• Introducing Our Ministers •
The Rev. Brett D. Buick
From Tanks and Courtrooms to the Pulpit
B
efore 2011, when Brett Buick was well into a career as a lawyer, he had
never really considered becoming a priest. Now, he says, “I can’t imagine
doing anything else.”
He is happily serving as assistant to the pastor in Kempton, Pennsylvania,
where he and his wife, Karla (Cole), are raising their six children, but it was an
unusual path that got him there.
Brett grew up in the Bryn Athyn area and was schooled in New Church
education from kindergarten through two years of College. He earned a BA
in Government from the College of William and Mary. Then came two career
experiences that may have seemed a long way from the ministry – the United
States Army and working as a lawyer. But when the call started knocking he
eagerly opened the door.
Brett may be the only New Church minister who served as a tank platoon
leader and scout platoon leader in the Army from 1998 through 2002, which
included deployment in Kuwait in 2001. He was there during the 9/11 terrorist
bombing in the United States.
He says, “Being a platoon leader in the United States Army taught me
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