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June 28
5:30pm
FUMC West Point Sanctuary
Steve West is a husband, father, minister, musician, and writer who serves as senior pastor of Jacksonville First United Methodist Church in Jacksonville, Alabama, adjacent to the campus of Jacksonville State University. He became a follower of Christ at age ten and was deeply shaped by his experiences in youth group, high school band, and retreats at Sumatanga, the camp and retreat center of the North Alabama Conference of the UMC. He studied sociology and music at Birmingham-Southern College, graduating manga cum laude, and graduated cum laude with a Master of Divinity from Emory University. He earned a Doctor of Ministry from Sewanee in 2020.
Steve and his best friend, Sandy, met in seminary and have been married since 1988. He comes from a long line of Methodist ministers, including early circuit riders in North Alabama and North Georgia. Steve and Sandy have two grown children.
Before coming to Jacksonville First UMC, Steve served as pastor of Fyffe UMC, associate pastor of Vestavia Hills UMC, founding pastor of Morningstar UMC in Chelsea, and senior pastor of Grace UMC in Huntsville, Saint Mark UMC in Birmingham, and Arab First UMC.
While he loves preaching and pastoring, music is his way of “praying twice.” In Jacksonville, he is a member of the JSU Civic Chorale and the JSU Trombone Choir. He is a vocalist, pianist, and trombonist who has been a choir director and a baritone soloist in major choral works, led worship at the piano for clergy retreats, Annual Conferences, SoulFeast, and Academies for Spiritual Formation, and played in community band and pit orchestra for local musical theater. He was the producer and primary musician of a CD called “Living Stones” and the “Songs for Morning Prayer” CD for the Academy for Spiritual Formation. He has a number of devotional articles published in Upper Room resources and columns published in local papers. His blog, “Musings of a Musical Preacher,” can be found here. His recent book, Something Happens Here: Reclaiming the Distinctiveness of Wesley's Communion Spirituality in Times of Divisiveness, is available from Wipf & Stock publishers and Amazon.com.
Sandy and Steve enjoy family, genealogy, walking, having the “grand puppies” for a visit, and camping in their mini-camper. Steve also enjoys mountain biking and coin collecting.