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Finally settling in Bloomington, Illinois, he graduated from Bloomington High School and went to Eastern Illinois University, majoring in Psychology.
T.J. received his Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1990 and was ordained to the position of Associate Pastor at Westmont Presbyterian Church in Johnstown, Pennsylvania on September 30, 1990. After serving for five years at Westmont, T.J. accepted the call to become the pastor of Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church on the East End of Long Island, where he served for 8 years. In 2003, he moved to Brookville, Pennsylvania to serve as pastor and Head of Staff for Brookville Presbyterian Church prior to moving to Rochester.
T.J. works closely with the Session (as moderator), the Mission committee, the Social Concerns committee, Personnel and Administration, Worship and Music and Stewardship and Finance. He is the primary worship planner and preacher, leads officer training sessions and new member classes, often leads Advent and Lenten Bible studies, and coordinates the work of the staff.
T.J. is active in the Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area, recently serving as the moderator of the Presbytery. In addition, T.J. is active storyteller, specializing in biblical stories and folktales and is a Certified Master Biblical Storyteller through the Network of Biblical Storytellers.
T.J. and his wife Juliet have two sons – Grafton and Thomson – who keep them quite busy. Juliet is an English teacher and swim coach, Grafton is an avid swimmer and tennis player, while Thomson enjoys swimming and playing soccer.

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Since the fall of 2019, John Stender has served as the Director of Music and Organist at First Presbyterian Church. Before coming to Southeast Minnesota, John’s family resided in Beaufort, South Carolina, where he and his wife Sarah were both employed as full-time Directors of Music at thriving historic Baptist and Anglican churches. Also while in Beaufort John served as the director of the Beaufort Belles – a community a cappella women’s barbershop chorus, and accompanist for the Sea Island Chamber Singers – an auditioned community chorus, and served as the dean and performed multiple times for the Lowcountry chapter of the American Guild of Organists .

John graduated from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in 2015 earning a M.M. degree in organ and sacred music. There he studied organ and harpsichord with Bruce Neswick and Elisabeth Wright, respectively. In 2012 he graduated from Luther College in Decorah, IA with a B.A. in organ and church music (mentored by Dr. Gregory Peterson), and religion.

Throughout his years of study, he sang in numerous choirs (including the Luther College Nordic Choir), served as a choir section leader and frequent accompanist. While at Luther, he served as student music director for two Broadway musicals including Spring Awakening, he traveled to Namibia and South Africa with a chamber choir for immersive choral and cultural exchange, was a participant in the Yale Organ Week, and participated in a month-long French organ seminar playing numerous instruments and visiting historical and cultural points of interest in and around Paris and Épernay. While studying in Indiana: John sang with Concentus for a Harmonia Early Music Christmas radio recording, served as dean of the student American Guild of Organists chapter, served as Staff Accompanist for the Indiana University Theatre and Drama department, and acted alongside Ray Fellman in the Pulitzer Prize nominated play, Old Wicked Songs, by Jon Marans for the Jewish Theatre of Bloomington. He also and coordinated several departmental organ and sacred music concert offerings, performed movements from Olivier Messiaen’s La Nativité du Seigneur and Les Corps Glorieux in studio recitals, was a featured performer in Pipedreams’ “2013 Bach’s Birthday Bash,” and traveled to the Pacific Northwest for an organ and sacred music intensive where he offered movements from Messiaen’s L’Ascension and sang with the Cathedral Choir during services at St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral. In 2014 John participated in Lutheran Summer Music and served as Worship Assistant and assistant to the camp organist. He served as conductor for the 2017 Carolinas Treble Festival in Charlotte, NC, organist and coordinator of the 2019 festival in Beaufort, and conductor and coordinator for the Carolinas Treble Festival Chorus (an association of Royal School of Church Music affiliated choirs in the Carolinas) for a trip to sing services at Washington National Cathedral and the Immanuel Chapel on the campus of Virginia Theological Seminary.

John has written, arranged, and orchestrated numerous compositions for practical use in music programs where he has served. He has been invited by colleagues to lead numerous rehearsals and choir retreat workshops, and was recently invited to perform for the 50th Anniversary of the Hendrickson organ on the Luther College campus.

John enjoys hobbies like cooking, camping, and curating his CD collection. He resides in Kasson with his wife, Sarah—also a teacher, keyboardist, and church musician. Together they raise two sons (Daniel & Benjamin) and a daughter (Margot), and Dolly Parton (their rescued Malti-poo pup).