Pastor's Message
click here for recent sermons
Hello. I'm David Shirey.
I'll try to introduce myself in the space of a single web page, but I hope to meet you in person at one of our upcoming worship services.
So, beginning with "just the facts": 
Birthplace: Warren, OH (a transplanted Buckeye.)
Education:
- B.A. in Religious Studies from Indiana University, 1981.
(I started out Pre-Med but had a "conversion experience" in Organic Chemistry that led me to seek refuge in another major. It's a long story...).
- Masters of Divinity degree from Vanderbilt Divinity School in Nashville, TN.
(Expanded my horizons through dialogue with people from a wide variety of faith backgrounds and expanded my family, too-- I met Jennie there, my wife of 23 years and lifelong partner in ministry)
Churches Served:
- Carthage Christian Church, Carthage, TN 1982-85
(my first love) 
- Compton Heights, St. Louis, MO 1985-89
(urban ministry at its grit- and grace-filled best)
- First Christian, Wilmington, NC 1989-98 (hurricanes and hallelujahs aplenty)
- North Christian, Columbus, IN 1998-2001 (continued growth in grace in an architectural gem)
- Interim Minister at Southport Christian Church, Indianapolis, IN 2001-02
("I thank my God for all my remembrance of you.")
- Coolwater Christian Church, Scottsdale, AZ
(What an adventure of faith...)
Family: My  wife Jennie; Will, age 21; Betsy, age 18; Laura, age 15; and our dog Sophie (golden retriever, sheds a lot).
What else? I enjoy running (not very fast, not very far), books (piled on the nightstand and next to the recliner), and writing (wrote "The Bible Lessons" for The Disciple magazine for 3 years among other things). Above all else, I've been blessed to meet, minister and serve with people in many settings:
- As a hospital chaplain in Nashville and with cancer patients as a Nashville Hospice volunteer.
- As an inner city minister in southside St. Louis.
- As a volunteer Hospice chaplain in NC holding vigil with AIDS patients.
- On the serving line of a soup kitchen.
- On the ladder of a Habitat for Humanity house.
- On several Appalachian Service Project teams.
- As a United Way board member in Indiana
- As a United Christian Campus Ministry board member at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington.
- As a member of the Kiwanis Club of Carefree.
- On the board of the Foothills Food Bank
- As a member of a relief team on an incredible journey into northern Nicaragua with supplies in the days after Hurricane Mitch.
Your one page is full, David. Okay, but listing all of the above only serves to bring other things to mind that I've been privileged to be part of throughout the past twenty years. This reminds me yet again that there is no greater joy nor challenge than seeking to follow Jesus Christ. And to think that I've now been given the chance to start a new church, building new memories with new people in a new place. I can only imagine what lies ahead.
Click here to e-mail David Shirey |
Home
