Senior Pastor Larry Varvel was born in Bartlesville, Oklahoma in 1959. His family moved to Tulsa in 1971 and Larry graduated from Tulsa Memorial High School in 1978. Larry then attended the University of Oklahoma in Norman as a National Merit Scholar where he was awarded a Bachelor’s degree in Letters in 1981 and a Master’s degree in Philosophy in 1983. He then moved to Pasadena, California to attend Fuller Theological Seminary. Larry graduated from Fuller with a Master’s degree in Divinity in 1986 and was ordained as a United Methodist pastor that same year.

Prior to his coming to Broken Arrow in 2003, Larry served as the Associate Pastor at Wesley UMC in Oklahoma City (1986-1988), pastor of the First UMC of Atoka, OK (1988-1990), OK; pastor of Quail Springs UMC in Oklahoma City (1990-1997), and Senior Pastor of the First UMC of Ada, OK (1997-2003). While serving in Ada, Larry was awarded the Denman Award for Excellence in Evangelism by the United Methodist Foundation for Evangelism.

Larry and Jeanine have three children: Patty Deras and her husband, Andrew and their son, Leo; Lainie Schick, and her husband Taylor; and Andrew Varvel and his wife Elyssa. Larry and Jeanine enjoy traveling, movies, and spending time with family.

Graeme Collett joined staff at First United Methodist Broken Arrow, on January 1, 2014, as Director of Student Ministries before becoming the Associate Pastor. Graeme previously served three and a half years as Director of Student Ministries at Sand Springs United Methodist Church.

He recently graduated from seminary at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky via their XL (extended learning program) in May 2021.

He graduated from Oklahoma State University with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology in 2010. During his time at OSU, Graeme founded and directed a non-profit mission organization that sent mission teams internationally to both Uganda, and Mexico.

He was born in Manitoba, Canada, raised in Nebraska.  He met his wife, Jetonne, while they were attending OSU. Graeme and Jetonne have been married for almost 11 years and they have two beautiful sons Micah and Levi. The Collett Family loves Oklahoma State Football, going to the splash pad, zoo, and spending time with friends and family.