Photo by ANNE DRABICKY

Rev. Tigard has served the MCC movement for 11 years as lay leader and pastor.

In August of 2010 Charles was elected to serve as Senior Pastor of Church of the Trinity MCC by 96% affirmation. 

Charles pastored MCC congregations in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and Key West, Florida.

He served as Associate Pastor of MCC San Francisco under the Rev. Penny Nixon. He has a
passion for church growth, authentic worship, and equipping ministry teams with a vision for
Christian service.

He worked on the denominational staff for 6 years prior to his ordination in 2005.
As assistant to Rev. Elder Don Eastman and Rev. Elder Darlene Garner, he was staff to MCC’s
denominational restructuring.

Later he served as Assistant Director of Congregational Development, working with Rev. Jim
Mikulski to build relationships with clergy and develop training programs for MCC ministry students.

Charles studied at Claremont School of Theology, Claremont, California, the Episcopal Theological
School at Claremont, and Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley.

He graduated with honors from the Master of Divinity program at Claremont School of Theology,
receiving the William and Douglas Cook award for Religion and the Arts. He holds an undergraduate degree in psychology from Marlboro College, Marlboro, Vermont.

Most recently Charles completed Clinical Pastoral Education through the chaplaincy program at
Lancaster General Hospital,  Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

From Southern California, Charles enjoys traveling, biking, and mornings with a strong cup of
coffee.

Charles has a passion for equipping lay leadership in the life of spiritual community.  He is
committed to life long learning as a progressive Christian leader.