Pastor Aileen Robbins

Pastor 

Pastor Aileen has been a pastor of the Upstate New York Synod of the ELCA since 1998 where she began her ministry in the finger lakes. In 2007 she was called to Messiah. As part of her call to the whole church she also serves the synod and genessee finger lakes conference as a transitional pastor when vacancies arise in local congregations.

In 2018, as part of her transitional work with Lutheran Church of Concord, they and the people of messiah discerned god’s call to merge the two congregations into one, bringing together two vibrant faith communities with gifts for sharing the gospel in their neighborhoods.

Pastor Aileen enjoys providing the people of Messiah with the resources they need to express their faith in concrete ways that benefit all of humanity. In allowing people to use their giftedness the church has been inspired to support local organizations such as Family Promise of Greater Rocheter, Habitat for Humanity, No One Left Behind as well as home grown ministries that serve our neighbors such as our Souper Saturday lunches that are free to everyone who walks in the door. 

She is married to Matthew since 1984 and together they have raised two beautiful daughters who are grown and married. Bekki is an ELCA Pastor at St. Peter's by the Sea Lutheran Church in San Diego. Megan is a Licensed Massage Therapist in Webster. Matt and Aileen are now the proud and doting grandparents of three magnificent grandchildren.

She welcomes anyone interested in Messiah or it’s ministries, or has questions about them, to give her a call or stop by the office for a chat. 

Pastor Hans Irmer

Pastoral Assistant

Pastor Hans Irmer joined our staff at the end of 2018 to assist Pastor Aileen with the pastoral care and outreach of our growing congregation. Pastor Hans served the Lutheran Parish of Tonawanda outside of Buffalo before retiring and moving to Greece in 2015. Previously he served congregations in Lockport and Massachusetts and began his parish ministry as a Mission Developer in Virginia. In his varied career, he has also been a nursing home chaplain and administrator, an emergency room and hospice chaplain, and a counselor in a Victim Abuse Center. Throughout his ministry he has felt especially privileged to be with others as they seek to build their faith around the joys and struggles of life whether that be in their homes, hospitals, coffee shops, backyard gardens, or in church. He and his wife, Linda, a retired Roberts Wesleyan professor, enjoy traveling and Pastor Hans recently completed training as a Master Gardener as one way to enjoy being a part of “growing and blossoming.” He envisions that joy and “calling” as a strong motivation to move beyond our church walls into our community in caring and serving ways.

Willie La Favor

Organist and Music Director

Willie La Favor has served as Director of Music/Organist at Messiah since 2004.  In addition to his duties at the church, he is on the faculty of The Hochstein School of Music and is a member of the Telos Trio, a chamber music group which presents innovative concerts drawing on music and other fields such as spirituality and poetry.  Before coming to Messiah, he served as Director of Music at Northwood Christian Church in Indianapolis for eight years, Director of Music at Mitchell Presbyterian Church in Mitchell, IN for four years, and began working as a pianist at his home church when he was nine years old.

Willie holds degrees in Piano Performance from Indiana University (Doctor of Music), New England Conservatory (Master of Music) and Jacksonville University (Bachelor of Music).  His organ studies include a two-year tenure as the Organ Scholar at the Chautauqua Institution. He maintains an active teaching and performing career as an accompanist. 

At Messiah, Willie is responsible for all aspects of the music program, both instrumental and choral, and serves as the organist/pianist for all services.  He initiated the summer MAD (music-art-drama) camp that Messiah hosts each August, which draws youth from grades 1-6 and has also written the scripts and music for these camps on numerous occasions.

He has been married to Deborah Grohman, an ordained Presbyterian Pastor, since 1990. They have one child, Andrew, who is a percussion major at Oberlin Conservatory of Music. 

Cathy Coe

Administrative Assistant

Cathy Coe is a life long Lutheran, and has been a member of Messiah since 1992. She has a Bachelor's degree in Social Work from RIT, and an associate's from Concordia College in Bronxville. She has worked in the medical field (home care and hospice) as well as personnel and customer service. After volunteering in Messiah's church office for several years, she was hired in 2010.