index

Welcome to the webpage of Richard Dwyer

You may contact me at:
richarddwyer99@yahoo.com

My webpage is being remodeled. Please be patient while not everything is working.

I live in Lexington, Kentucky, USA. I semi-retired in December, 2000, after having been on the ministerial staff of Calvary Baptist Church in Lexington since 1969. During my 31 years at Calvary Baptist, I served in positions of organist, youth choir director, minister of youth, minister of pastoral care, interim minister of singles (for three years), minister of music and finally as the first director of the Interfaith Samaritan Counseling Center which was a ministry of the church. For 10 years, from 1999 - 2009, I served on the music staff of Centenary, a United Methodist Congregation in Lexington, as organist and handbell director.
Currently, I teach Spanish for the OLLI (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute) of the University of Kentucky. Also, I teach English as a New Language and Russian privately. In August, 2007, I joined the staff of First United Methodist Church, Andover in Lexington, serving as Pastor of Music Ministries at the new congregation. In September, 2010, I joined the music faculty of Transylvania University as Professor of Organ. So, as you can see, I am always extremely busy...never bored.. Visit my webpage often. My life, like my webpage, is always changing. Come back soon because I'll be adding photos from my trips to Russia, Cuba and Vietnam. I am just learning how to use this Yahoo Website and eventually will have the photos added. Hope to see you often.

In August, 2007, I began serving First United Methodist Church, Andover as Pastor of Music Ministries. Below is a photo of the first Sunday morning worship service in the church on October 7, 2007. The sun was streaming in the stained glass window and there were more than 300 people in the congregation. Click on the arrow to the right of the photo to see more of the new church. For two years I served at both Andover and Centenary. In the Fall of 2009, because of the growth at Andover, a second worship service began. Thus, I couldn't continue my service at Centenary.

Some of my interests are:
                   Travel
               Genealogy
            Music
         Russian
      Spanish
   Teaching English as a New Language
Teaching Spanish as a New Language to Americans

Organ recital on the 63 rank, 6,355 pipe Reuter Pipe Organ at Centenary United Methodist Church.

January, 2005

Important people in my life

Travel

My interest in travel began in 1985 when I went to the Soviet Union with a group to visit some historic churches. In the following years, I learned the Russian language and returned to the Soviet Union and later to Russia 10 times. During those trips, I made many friends, had the opportunity to preach and play organs in many Russian churches. On my last trip, I served as interpreter for a church music professor who lectured in both in Leningrad and Moscow at the music conservatories. Also, during those 10 years I visited Ukraine, Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Finland. In 1992 I went to Jamaica. Sweden and Denmark were my destinations in 1994. Then, in 1996 I went to Hong Kong and Vietnam. In 1997 I was in Budapest, Hungary and in 1998 in Austria and the Czech Republic. In 1999 I toured Europe on a rail pass, visiting Belgium, England, France, Germany, Luxemburg, Italy, and Switzerland. In January, 2000, at the turn of the millenium, I visited Japan, Australia, Malaysia, and Singapore. In the year 2000 I was in Mexico (Cancun) for one day as I traveled to Havana, Cuba, where I stayed for two weeks. My last trip, in the year 2002, I spent two weeks in Spain, France and Germany and Austria. Much of my travel was a result of being on a work group for the Baptist World Alliance.