As of June 29th at 12pm, I officially became the appointed pastor of Cokesbury United Methodist Church. Let me start by saying that my family and I are excited to be here! While I usually use this space to explore some theological point of our lives together or highlight upcoming activities, I thought this month I would use it to help you all get to know your new pastor and his family just a little bit better.
My wife, Shea, and I have been married twenty years, and we have one daughter, Samantha, who is a rising sophomore at Academic Magnet High School. My wife is the owner of Holy City Pharmacy on James Island, and we have our home in West Ashley. While we do not live in North Charleston, this city and specifically Dorchester Road have been a large part of my family’s life as this is where Shea’s grandmother lived. All the typical grandmother memories are centered around that house, and we still gather there for family events. Things I enjoy in my leisure time are fishing, kayaking, walking the beach, hiking (generally spending time outside), reading, and spending time with family and friends. I have not always been a pastor. In fact, I have not always been a United Methodist, but a long time ago I stopped trying to predict the path the Holy Spirit charts and trust that I am being led in the direction God wants me to go.
I am entering my 8th year of pastoral ministry, and Cokesbury is my 3rd appointment. Prior to answer God’s call on my life to become an ordained pastor, I worked as a territory manager in the AV/IT world for almost twenty years. While I still like technology, God has a way of making you pay attention when God calls (Don’t believe me? Read the book of Jonah. It won’t take long. It’s one of the shorter books in the Bible.)
So, how did I end up a pastor in The United Methodist Church? It was because God called me to this vocation, but God used me marrying a Baptist to get me here! I grew up Lutheran, and Shea and I were splitting time between the Lutheran and the Baptist church when we found out Samantha was on the way. We decided we needed to find some middle ground and the first Sunday we visited a United Methodist church, the pastor preached about Methodism being middle ground. While it might take time for some things to sink in to my thick skull (like God was calling me into the ministry!), I heard God speaking loud and clear that day. Once we joined the UMC, I found myself becoming more and more active in local church life until one day I was asked by my pastor, “Are you feeling a call from God?” My immediate response was, “What on earth would make you ask me that?” The truth was, that was exactly what I had been experiencing. Like Jonah, I had been running (a lot longer than Jonah, but thankfully being swallowed by a fish was not involved!), and it took the bravery and counsel of a pastor to help me see, hear, and answer God’s call on my life. And now, here we are!
I am not going to tell you all of my story here, or I am going to run out of sermon material! Moreover, I cannot wait to hear your story(ies) as individuals and as a community called together by God through the Holy Spirit to be the body of Christ for this area. I trust that God knows each of us by name, loves us beyond measure, and walks with us every step of this journey together. I trust that God’s plans are filled with peace, not disaster, and are for a future filled with hope (Jeremiah 29:11) I look forward to the adventure that awaits!
Grace & Peace,
Pastor Bryan
