About

About First Presbyterian Church.

Welcome to First Presbyterian Church, Waterloo, Iowa. This church was founded in 1854 and like the City of Waterloo, we celebrated our 150th anniversary in ministry in 2004. In 2023, we celebrated our 100th year in our building at 505 Franklin.

Meet Our Staff

Randy Argall

Interim Pastor
[email protected]

Pastor Randy began his full-time interim ministry here on April 15, 2024. He came from Iowa
City. He is pictured here with his wife Ann and their two grandsons, Fletcher (7 years old) and
Nelson (4 years old). Fletcher and Nelson live in Iowa City with Randy and Ann’s son, Sam, and
his wife Ashley. Randy and Ann recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.

Randy has taken interim ministry training at Princeton Seminary. He believes that the
congregation needs to focus on five points:
1. Tell stories about our heritage
2. Be challenged by our mission
3. Connect with our neighborhood and beyond
4. Identify and develop leaders
5. Be open to the future

As First Presbyterian focuses on these points, it is fundamentally a worshipping and praying
community of believers in Jesus Christ. Traditional worship is inspiring and joyful when it is
marked by the participation of worshippers through responsive liturgies, choirs, musical
ensembles, creative use of the arts, and relevant sermons. A variety of prayers are included
and needs are shared for members to uphold one another.

Randy and the church would be happy to meet you in worship!

Amber Gilles

Office Manager - Streaming Service Operator
[email protected]

Amber Gilles is the Office Manager at First Presbyterian. She began work in the office in April 2021. Amber is an East Side of Waterloo native, having attended West High School, Hawkeye Community College, and the University of Northern Iowa. She has 10+ years of experience at various local businesses working in accounting, payroll, human resources, and office management. She enjoys working in the background helping to make the various office details run smoothly. Amber lives with her husband, Gary Jr., and their two daughters, Iris and Ivy. Amber also runs the live streaming for the church's worship services. Amber is a member of St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church in Waterloo.

Linda Wiles

Organist - Pianist - Handbell Choir Director

Linda Wiles has been performing at the piano since the age of 5. She has degrees in Piano Performance and Piano Pedagogy from Oklahoma Baptist University and Texas Women’s University. She is noted for her gifted accompanying and dynamic teaching style. In addition to operating private music studios in Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona, Nebraska, and Rhode Island, she has also taught collegiately and served churches as keyboard artist at piano and organ in Oklahoma, Texas, Nebraska, Rhode Island, and Iowa. Throughout her teaching and church music ministry career she has continued to perform as a solo and duo-keyboard artist as well as appearing with several symphony orchestras, including the Oklahoma City Symphony. Her varied performance repertoire ranges from classical to sacred and jazz to gospel. In recent years she has performed benefit concerts for Baptist Peacemakers of Rhode Island, Brother’s Keeper’s ministries of the Episcopal Diocese of Rhode Island., and a variety of mission endeavors for local congregations. She maintains active participation with her home church, First Baptist Church in America, Providence, RI, and currently serves as the organist and Handbell Choir Director for First Presbyterian Church, Waterloo, Iowa.

Marcos Antunez

Sanctuary Choir Director

Marcos Antunez is a fourth year Vocal Performance Major at UNI and director of the Sanctuary Choir at First Presbyterian. Originally from Macedonia, Iowa he regularly performs with many on and off-campus choirs including Concert Chorale, Cantorei, and the Metropolitan Chorale. In addition to his work in many choruses and the marching band, Marcos also participates in the opera program at UNI. Recent achievements include a third place finish at Iowa NATS and second place in the Metropolitan Chorale Art Song Competition. Future plans include attending graduate school to further his studies in voice, as well as doing more travel internationally.