Meet Reverend Jack Perkins Davidson
 |
| Dear Spring Glen Friends, I am honored and overjoyed by the invitation to candidate for the Senior Pastor position at Spring Glen Church. Here’s what I want you to know about me: I believe that church matters. I believe church done right is deeply intertwined in both our personal lives and the world around us. Church should be a comfort in our challenge, and a challenge in our comfort, giving us sanctuary to dig into the hard questions of this world and the next. Most importantly, church should be a community of celebration. Church should be fun and inspiring, not an obligation but a joy, more than a building but a people, not a noun but a verb. Our church community should be an ever-evolving rock that you are proud to make your spiritual home, a family that walks and grows with you on your lifelong journey of faith. My wife Laura, our 19-month-old daughter PJ, and I are all very excited to make Spring Glen Church that home base for the journey ahead. I was drawn to Spring Glen Church for all of the ways it authentically embodies God’s love, from the way you care for each other to the ways you care for the world. The Gospel is made tangible in the mutual care exhibited by the Search Committee representing the church as a whole, in the solar panels on your roof, in the difficult conversations about topics ranging from gun violence to race advertised on your bulletin boards, and in the important outreach work you offer to the wider community. The inclusive invitation of Christ for all peoples is made manifest in your history and in your worship, in your Open and Affirming proclamation and your handicap-accessible facilities, in your children’s ministry and in your artistic programming. I cannot wait to join the vibrant ministries of Spring Glen Church! The Search Committee has prepared a wonderful slate of events to help us get to know each other better before the June 5 congregational meeting. I hope you will join us for some good fellowship. Blessings, Rev. Jack Perkins Davidson |
About Jack
Rev. Jack Perkins Davidson has served the last five years as Associate Minister at the First Church of Christ, Congregational in Redding, CT. In that role, he started a number of thriving and creative ministries from a Youth Intern program to an Online Adult Education course that have all helped invigorate Redding’s spiritual and communal growth.
At the same time, Rev. Davidson has built a significant public presence. His blog ChurchvSports.org has garnered national attention covering topics on church vitality and youth ministry. His music project MotherHenMusic.org has gained a small audience online. And he recently began serving as Treasurer on the Board of Directors for the Racial Justice Ministries of the Connecticut Conference.
Before his time in Redding, Rev. Davidson worked as the Ministerial Intern at the historic Old South Church in downtown Boston. He co-led a weekly evening Jazz service and ran a ministry for young adults in their 20s and 30s. Before he was the intern at Old South, he sang in the choir, which is where he met his wife Laura. Both share a passion for music and the outdoors.
Laura Perkins Davidson is very familiar with the New Haven area having worked for 3 years as a Social Worker at Amistad High School just down the road from Spring Glen. PJ, which stands for Priscilla Jane, loves percussively banging on every surface possible, eating berries and applesauce, playing on every slide she can find, and giving treats to her dog Nola.
Rev. Davidson’s history includes time as a chaplain at Maine Medical Center, work as a Youth Ministries Coordinator in college, and an extensive amount of time working in Outdoor Ministry at camps in Connecticut, New Hampshire, Maine, and Minnesota.
Raised at the First Congregational Church of Greenwich, Jack first felt the call to ministry as a teenager in a very active youth ministry. He then attended Colby College studying Music, World Religion, and Math. He went straight through to Harvard Divinity School where he took part in a special program examining the way religious studies and public education intersect in our pluralistic society.
He loves preaching, campfires on the church lawn, and dreaming up wild experiments in ministry. You may often find him with an instrument or a cup of tea in hand, talking enthusiastically about the future of the church.
To get a taste of Jack’s ministry, go to www.springglenchurch.org/reverendjack
Opportunities to meet Jack and his family
Wednesday, May 11th • 6pm – 7:30pm
“Pizza Party”
Fellowship Room
Thursday, May 19th • 7pm – 8:30pm
“Dessert Time”
Fellowship Room
Saturday, June 4th • 3pm – 5pm
“Ice Cream Social”
Church Lawn
Sunday, June 5th • 10am
Candidating Sunday and Congregational Vote
Followed by Fellowship Hour with coffee and cake in the Great Hall
