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Minister finds his place at Concord Presbyterian Church
Heather Mays - Thu, Mar, 27, 2008
Concord Presbyterian Church, 11000 Second Drive, gained a new pastor in December 2007.
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The Rev. David Webster, 28, came from Spokane, Wash., to his first pastorship at Concord with his wife, Dawn.
Webster received his degree from the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary. Although he did not have prior experience as a pastor, he was a youth minister for four to five years at First Presbyterian Church in Yakima, Wash. He also served several internships at small churches while in seminary.
Knoxville seems to be a big jump from Washington, but Webster explained how he found Concord Presbyterian. “The way it works for Presbyterians is that when we start looking for a church, there’s kind of an online system that has listings of churches that are looking. They have what is, you might call it, a resume for the church.
“So I read Concord’s, and it really fit with what I was looking for. And then I noticed that one of the references on it was the guy that I worked with in middle Tennessee when I did an internship there,” Webster said.
“Concord fit what I was looking for and it was very clear that this is where we were supposed to be,” he added.
Webster still feels that he is taking time to get to know his congregation.
“Right now, I’m still learning a lot. A lot of what I’m doing now is listening to the people and their stories so I understand where the church needs to go from here,” he said.
Webster does have a vision for the church and looks forward to seeing the congregation grow.
“I think one thing I would love to see happen is certainly growth in the area of younger families and that sort of thing ,so that people can continue to hold to the traditions and heritage that this congregation has had for so many years,” Webster said.
“And sort of along with that is thinking about what it means to reach out the community and what kind of role Concord can play in sort of a larger community down here, as far as mission opportunities and that kind of thing goes,” he added.
For Webster’s ordination service, his mother, Margee Webster, made a gingerbread house replica of Concord that she flew in pieces to Knoxville. The miniature gingerbread Concord still sits in the church foyer.
“The gingerbread that it’s made of, if you were to eat it, it would break your teeth off,” Webster said.
Webster said that he and his wife like the Farragut area. “Having lived in the Midwest for the last three years, I love the fact that there are mountains again and water. We definitely do not miss the six-month -ong winters.
“The people are great too. We both enjoy the culture. It’s nice to be in an area where there are things to do but it doesn’t feel like a gigantic city like Atlanta or Chicago or something like that. That makes it really nice too,” Webster added.
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