Pastor Melinda Giese, Summit UMC
Greetings, brothers and sisters in Christ!
It is with humility and joy that I introduce myself as the new Minister of Discipleship and Pastoral Care at Puyallup UMC. I am excited to get to know the Puyallup congregation and join with you in your ministries, and I’m delighted to continue this journey with the good people at Summit UMC as well.
I grew up in Kennewick in eastern Washington, where my family attended Kennewick First UMC. I moved to this side of the state for college and graduated from the University of Puget Sound with a Bachelors of Arts in English in 1996. My husband, Tom, graduated with a Masters in Civil Engineering from Oregon State University in 1996 as well. We didn’t meet until after college in Seattle, when I was working as an administrative assistant at the University of Washington and Tom worked at an engineering consulting firm in Federal Way. We were married at Kennewick First UMC in 2000.
We have since put down deep roots in this area. We moved to our home on the border of Federal Way and Milton 17 years ago and started attending Browns Point UMC. I was a stay-at-home mom for several years when our children were young. This year, Jonathan will be a senior at Fife High School, Anna will be a ninth grader at Columbia Junior High, and Tom now works at BHC Consultants (another engineering consulting firm) in downtown Tacoma.
After several years of discernment, I enrolled at the Seattle University School of Theology and Ministry in 2013 and graduated in 2017. Summit UMC was my first appointment as a pastor. Over the past three years, I have gained a great deal of leadership experience given the near breakup of the UMC, our church merger, and now a pandemic. The list of skills I did not learn in seminary grows longer every year!
I began my ministry as a lay speaker at Browns Point, and as a result, I am passionate about encouraging congregation members to explore and use their gifts. God calls all of us in different and surprising ways, not just pastors. I enjoy leading small groups of all kinds and walking with people in their faith lives. I greatly appreciate Puyallup’s commitment to hospitality, because I see the heart of God as a grace-filled and radical welcome for each and for all. The more fully we live that out, the more likely we are to see glimpses of God’s kin-dom all around us.
Outside of my work as a pastor, I love trips to the Oregon Coast, Louise Penny mysteries, good conversation, and good coffee. Our neighborhood is located at the far end of the Milton Trail, and my husband and I also like to take regular walks together on the trail or in our neighborhood.
Just as I have experienced the joy of growing to love Summit’s congregation, I now look forward to getting to know and love Puyallup’s congregation. It’s a great privilege to be appointed as your pastor, and I pray that God will work through our ministries together for the good of this church and our wider Puyallup community.