James K. (Jamie) Risser of Sterling, Va., will begin on July 1 as director of Brethren Disaster Ministries, working with Roy Winter, associate executive director of Global Mission and Service. Risser will work out of offices located at the Brethren Service Center in New Windsor, Md.
Coming from a farm background, he has worked in various aspects of home construction including carpentry, drywall, electrical, roofing, and siding. His construction experience includes volunteering with Habitat for Humanity starting in high school and continuing in college when he was a Habitat volunteer and chapter president as well as a local member of the board. He has served as a board member for the McPherson Area Habitat for Humanity.
An ordained minister in the Church of the Brethren, he has training in clinical pastoral education. Most recently he pastored Dranesville Church of the Brethren in Herndon, Va. He also has served churches and chaplaincies in Pennsylvania and Minnesota. He holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and religion from McPherson (Kan.) College, and a master of divinity degree from Bethany Theological Seminary. He completed a year of Brethren Volunteer Service at Koinonia Partners in Americus, Ga.
His previous professional positions have included service as a residential supervisor with Multi Community Diversified Services in McPherson, working with individuals living with disabilities, and a position as chaplain with the Valley Hope Association in Moundridge, Kan. He is currently a staff chaplain at Washington Adventist Hospital in Takoma, Park, Md.