The Joplin Globe, Joplin, MO

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October 9, 2009

AP: Married pastors find new home in St. Joseph



The Associated Press

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. — Laura Blevins was a 14-year-old at church camp when she first felt called to be a pastor.

For years, she responded by deciding she’d be anything else. A lawyer, a journalist, a carhop at Sonic. But not a pastor, because until college, she didn’t even know any other women who were pastors.

But today, not only is Laura a pastor — she’s also married to one.

“I think God has a really good sense of humor,” she says, laughing. “But I can’t imagine living any other way. ... I wake up every day saying, ‘I love my life. I love my husband. I love my job.’”

The Revs. Laura and Jeremy Blevins were married last April and moved to St. Joseph in July to take on new pastoral positions, Laura as the senior pastor at St. Paul United Methodist Church and Jeremy as the associate pastor at Ashland United Methodist Church.

Both personally and professionally, the journey here has taken time and come with a measure of uncertainty; the couple didn’t know even on their wedding day, for example, where the United Methodist Church’s Missouri Conference would place them as they began their lives together. But despite challenges along the way — and challenges now, as well — neither would want to be anywhere else.

“I feel like we’re exactly where we need to be,” says Jeremy, who also, like his wife, didn’t embrace a call to ministry until after pursuing another career. After deciding to give ministry a try, he took a youth pastor job in the Lake of the Ozarks area, keeping it even after he enrolled in the Master of Divinity program at St. Paul School of Theology in Kansas City. It was there, in the fall of 2004, that he and Laura met, both first-year students in a Bible class.

The couple were on their honeymoon when they received a call — at 3 a.m. Hawaii time — to come visit their respective churches in St. Joseph. Although they couldn’t make it right away, as soon as they did, it was clear the pastoral positions were good fits.

“They’re both very gifted, which made it easy for us,” says the Rev. Steve Cox, superintendent of the Pony Express District of the United Methodist Church’s Missouri Conference. “ ... I’m very excited about what they have to offer to their ministries and the care and compassion they have to offer to people.”

He adds that there are several other married couples in the district who serve as pastors at different churches. Still, despite the fact they aren’t alone in their situation, Jeremy and Laura have found that most people they meet are fairly shocked by it. But their churches are supportive, they say.

And like most anything else, “It’s good and it’s bad,” Laura says of both she and Jeremy being pastors. “When I come home and talk about what I’m facing, he’s going to understand. He knows the ins and outs. But on the downside, we don’t see each other on Sundays.”

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