Dr. Lawrence C. (“Larry”) Roff has been Senior Pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Schenectady, New York since the summer of 2009.  The church is located in the historic “Stockade District” of this upstate New York city, and recently celebrated the 250th anniversary of its founding.  As a minister in the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), Roff has served as pastor of congregations in Miami and West Palm Beach, FL; Fairton, NJ; Hopewell, VA; and Steubenville, OH.
 
After serving as Chairman of the Department of Practical Theology at Knox Theological Seminary (associated with Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church) in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, he continued there afterward on a part-time basis as an adjunct professor, teaching courses in worship, hymnody, preaching, counseling, church growth, leadership, Christian education, spiritual life, and philosophy of ministry while serving a PCA congregation nearby
 
Dr. Roff holds degrees in organ performance (B.Mus., Belhaven University), pastoral ministry (M.Div., Reformed Theological Seminary), American Church History (Th.M., Princeton Theological Seminary), and worship/hymnody (D.Min., Westminster Theological Seminary).  He has done additional study at the Christian Counseling and Education Foundation, Westminster Choir College, and Union Theological Seminary’s Presbyterian School of Christian Education.
 
His ministry extends beyond the local church and seminary as he speaks at local church Bible conferences, the PCA’s “Worship and Music Conference,” and Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church’s “Church Music Explosion.”  For nearly 40 years he has served as official General Assembly organist for the Presbyterian Church in America.  He is a past chapter dean in the American Guild of Organists.  . 
 
In several communities where he has been a pastor, he has served as president of local ministerial associations.  He has a keen interest in missions and was a member of his denomination’s foreign mission Odessa (Ukraine) Church Restoration Project.  In addition to helping raise more than a million dollars to restore a century-old Reformed Church building there, he personally raised money to purchase and install a pipe organ in that historic building.  He has also raised funds for an organ for the church in Belgorod-Dnestrovsky.  He often travels to Ukraine to teach in the Evangelical Reformed Seminary of Ukraine and has played organ concerts in several cities in that nation.
 
His published works include Puritanism in West Jersey from 1680; Let Us Sing: The Hymnody of the Christian Church; The Covenant Pulpit; and articles in Leadership Handbooks of Practical Theology, Vol. I, The Complete Library of Christian Worship; and the Journal of Religious and Theological Information.  He was editor of the Trinity Hymnal and served on the editorial committee of the Trinity Psalter, both official publications of the Presbyterian Church in America.  He has recorded several CDs of organ music, including two on the Odessa organ.
 
Larry grew up in Miami, FL where he met and married his wife, Betty.  They have two children and three grandchildren, all living in Chattanooga, TN.