 Following that, from 2002 to 2012, Buehrens served as minister of First Parish in Needham, Massachusetts.He served as Interim Minister at the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Monterey Peninsula in Carmel, CA.He served as Developmental Senior Minister of the First Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco but announced in December 2016 that he would be retiring from First Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco effective June 2017.