Bluff Park UMC was invited by the Office of New Church Development of the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church to participate in a new covenant which places additional associate pastors in healthy and strategic churches to start new ministries and new worship services. On April 10th, we announced in worship, that Rev. John Carl Hastings will be joining the staff of Bluff Park UMC as part of this new covenant. He will be reaching out, in new ways, to the young adult community in Bluff Park.
Rev. Hastings is currently the pastor of Hargrove Memorial and St. Paul UMCs in Tuscaloosa. A graduate of Auburn University and The Divinity School at Duke University, John Carl is married to the Rev. Tori Hastings, who currently serves Druid Hills and Holt UMCs in Tuscaloosa and will be appointed to Canterbury UMC in June. Together, they have a ten-month-old son, Brooks, and an impossibly energetic miniature dachshund, Gracie. John Carl is passionate about ministry, particularly in the areas of preaching and worship. He loves helping people enter into communion with God, one another, and the world and feels that we are most at home when we are fellowshipping around God’s Table. He looks forward to serving alongside all the people of Bluff Park UMC and is eager to join in with the good work that God is doing in the Bluff Park community.
Rev. Hastings’ first Sunday with us will be June 26, 2016.
Looking forward to having you, Rev. Hastings!