I greet you in the name of our Resurrected Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

 

My name is Pastor Josh. I’ll save the “how to pronounce Munnikhuysen” part for when we meet in person.

 

This is my 4th appointment in the Virginia Conference. I grew up in the hustle of Northern Virginia, met my wife in Richmond, and have served churches in Smith Mountain Lake, Southside and Central Virginia.

 

My call to pastoral ministry began two decades ago and fell somewhere between "Jonah & Abraham". I was an active lay member of a congregation, paying the bills as a cabinet maker, when in a holy and terrifying season God called me to leave the familiar and serve him. I did the only natural thing and doubled down in the opposite direction. Our Lord is patient and lovingly lead me to release the life I knew and enter an adventure, leaving home and woodworking behind.

 

I have been married to Jessica, a nurse practitioner at UVA, for almost three decades. She didn’t marry a pastor (bless her heart), she doesn’t make rolls or play the piano…go figure. She’s wicked smart! She can win adults and children alike with her smile, but be careful, she’s salty. We are ‘tastefully’ irreverent. If anybody asks us the secret to being together so long, we’d probably say we cause each other to belly-laugh.

 

In our free time, my wife and I enjoy live music, and hiking. As an enneagram 5, I take joy recharging my batteries between our two long-haired dachshunds with a book in hand. If that doesn’t work, they lay at my feet while I astonish them with a guitar. They are soooo easy to impress. Jessica is still working on getting me to take better care of the body I left behind in high school. I return the favor by exorcising her soul.

 

When I’m not leading a bible-study, preaching or presiding at the sacrament, I share conversation with my friends and colleagues at our podcast called Crackers and Grape Juice. We remind one another that Jesus and his grace for sinners is the most important story we have.

 

Jessica and I look forward to meeting God’s Easter people of CUMC very soon.

Pastor Josh