Hello Hazelwood Friends – both those I have met and those yet-to-meet!
I’m so excited to be joining you for the next year as we journey together through this “in-between” time in the life of this congregation. If you haven’t had the opportunity to hear my first sermon from this past Sunday, July 25, I strongly encourage you to do so, as I am hopeful it “sets the stage” for our time of ministry together. You can watch online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRd3x9RI7LU. If you do not have time to watch the entire service, the sermon starts at about 37 minutes in and lasts for 15 minutes.
For those of you who might want to know a little more about me personally, I grew up not too far from here, graduating from Mississinewa High School, and attended Ball State for my undergrad degree in Marketing. I have not been in Muncie since I graduated, so really it is like being in a whole new town. I also have an M.Ed from the University of South Carolina, and it is in SC where I met my husband. He is also an ordained minister with standing in the Disciples of Christ, although he was originally ordained as a Southern Baptist, the denomination in which he grew up.
I grew up in a fundamental independent Baptist Church, where my call to ministry was denied because I was female. After teaching middle and elementary school for 17 years, God made a way for me to live into my call through the Disciples of Christ, of which we became a part in 2008 while I was still teaching. I am now in my 10th year of vocational ministry and received my Master of Divinity Degree from Lexington Theological Seminary. It has been quite a journey!
We also have a 25-year-old son who is about to begin his 2nd year in the School of Social Work at the University of Louisville. My permanent home is in Louisville, where my husband and son are, but I do have a rental home here, just about 5 minutes from HCC.
I look forward to getting to know you, and I welcome opportunities to chat with you individually. My office schedule will be varied, and I ask that you please use my cell phone to leave messages instead of the office phone. Text and email are both great for me, too.
Shalom,
Rev. Pamela
