Bruce Hedman grew up in Seattle, Washington, but came east to go to school. He graduated from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1980, and was ordained by the Presbytery of Philadelphia. He served churches in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania and in Union and Hampton, Connecticut, before coming to the Abington Congregational Church in 1988. He also earned a Ph.D. in mathematics at Princeton University in 1979, and has taught at the University of Connecticut as an associate professor of mathematics since 1982. The longest serving pastor at the Abington Church was the Reverend Walter Lyon, from 1782 until 1826. In eight years Bruce hopes to tie that record.