Welcome Pastor Melinda
Melinda McDonald has accepted a call to serve Central Christian Church as Associate Pastor for Adult Spiritual Formation and Pastoral Care, a three-quarter time position. She comes at the unanimous recommendation of the pastoral search committee and the affirmative vote by the Church Council on behalf of the congregation.
Pastor Melinda plans to move to Decatur in April and will join the staff at Central effective April 8. Her first Sunday in worship with us will be April 14.
Congregational ministry is a second career for Pastor Melinda. She felt a call to ministry and enrolled in seminary in 2011 following several years as an English and creative writing teacher. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature, Master of Arts in Elementary Education, and a Master of Divinity. She was ordained in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) North Carolina region in 2015, and since then she has served small congregations in Georgia and North Carolina as interim pastor and as supply minister. Melinda and her husband Eric have one son and two grandchildren, ages 9 and 2.
Central’s Pastoral search committee was formed in early 2023 to seek and evaluate candidates for an associate minister position. Search committee members were Gregg Foltz, chair, Keith Backes, Betty Chapman, Janet Lyman, Tom Ritter, Shirley Swarthout and David Wagner.