This page introduces some of the staff and key people here at First United Methodist Church, Mays Landing, NJ.
Reverend Doug Rea, Pastor
Pastor Doug comes to the ordained ministry through many years as a lay person in the United Methodist Church. He is the classic second-career person.
Raised Roman Catholic, it wasn't until Pastor Doug met his wife Lisa, a life-long Methodist, that he became acquainted and involved with the ministry of the United Methodist Church.
Pastor Doug and his wife celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary in August, 2004. They have two sons, Douglas Jr., who is studying for ordained ministry at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, and Christopher, who lives at home and works full time at Staples while he is finishing his education, hopefully, at Rowan University starting this year.
Pastor Doug has worked blue-collar jobs all his life--from the factory where his father worked, where Pastor Doug was a baker for Sunshine Biscuits, to the "Steel Mill" where Pastor Doug worked as a Lab Technician for 18 years. Through that time Pastor Doug earned a B.S. in Chemistry from Georgian Court College in 1995. At the time of graduation Pastor Doug had already discerned a call to ordained ministry. So it was off to seminary at Drew University Theological School. Pastor Doug graduated with a M.Div. in 2000. That year he was ordained a deacon in the Southern New Jersey Annual Conference. In 2003, Pastor Doug was ordained an elder in the Greater New Jersey Area Annual Conference.
Pastor Doug has had the blessing of two churches, which have had a huge impact on his life: Christ United Methodist Church in Lakewood, New Jersey, where the Reverend Bob Smith was his pastor; and the new missional church started in 1989, in Jackson, New Jersey, where the Reverend Ken Sloane was pastor. Pastor Doug comments, "I wish that everyone seeking a more meaningful life could find churches such as I have found--churches that stretch our understanding of being God's people and challenge us to be faithful to Jesus Christ, churches that proclaim God's unconditional love and do so unconditionally, churches concerned with our personal walk as well as social justice issues, churches that integrate head with heart."
Pastor Doug believes that church should be a place where people encounter the saving and healing touch of Jesus Christ, a place where our wounds are bound up, loving support is given to us on the road of discipleship, and a call to loving service in Jesus' name is continually before us. Church is also a place where God confronts us with Holy Presence. Sometimes that may be uncomfortable! But it is always grace filled as God empowers and enables us to live changed lives!
On the theological spectrum Pastor Doug would describe himself as an orthodox liberal with an affinity for progressive theology, all the while maintaining himself as an Evangelical. Sound confusing? It is--even to him! He hasn't quite figured it out yet! Perhaps he never will!
Doctrinal differences aren't as big a concern to Pastor Doug as is expressing our love for God by showing our love for each other and the world for which Christ died.
When asked his favorite passage from the Bible, Pastor Doug commented, "When I read the book of Ephesians for the first time, I was touched by Paul's prayer for the Ephesians. For me it represents my deepest desire for others and myself as well. I remember watching the movie City Slickers, where Curly tells Billy Crystal 'you got to search for that one thing (that defines you, so that life will be filled with passion, purpose, and meaning)'. Ephesians 3:14-20 defines that 'one thing'. My desire is that God would work in all of us accordingly; that God would (as Paul wrote): ' . . . strengthen us with power through his Spirit in our inner beings, so that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith. And . . . that we, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that we may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.' (Eph. 3:16-20 NIV)." It is a wonderful thing to be created vessels of God!
