Hi! My
name is Brook McBride and I'm the new pastor here at Hilltop UMC! I'm very excited to be in ministry with you
here at Hilltop. Growing up in small
towns in South Dakota, I always longed to get a chance to live in work in the
big city of Sioux Falls, and now here I am! Cool! I was born in Hurley, SD (the 7th
of 8 children), but my early memories are of White Lake, SD and 
Wagner, SD
where my dad, Bob McBride, was a United Methodist pastor and my mom, Elsie, was
an elementary teacher. (She actually had
me in her 2nd grade class...I'll let her tell you how that went some
time!) After living in White Lake and
Wagner, we moved to Rapid City after my freshman year of High School. That was a tough transition for me, but I
learned to love it there and ended up graduating High School from Rapid City
Central in 1979. In high school I was
active in sports (especially Cross Country and Track), music (I played French horn
in the band and sang in the choir and show choir), and was kind of a science
nerd (esp. chemistry). After graduating
from High School I headed out to college at Dakota Wesleyan University where I
majored in Music Education when I wasn't having fun. The McBrides are kind of an institution at
DWU...all 8 of us kids graduated from DWU!
At DWU
I bumped into a beautiful young freshman named Cyndy Brodeen, and on the summer
after I graduated Cyndy and I were married out by Mitchell Lake. Cyndy grew up in Avon, SD, and has been my
partner for over 25 years now! After
getting married, I taught music in the little town of Hudson, SD and then band
in Wakonda. After teaching 4 years we
headed to Dallas, Texas where I went to seminary on the SMU campus at Perkins
School of Theology. After seminary, I was
called back to South Dakota where I have served the wonderful churches of
Geddes, SD (4 years); Mitchell, SD (5 years as the associate); and Vermillion (11
years.) The last 5 years I served in
Vermillion, I also served the Gayville/Volin UMC.
During
all those wonderful years Cyndy and I have managed to raise 4 
amazing children
who are all graduated from High School now....I can't believe it! Now we just get to sit back and cheer them
on (OK, there may be just a little bit more to it than that!) My children
are: Ben (26 now and teaching ESL in
South Korea); Cassie (24 now and working for Boeing in Seattle with her
husband, Devon, a Mini Cooper technician); Sam (20 and a junior at Drury
University in Springfield, Mo studying architecture); and Wes (18 and attending
Minnesota State University at Mankato as a freshman this fall).
Just a little bit about Cyndy. She is currently employed as a Computer
Specialist at Sanford Health. Cyndy has
a great laugh and loves to help 
people!
Cyndy has been by my side through thick and thin and I think one of our
greatest joys so far as parents is walking (the both of us) our daughter,
Cassie, down the isle 2 years ago to take the love of her life's hand in marriage. The picture says it all. What a joy life can be!
As I
write this I find myself jumping with anticipation! I just can't wait to be in ministry with all
the good people of Hilltop UMC! All I
can say is....it's great to be a Hilltopper!
God is good!