Adam Davis,
Senior Pastor

Rev. Adam Davis is ordained in the American Baptist tradition
and is interfaith in his outlook and understanding of God’s love.
He was ordained in 2009 by Knollwood Baptist Church in Winston
Salem, NC where he served as Youth Minister for almost eight years.
Adam moved to Columbus in 2017, working then as a Hospice
Chaplain. Adam graduated from Wake Forest University Divinity
School in 2007 earning the Margaret Woodford Guthrie Award
for distinguished scholarships and gifts befitting ministry.

Adam is also proud of receiving the Ohio Hospice Caregiver of the Year
award in 2021 for his work throughout the pandemic.
Since January 2022, Adam has served as the part-time Senior
Pastor at University Baptist Church.

Adam’s other hours are spent operating a small real estate company
he started in 2017 that focuses on providing safe, affordable, decent,
and subsidized housing. In his spare time, Adam likes to ferment
things, mainly bread and tea. He also loves to play soccer,
tennis, and any other strenuous sport though his 45-year-old body
does not always comply. Adam is involved in the University District
and other local faith communities through a network of LGBTQ+ allies
entitled, Wonderfully Made. Adam’s pronouns are he/him.

Ken Watkins,
Associate Pastor

Ken Watkins is both a member and associate pastor. He formerly worked on the pastoral staff at Mississippi State University. Ken’s pronouns are he/him

David Tomasacci,
Choir Director

Dr. David Nelson Tomasacci (b. 1984) is a composer, music theorist, educator, and conductor from Shickshinny, Pennsylvania, currently serving as the Director of Music at University Baptist Church (UBC) since September 2016.

Tomasacci hails from an artistic family: his mother Karen is a painter; his father Randy was trained as a baker and chef by his father Riccardo; and his brother Lukas is an actor and writer. His musical journey began with his first teacher, his grandfather Riccardo, a jazz trombonist who played with the Dorsey brothers and the Army Band during WWII before becoming a baker. David and his grandfather played trombone together for many years at their home church, Sunshine Full Gospel Church in Shickshinny, PA.

As Director of Music at UBC, Tomasacci has endeavored to enrich the musical life of the church by inviting guest musicians from institutions such as OSU, Capital University, Ohio University, and the broader Columbus musical community. Notable collaborations include performances with the Columbus International Children’s Choir and hosting the Annual Memorial Peace Concerts Commemorating the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Under his direction, the UBC choir has premiered numerous new works, including an ambitious project in 2022-2023 where a new introit was written, rehearsed, and performed each week. In 2023, members of the UBC Choir participated in the 50th Anniversary Concert of the pulpit drama Celebrate Life! at Carnegie Hall.

Tomasacci believes sacred music serves multiple roles: to praise and worship God, to enhance the worship experience, to facilitate prayer and contemplation, to deepen the spiritual life of the congregation, to educate through sacred texts and musical programming, and to foster a sense of community and shared faith among worshipers and choir members.

Dr. Tomasacci holds a PhD in Music Theory from The Ohio State University in 2013, where he studied with Dr. David Clampitt. His dissertation, A Theory of Orthography and the Fundamental Bass for the Late Oeuvre of Scriabin, extends the orthographic theories of Cheong Wai-Ling, integrates the set-theoretic analyses of James Baker, and employs the transformational machinery of Klumpenhouwer network isographies to unravel the complex principles behind Alexander Scriabin’s later works.

As an educator, Dr. Tomasacci has lectured at The Ohio State University, Capital University Conservatory of Music, Kenyon College, and Columbus State Community College. He holds a M.M. in Composition from The Ohio State University, where he studied with Donald Harris and Thomas Wells, and a B.M. in Composition from Bucknell University, where his teachers included William Duckworth, Jackson Hill, and William Payne. His compositions have been performed across the United States, Canada, Romania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Croatia, and Slovenia.