A New Call for Brad Toebben ‘14

The Rev. Warren Bradley Toebben, Class of 2014, has been called as the next rector of Christ Episcopal Church, Lake Oswego, Oregon. He has been serving as rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Milwaukee, WI since 2017 and previously served as assistant priest at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Eugene, Oregon.

Toebben grew up in Jefferson City, Missouri and was baptized at First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in 1972. He graduated from the University of Missouri at Columbia in 1986 with a BSBA in Finance/Commercial Bank Management. That same year, he was confirmed as a Roman Catholic at Sacred Heart Parish in Columbia, Missouri, choosing the confirmation name Paul. In 1988 he entered formation for priestly studies at Conception Seminary College in Missouri and received the Certificate of Pre-Theological Studies in 1990. He pursued graduate studies in religion and theology at the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium and was awarded the MA in Religious Studies in 1993 and the MA in Theology and Sacrae Theologiae Licentiatus in 1997.

He returned to the United States and became Director of Campus Ministry and Associate Professor of Theology at St. Gregory’s University in Shawnee, Oklahoma serving in the latter position until 2003. After prayerful discernment, he made the difficult decision to leave the Roman Catholic Church and began a career in interior design in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma then relocating to Portland, Oregon in 2005. He reentered academia as Associate Professor of Religion at Clackamas Community College in Oregon. In 2007 he was received into the Episcopal Church at Trinity Cathedral in Portland, Oregon which raised him up for Holy Orders in 2013. After completing Anglican Studies at General, he was ordained to the diaconate and priesthood in 2014.