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Rev. James E. Liggett, Jr.
rector@stnicksmt.org
The Rev. James E. Liggett, Jr. is the fifth Rector of St. Nicholas’ Episcopal Church. Fr. Liggett came to St. Nicholas’ in September of 2007, after serving for thirteen years as Rector of St. Mary’s, Big Spring.
Fr. Liggett was born in Kansas and graduated from the University of Houston and the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass. Since his Ordination in 1977, he has served parish is Kansas, Texas, and Oklahoma.
In the Diocese of Northwest Texas, Fr. Liggett has served as a member and Chair of the Commission on Ministry, President and member of the Standing Committee, a director of the Deacon Formation Program, and in a number of other capacities in the life of the Diocese and the larger Church. He was elected Deputy to the 2003, 2006, and 2009 General Conventions.
His wife, Kathleen, is a retired teacher and they have one son, Will, who recently graduated from the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee and is planning to attend Law School.
Bob Poer
bob@stnicksmt.org
Born and reared in Pecos, Texas, Bob Poer graduated with a degree in music from Texas Christian University and received a Master of Sacred Music from Perkins Theological Seminary (SMU) in Dallas. He came to Midland in 1969 as the Minister of Music at the First Presbyterian Church. In 1981, he became the Parish Administrator of Holy Trinity Church in Midland, a post he held for twenty-three years. After retirement in 2004, Bob worked for St. Nicholas’ Church, first as a volunteer, and finally as the parish’s administrator. He has served churches in Breckenridge and Dallas, and is currently the organist for St. Ann’s Catholic Church in Midland.
Since moving to Midland, Bob has been on the boards of the Midland/Odessa Symphony and Chorale, Midland Opera Theatre, and is dean of the West Texas Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. He has worked on the Commission on Ministry, Budget and Finance Committee and the Standing Committee of the Diocese of NW Texas and is parliamentarian for the Diocesan convention.
Besides a career in church music, he enjoys hiking and is an experienced backpacker. He is an avid swimmer and worked with the adult Masters swimming program at the COM swim center. Other interests are baseball, golf, birding, building furniture, and horticulture.
He married his childhood sweetheart in 1957 and has three children, six grandchildren and six granddogs.
Deacon Tom Burns
tburns@apex2000.net
Deacon Tom Burns was Ordained to the Diaconate in 2002 and has been serving at St. Nicholas’ for the last two years. He is a 1982 Graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee with a Bachelor of Science in Social Welfare, Minor in Anthropology. Prior to coming to Big Spring State Hospital as a Psychiatric Social Worker in 1989, he worked for three years as a Substance Abuse Counselor with an emphasis in adolescent counseling at Kettle Moraine Hospital, Oconomowoc, WI. Since coming to Big Spring, Tom has been honored as Social Worker of the Year in both 1995 and 2007 and received a Special Commendation from the Hospital in 1995.
Tom has been an Education for Ministry Mentor since 2003 and currently serves on the Board of Directors for Happy Camp / Promise Camp and on the Board of Directors Prison Ministry. He and his wife Gwen were married in December of 1988.
Darryl Knapp
darryl@stnicksmt.org
Darryl Knapp began his ministry of music at St. Nicholas Episcopal Church in June 2005. He received his Bachelor of Music in piano performance an choral conducting from Texas Tech University and studied under Louis Catuogno, Jane Ann Wilson, and Gene Kennedy. Graduating from The Manhattan School of Music in New York City, he studied pipe organ and church music under the tutelage of Frederick Swann, organist of the famed Riverside Church. He has directed church choirs of all ages, handbell choirs, and school choirs for thirty-plus years. His greatest joy is still to serve God and His Church through music.
