[Born] 6/19/78 to Roy and Sandy Blair
[Married] 7/9/04 to Holly Snyder
[Father] 11/24/07 to Camden Blair
[Educational Background]
> Collinsville High School, IL; Fall 1993-Spring 1996
> Greenville College, IL; Bachelors in Religion/Philosophy; Fall 1996-Spring 2000
> Saint Paul School of Theology, MO; Masters of Divinity; Fall 2000-Spring 2004
[Vocational Experience]
> Pastor of Napoleon UMC, MO; July 2001-June 2003
> Pastor of La Harpe UMC, Durham UMC, Terra Haute UMC, IL; July 2003-June 2004
> Lead Pastor of FirstLight UMC Church Start, Gardner, KS; July 2004- October 2009
[Personal Background]
I was raised in Collinsville, Illinois. I grew up as part of St. Luke’s United Methodist Church. My family and church family instilled in me a passion for Jesus Christ and the St. Louis Cardinals (www.stlouiscardinals.com). I felt my calling into the ordained ministry as a freshman at Greenville College (www.greenville.edu) in Greenville, Illinois. I decided to enter into the ordained ministry because “I love God. I love people. I think the two should meet.” Those reasons are still my core reasons for being a pastor. I became an ordained elder in the Kansas East Conference of the United Methodist Church (www.kansaseast.org) in June of 2008.
I have been married to Holly Snyder for the five years. We are the proud parents of an adorable 22-month son, Camden Elijah Blair. Our household grew recently as we assumed legalguardianship for our sweet twelve year old niece, Elizabeth.
For the last five years I have served as a church planter for FirstLight United Methodist Faith Community in Gardner, Kansas (www.firstlightgardner.org). I have enjoyed seeing people meet God, either for the first time or for the first time in years. FirstLight has grown from fourteen adults and eight children in a living room to a church averaging two hundred adults and children per Sunday.
Beginning November 1st, I will be one of the pastors of Congregational Care at the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection (www.cor.org) I look forward to this next opportunity to serve as God’s minister.
[Passions]
> Unpacking the Biblical story for people’s lives
> Comforting people with the reassurance that God is “There.”
> Connecting people with God by re-imagining church for the 21st century
> Befriending the outsider
> Caring for the poor and invisible
[Disclaimer, Sort of]
The views expressed in this blog are not necessarily the views of the United Methodist Church or any particular church I have attended or pastored. However, they are my best efforts to connect years of faithful discipleship and theological reflection, nurtured by these communities, to a public, online forum.
