Placentia UMC STAFF
Pastor: Eric Schmidt
Contact: umcpastorschmidt@gmail.com
Office Hours: Tuesday/Thursday 9am to 12pm
Please call or email to schedule an appointment after office hours.
Pastor Eric has a dual appointment as the pastor at Placentia United Methodist Church
and as the East District Grant Writer. Prior, he served three churches: as pastor at the
United Methodist Church of Cucamonga, as co-pastor with Rev. Thanh Van Le at Trinity
United Methodist Church in Pomona and as pastor at Corona United Methodist Church.
Eric is a Provisional Elder. He has served as the chair for the New Ministries essential
ministry team, the chair of the Cal-Pac Hunger Task Force, and the chair of the East
District Planning & Strategy (DPAS) committee. Eric recently served as
Assistant Director for the West District Union. He is a member of the Change Managers group and has served on the Cal-Pac Connectional Table, Congregational Loan Fund committee, Nominations committee and Staff-Relations Committee, in addition to chairing mission areas
and serving on a variety of ad hoc committees. Eric completed the Coaching4Clergy courses sponsored by the conference.
Eric has three decades of national and international experience, including World
Vision International which moved him to southern California, where he was
introduced to the United Methodist Church by his wife (& fell in love with both).
Formerly a member of The Gideons International, he served as regional vice
president for the Pacific Southwest. Eric’s earlier career was in the high-tech
industry in New England, the Southeast and Texas. He was a founder or partner in
five start-up companies with progressively higher executive management roles.
Eric has an M.Div. from Fuller Theological Seminary, a Ph.D. from Georgia Tech
and other graduate and undergraduate degrees in science. His wife and ministry
partner, Esperanza, is a food scientist who works for Century Foods. Between
them, they have visited 50+ countries.
Eric and Esperanza recently celebrated their 15 th wedding anniversary. Esperanza
is from Navotas, a suburb of Manila in the Philippines. Both come from large
families: Esperanza is the youngest of ten children while Eric is the eldest of five.
They enjoy singing in the choir, prayer gatherings, date nights, good science-fiction
movies and spending time with family on Sunday afternoons.
Music Director: Laurie Cobb
Contact: musicdirector@placentiaumc.org
Director of Music Ministries and Pianist, Laurie has served at Placentia United Methodist Church since 1998 in our music department. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Music from the University of San Diego and her Masters of Music in Piano Accompanying from East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. Laurie also works full-time with the wonderful choral students at Santa Ana High School where she has worked since 1999.
Laurie considers herself blessed to be an accompanist and vocal coach for the Choral and Musical Theater departments. She is very proud of the fact that many of her students there have gone on to finish their college degrees in Vocal Performance, Opera Performance, Music Ministry and Music Education.
Office Administrator: Izzy Izaguirre
Contact: pumcsecr@gmail.com
Office Administrator, Izzy has served at Placentia United Methodist Church since 2015. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management from the University of Phoenix and has a passion for fundraising in the non-profit arena. She is also our webmaster.
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Izzy is an avid reader and loves a good mystery and scary story. She loves family and friends and spends time with them as often as possible; she is a tour guide at heart and can give you adventure advice, when asked.