Michael E. Karunas - Senior Minister

Greetings!

I am delighted to be Senior Minister of FCC BRLA and couldn’t imagine being anywhere else! Originally from Ann Arbor, Michigan I have had no trouble acclimating to the weather and culture of south. There is nothing better than the blooming of Azaleas during the long and beautiful Spring.

After receiving a AB from Butler University (major: history, minors: German, sociology, math), I spent two years working as a Global Mission Intern for the Christian Church in Magdeburg, East Germany. I then worked for two more years as a Certified Nursing Assistant in a nursing home (I still consider this some of the most gratifying “ministry” I’ve ever done), before attending the University of Chicago Divinity School where I graduated with an M.Div. in 1998. I spent six incredible years as pastor of First Christian Church in Centralia, IL (southern Illinois) and then in the Fall of 2004 continued to move further down I-55 to Cajun Country.

I am proud to serve on the Week of Compassion Advisory Committee of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and as President of the Alumni Council of Disciples Divinity House (Univ. of Chicago). Mission and outreach, with the idea of the making connections world-wide through the Christ who is present everywhere, is very important to me.

I am married to Amy Ziettlow. Amy is an ordained minister with the Evangelical Lutheran Church and is currently the Chief Operations Officer of Hospice of Baton Rouge. We have three children, Thomas (8), Isabella (4) and Luke (born March, 2009). My main interests include exercising (distance running and cycling), spending time with family, working in the yard, vacationing on Crystal Lake (MI) or Orange Beach (AL), and eating South Louisiana cuisine (the best in the world!).

I am also currently hooked on the Great Courses Audio Lecture Series.  I've listend to 15+ courses in the past two years.

Favorites:

Movies

  • Shawshank Redemption
  • Usual Suspects
  • Good Fellas 
  • The Escapist
  • The Inside Man 

Music (what plays in my MP3 when I run)

  • Bruce Springsteen
  • Green Day
  • Red Hot Chili Peppers
  • U2
  • (anything fast with a driving feel) 

Music (what plays at my desk when I'm working)

  • Third Day 
  • Bob Marley
  • Anything with a "folk" feel (think Dylan, Pete Seeger, the Weavers...)
  • Classical (Shostakovich, Dvorak, Bach, Beethoven to name a few)

Authors (I will read almost anything...)

  • Khaled Hosseini
  • Paul Auster
  • Jumpa Lahiri
  • Umberto Eco

Best Recent Reads

  • Hot Flat and Crowded - Thomas Friedman
  • Same Kind of Different as Me - Ron Hall and Denver Moore
  • Mohammed: A Bography of the Prophet - Karen Armstrong
  • The Year of Living Biblically - A.J. Jacobs
  • Storytelling - Annette Simmons

Topics of Study

  • All things historical (I love looking for patterns that link past and present)

Theologians / Philosophers

  • St. Augustine
  • Aristotle
  • Martin Luther