Staff
Pastor, Akum Longchar
Pastor Akum Longchar is a Naga American with many years of ministry experience. She received her early seminary degrees from Eastern Theological College in India and taught at Servanthood Bible College in Nagaland, and TAFTEE (The Association for Theological Education Through Extension) in Bangalore. Akum also has served as a young adult minister in a Baptist church in Nagaland.
Akum holds a Ph.D. degree in Homiletics from the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley CA. She completed three units of Clinical Pastoral Education and currently serves as a chaplain at St. Joseph Hospital in Nashua.
Akum is married to Rev. Moa Imchen for 25 years, and they are blessed with two grown children—Ain and Sanen.
Pastor Akum's office hours are Wednesdays from 9:00am - 3:00pm
Administrative Assistant, Grace Schroeder
Grace Schroeder, an Irish lass from the Wicklow hills, married an engineer from Nashua and here she is, happily working as an administrator with First Baptist! She is also a realtor, an Executive Function Coach, and the Social Director of the Nashua Choral Society, where she sings Soprano.
In a previous life, having graduated with an MA in Adult Learning & Development, she coordinated a county-wide Adult Guidance Service for 15 years, helping adults make career and life choices. As you may have picked up, Grace enjoys variety, keeping busy, being a team player and the satisfaction that comes from a job well done.
Being involved in community life is important to Grace. Since moving to Nashua in 2018, she has volunteered with the YMCA, The Nashua Soup Kitchen, Symphony NH as usher coordinator, and has been a board member of the Nashua International Sculpture Symposium.
Side hobbies Grace enjoys when time allows are playing music, making kombucha and hiking with friends.
Director of Music Ministries, Bahar Soyöz
Bahar Soyoz is an experienced pianist who enjoys playing both solo and chamber repertoire. She specializes in collaborative piano with voice, but has performed with string, brass and percussion instruments. She received her bachelor’s degree at Hacettepe University in Turkey as a soloist, where she performed many recitals and concerts. During her senior year, Soyoz studied in Leipzig HMT as an Erasmus student under Prof. Markus Tomas. Working as a coach at Hacettepe University, she developed her deep passion for collaboration.
Sharing music on stage was an experience of which she wanted more in her life; she chose to pursue a Master’s degree in Collaborative Piano at Longy School of Music in the U.S. as a Fulbrighter, under Prof. Renana Gutman. Performing often with voice at different venues, Soyoz wants to expand the idea of collaboration with multi-disciplined art events together with her ensemble partner Baritone David Mather (ensemble ‘A Priori’). She believes collaboration is an influence on all, and it brings out more creativity in everyone.
Besides performance and teaching, Soyoz is also actively part of church music and has played for church services in the greater Boston area. After teaching in institutions such as Hacettepe University and Bilkent University in Turkey, Bahar joined the South Shore Conservatory as piano faculty in 2021.
Sexton, George Cernuda
George Cernuda, a longtime member of First Baptist Church, emigrated from Cuba to Miami as a boy, along with his younger brother, in 1962. His family eventually settled in Nashua the following year.
George recently retired from the Nashua School System after 16 years. He lives in Nashua with his wife, Betty. George is the proud father of three daughters and devoted grandfather to five boys and one girl. While we can't say for sure he's never missed a game that one of his grand-kids has played in, we know he has been to most of them!
In his spare time, George loves to do woodworking and tackling landscaping projects.