Senior Pastor

John is starting his 26th year as pastor. In that time, John has served in small churches to start (Epworth/McCaysville 1997-1999, The Good Shepherd (1999-2001), a church start (Wesley Way 2001-2007), Ringgold (2007-2014), St John UMC Atlanta (2014-2017) and Simpsonwood in the years following. John’s deep loves are baseball, cooking, deep sea fishing (and hunting), the Tour De France, ministries of recovery and deepening discipleship in Jesus Christ.

John is a diehard Florida State Seminole, attending as an undergraduate. It was at the Wesley Foundation at Florida State that John first received and responded to the grace of being loved in Jesus Christ. The remaining three years at Florida State were spent on the program staff at the FSU Wesley Foundation, the last two years coordinating the staff. The grace of being loved in Christ soon took the shape of a call to pastoral ministry that John continues to answer. John follows in the footsteps of his grandfather who was a pastor himself for nearly 40 years. Currently, John is in the second year of a 3 year course through Narrow Gate Ministries, pursuing intentional development of making disciples in the local congregation.

John and Beth have been married for 26 years. They are blessed with children, Ian and Grace. Ian is finishing his third year majoring in Industrial Engineering at Georgia Tech while Grace is a freshman at Auburn University in pursuit of veterinary medicine. Both possess infectious laughs that make the home a haven of life and love. Ian's great love is hunting/fishing and is a seriously good shot with a bow. Grace is an avid gardener, reader and lover of all things that walk with 4 feet.

Beth’s vocational calling has been doing home health for over 25 years as a physical therapist where she loves her patients to health in the home. She has worked for Amedisys for the past 14 years and was the Southeast Therapist of the Year in 2020 for her company. Beth’s ‘other’ passion/obsession involves a serious commitment as a Tennessee Volunteer football fan. She grew up in Northeast Tennessee (Rogersville) and has been known to wear orange obnoxiously on those rare Sundays after a Saturday victory. She possesses some seriously orange shoes in preparation/training for the 2023 season and a new coach! Beth has long been involved in women’s ministries and sings in the choir.

As a family, the Purringtons enjoy trips taken to some of America’s national parks, the God given journey in ministry and the grace of sharing life together with the local church. The Purringtons are excited about the grace of serving Monroe First and look forward to what God will do in the days ahead.

I was raised in Athens, Georgia and have been a Methodist my entire life. Growing up, I was an active member of the Youth Group at Athens First United Methodist Church and served on several committees. Upon Graduation from Clarke Central High School in 2002, I attended Georgia College and State University. Majoring in Health Sciences with a concentration in Community Health, I also was a four-year Letterman on the college baseball team. In my senior season I was 2nd team All-Conference and 2nd team All-Region as a pitcher. Our team won the regular season conference championship and was one game away from the college world series.

My wife Ashley and I have 3 beautiful children and are blessed and excited to be at MFMC. While at FMC I obtained a Master's degree from Asbury Theological Seminary with a concentration in Christian Ministries.

I enjoy spending time with family and friends, playing golf and seeing our youth and the church grow in their relationship with God.

Emma Graduated from Georgia College and State University in 2022 with a degree in Sociology. She also attended and graduated from Social Circle High School in 2018. While attending HS she worked with children in the Social Circle High School Pre-K program. Her love for working with children started as a sitter at the early age of 14. She has grown up and been involved in Monroe First Methodist church her entire life. Presently, she is working for a local law firm in the Monroe area.

Lisa graduated from The University of Montevallo with a degree in Music Education. She retired from public school teaching as a music teacher after 30 years in the Americus City School System, DeKalb and Rockdale County Public Schools Systems.

In July of 2014 she became our Director of Children's & Youth Music. She feels that music plays a vital role in the spiritual upbringing of a child. The children of Monroe First will feel God's presence and love as they grow stronger in their faith through various music.

In August of 2017 she took on a second role by also becoming the Director of Children's Ministry.

Lisa is originally from Alabama, but has lived and taught music in Georgia since 1983. She lives in Social Circle with her husband Doug and they have two adult children, Emma and Davis.

Assistant Youth Director

I was raised in Monroe and attended George Walton Academy for fourteen years, pre-school through graduation. I started attending worship here in 2018 because of my lovely and amazing, now, wife: Michelle Thompson. Soon after attending worship, I discovered the opportunity to play in the praise band alongside her. I attended church most of my upbringing. However, I never took God and Jesus' teachings seriously until I accidently got involved in college ministry (thank the Lord for that). There, I developed an actual beginning understanding of who God is, what He wants for His people, the things I need to un-learn and re-learn to follow Him, and the joy He brings. I graduated GSU in Atlanta as president of the BCM (Baptist Collegiate Ministries) and was fortunate enough to continue my service in the praise band in Monroe during my education. Now, I get the honor to serve the youth and other branches of ministry alongside Wes and get to delight in the Lord from his teachings through the astonishing staff here. I cannot wait to grow in knowledge of the Lord, grow in community with His body, and help lead the youth through the narrow path we are all called to walk through.

I enjoy playing music, being active outside (especially playing tag with my niece and nephew), releasing my inner child during youth group, playing board games, video games, snow skiing, scuba diving, and am currently learning front end web development.