Pastor Bruce believes the church today has to be made up of people committed to blending the secular and sacred in their lives. “Nothing is more important that carrying the work of the church into our community, schools, workplaces, and homes. That’s where the church becomes all that God has dreamt for it to be!”

Pastor Bruce graduated from Bethany Nazarene College (Oklahoma) in 1982 with a degree in Drama & Communication; and from Boston University in 1984 with a Masters in Education. Pastor Bruce was ordained in the Church of the Nazarene by General Superintendent Dr. Stan Toler at the Metro New York District Assembly on May 7th, 2011. He’s done additional work at Harvard University, and at Princeton Theological Seminary where he studied as a Fellow in the Engle Institute of Preaching (2009).

Pastor Bruce is married to his partner in ministry, Amy Watkins Barnard. Amy graduated from Eastern Nazarene College in 1979, Babson College (M.B.A.), and University of Maine (Masters in Teaching). She teaches at the Manhattan School for Children, and finds enjoyment in golf, camping, skiing, and reading (all activities she shares with Pastor Bruce!). They have two children, David, a sophomore Chemistry major at Eastern Nazarene College; and Elizabeth who graduated from ENC in 2008 and is living in Nashville. They are also proud of their two other "kids", Becca (a Maine Coon cat), and Madison, a chocolate lab that is the love of all the kids at WVCN!

You may e-mail Pastor Bruce at pastorbruce@wvcn.org.