Pat Neal serves as Director of Contemporary Music here at FPC.

Patrick (Pat) Neal graduated from Pepperdine University with a degree in Music, with an emphasis in vocal performance. He first discovered his love for music and singing for others in third grade, when his teacher declared him, "the best Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer [she'd] ever seen!" After that, his purpose in life seemed clear: he would become his generation's Gene Kelly or Donald O' Connor. As he went through school, Pat was eagerly involved in choirs, bands, and musicals. He began to take voice lessons at age sixteen, and gave his first voice recital at the end of his Senior year in high school. Every Sunday, he and his family attended church, where Pat sang in the adult choir.

While in junior high school, Pat accepted the Lord Jesus as his personal savior, during a Salvation Army rally in San Diego. In his second year of college, God brought a girl named Connie into his life. Spirited and passionate about Jesus, she challenged him to greater spiritual depth than he had ever known. They were married in 1979, while they were both still in school. Pat spent the next few years in the Los Angeles area auditioning for every paying singing/acting/dancing job he could find. During this time, he discovered "showbiz" to be a frustrating -- and not very lucrative -- endeavor. As he and Connie were expecting their first child, it was clearly time to reexamine his calling. 

Here we are twenty-five years later: Pat is still happily married to Connie, with three wonderful children. While he has several different careers behind him -- everything from aerobics instructor, restaurant manager, and stay-at-home dad -- he has never abandoned his passion for God and music. In the Fall of 2004, Pat was invited to join the staff at FPC as Director of Contemporary Music -- a dream job that allows him to use his musical gift to build up his brothers and sisters in Christ.



If money or time were no object, I would vacation in:  Paris.