First Church Welcomes New Associate Minister

Jonathan Tompkins

 

Jonathan Tompkins is still quite amazed. Amazed that he was commissioned as a United Methodist Elder at Annual Conference; amazed that three years of seminary have flown by so quickly and he is now a "Master  of Divinity;" amazed that he has received a wonderful appointment as Associate Pastor at First Church; and still amazed that God has called the likes of him to be a minister of the Gospel.

Jonathan grew up in a small town in upstate New York. His step-father was a minister and being a true "Preacher's Kid," Jonathan was determined to do anything but become a minister himself. He attended the State University of New York at Geneseo and stopped going to church. He graduated with a degree in English/Secondary Education and subsequently moved to Columbia, SC to teach 7th grade English at Crayton Middle School. He still continued to avoid church as much as possible and did all he could to ignore the whispers of God's call on his life. During his third year of teaching, he found himself attending Shandon United Methodist Church, first playing in the praise band and then serving as a youth counselor for UMYF. He took a summer job there as interim youth director and soon realized that he should be doing this full time. Despite the new youth director position, Jonathan still resisted the idea of ever becoming a minister.

During his five years at Shandon, Jonathan witnessed deep and meaningful ministry taking place to, with and by the youth of the church. He could no longer avoid God's call to ordained ministry and even became excited about the idea. In the summer of 2006, he left a job, a city, and a church he loved, married a woman he loved, and headed to Atlanta, GA to attend seminary at Candler School of Theology, Emory University. During his three years there, God's call was only affirmed and confirmed by the experiences of learning, worship and community he was fortunate to be a part of.

Jonathan and Rebecca are so excited to begin this next stage of their journey in ministry to First Church. They look forward to the opportunities of sharing in Christ's love that the Spirit-filled community of FUMC has to offer and thank God for the grace that has brought them thus far. Amazing, indeed!