Thomas D. Busteed is a seminarian in discernment in the Lower Susquehanna Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
Thomas, born in 1986 and raised in the picturesque Pocono Mountains of Northeastern Pennsylvania, graduated from Pocono Mountain East High School in 2005. Thomas was involved in both band and chorus and participated frequently in the school’s spring musicals, his senior year starring in the role of Inspector Javert in the musical Les Miserables.
He studied piano with Mrs. Cathy McIntyre of Pocono Pines from 2000-2005 and he studied organ with Dr. Pauline Fox at East Stroudsburg United Methodist Church from 2001-2005. He also studied organ one summer with Dr. Susan Frickert of St. John’s United Church of Christ in Nazareth, PA.
Thomas has won prizes in the Pocono Arts Council (formerly MCAC) Youth in Music Excellence competition in the Senior Instrumental Division (2004 & 2005) and Senior Composition Division (2005). He was also award recipient in the organ category of the Lehigh Valley American Guild of Organists Young Musicians Scholarship Competition in 2004.
Thomas graduated in 2009 from Lebanon Valley College in Annville, PA with a BA in Music with concentrations in Organ Performance and Sacred Music and a minor in German. There he studied organ and piano with Dr. Shelly Moorman-Stahlman, organ with Mr. Joe Baeshore, as well as studied composition with Dr. Scott Eggert. Thomas has also met from time to time with Mr. Stephen Williams at Cathedral of the Nativity in Bethlehem, PA who graciously inspires and challenges Thomas to continue furthering his skill as an organist and church musician.
Thomas has served as a substitute and guest organist at many churches throughout eastern and south central Pennsylvania, and Connecticut. He has also served as organist at Paradise Falls Lutheran Association, Cresco, PA (2004-2007), Christ Episcopal Church, Stroudsburg, PA (2004-2005), St. John’s United Church of Christ in Fredericksburg, PA (2006-2009), St. Andrew United Church of Christ in Lancaster, PA (2010), Trinity United Church of Christ in East Petersburg, PA (2012-2016), Grace Lutheran, Lancaster, PA (Occasional Saturdays 2013-2016), Muhlenberg College, Allentown, PA (2014-2016), and First Lutheran, West Haven, CT (Ocassional Sundays 2016-2018).
Thomas graduated from Lancaster Theological Seminary in May 2013 with a Master of Divinity degree. He also graduated from Yale Divinity School in May 2018 with a Master of Arts in Religion Degree with a concentration in Liturgical Studies with focus on the 1888 Common Service (Lutheran) and the 1866 Mercersburg Liturgy (Reformed). He currently serves on the executive board and corporate board of the Mercersburg Society.
Thomas completed a unit of Clinical Pastoral Education at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, New Brunswick, NJ (2018).
His hobbies include composing music, cooking, knitting, and nature walks.