of CA, where she was assistant to Paul Hillier. In 2008 she was invited to be a conducting Fellow at the Yale Norfolk Festival, studying with Simon Carrington.
Richard Leasure
Organist
Richard Leasure earned his
B.M. and M.M. in church music with an organ major from Westminster College , PA,
and Northwestern University. He was organist at PCB from 2007 to 2014, and returned to that position in September of 2016.
Prior to PCB, he held organist and organist/director positions in Mt. Prospect, Woodstock, and Palatine, and has been a guest organist for over 30 churches in the Chicagoland area. Richard is a member of both the Fox Valley and North Shore chapters of the American Guild of Organists.