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Meet the Staff
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John Washok - Business Administrator
John is the church's Business Administrator. John has been on staff since April of 1993, working first part time as Director of Youth Ministries and then assuming the Business Administrator position full time in 1996.
John and his family moved to Jacksonville in 1976 serving in the Air Force at Little Rock AFB. The Washok family joined the church in 1976 and immediately became active in all ministries of the church. In 1980, John retired from the Air Force after 23 years service. John owned and operated two separate businesses after leaving the Air Force and before joining the church staff.
John has worked with the local church youth, Conway District Youth, and North Arkansas Conference Youth as counselor, resource person and registrar for all Conference Youth events.
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Philip Frederic - Director of Music Ministry
Philip is a native of Oklahoma raised primarily in southern Arkansas. His father was a Baptist Minister and singer who had Philip playing gospel piano and singing in church from about the age of 8. Upon graduation in 1979 from Fairview High School, in Camden, Arkansas, he attended Centenary College of Louisiana in Shreveport. He studied classical music at the Hurley School of Music on the campus of Centenary. Philip was also a member of America's Singing Ambassadors, (the Centenary College Choir) where he studied choral conducting up-close with Dr. Will K. Andress while touring the continental United States, Japan, and mainland China in 1983.
Upon completion of the Degree in Musical Arts, Philip joined the Air Force 505th Field Band at Chanute Air Force Base, in Rantoul, Illinois, where he served as vocalist, keyboardist, and arranger with the Pacesetters Jazz Orchestra and the Horizon Band. After spending 4 years on the road, Philip decided to settle down and return to Arkansas in 1990. He has served both Capital View Methodist Church in Little Rock and St. Paul United Methodist Church in El Dorado, as well as the Methodist Children's Homes of Arkansas before joining the staff of First United Methodist, Jacksonville in January 2001 as Director of Music Ministries.
Philip and his wife Tracie have been married 18 years and have 3 boys and 1 girl: Parker, Greyson, Quinton, and Scarlett (Quinton and Scarlett are twins).
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Donna Hendricks - Director of Christian Education
Donna joined the staff in October 2009. A native of Mississippi, Donna arrived in Arkansas after living in Texas for twenty one years. Donna received her Bachelor’s of Business Administration from The University of Mississippi in 1988 (Hoddy Toddy) and worked in the business world for over twenty years. Her passion in the business world was corporate training. She loved teaching people new skills and watching them grow in their careers.
A lifelong Methodist, Donna answered her call to ministry in 2003 and began the process towards ordained ministry in the United Methodist Church. She graduated in May 2009 from Southern Methodist University’s Perkins School of Theology with a Masters Degree in Christian Ministries – Christian Education Track and is currently a Certified Candidate for Ordained ministry, Deacon Track in the United Methodist Church. Donna has served in a variety of lay ministry positions for the last sixteen years and was Director of Children’s Ministry at The Woods United Methodist Church in Grand Prairie, Texas prior to joining the staff at FUMC Jacksonville. She is passionate about the spiritual formation of others and about equipping the saints. It is a great day when one more soul is won for the Kingdom of God.
Donna and Dennis have been married for twenty one years and they have three children, Joshua Steinberg, Alexis and Micayla and one four-legged family member named Zowee.
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Jay Wedaman - Facilities Manager
Jay has worked with the church since 2004 and coordinates the sound for all our worship services. He and his wife have two wonderful children and live here in Jacksonville. Jay recently completed his undergraduate degree in audio/visual technical work at the University of Arkansas in Little Rock, and runs a recording company.
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Walt Garrett - Intern
Walt joined the staff in May 2009. Born and raised in Fort Wayne, Indiana, he has been a lifelong member of the UMC. After serving five years in the Air Force, Walt responded to God's call and began the ordination process through the UMC. While serving at FUMC, he is also attending Asbury Theological Seminary and is a Certified Candidate for ordained ministry, Elder track. Walt and his wife Kenda moved to Arkansas from Anchorage, AK in 2008; they have been married since 2005.
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Kelley McDonald - Director of Media Ministries
Kelley joined the staff in 2008 and is the coordinator for all the print and digital media for our church. She has been working in graphic design for several years and is always searching for design and ministry ideas that will usher people into God's presence. Kelley was born and raised in Texas, where she met our senior pastor while he was attending SMU and she was attending Southwestern University in Georgetown. They married in 1990 and while Pastor Mark did his internship in Morrilton, Arkansas, Kelley completed her undergraduate degree at Hendrix College in Conway. She developed her love for graphic designing while working in the digital scrapbooking industry over the last five years. She designs with the Adobe Master Collection, a graphic tablet, an extra-wide monitor and an open heart.
She and Mark have five children. In her spare time, you can find her reading, knitting, sewing, quilting, digital scrapbooking or playing board games with the kids. In addition to her deep commitment to keeping her large family in sync, she also has a passion and calling for art ministries and living a simple life through which she can connect with her own creativity, with others and with God. She has started a ministry that has made over 700 hundred hats this year for Children's Hospital and the homeless and is now expanding into other projects (including knitting for our prayer shawl ministry, creating community art and craft groups and developing online communities for the church.)
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Mike Brown - Worship Leader
Mike is a central AR native. He has been a Christian since he was 18 and has been involved in praise and worship music since that time. He has had the great blessing of working with a number of wonderful Christian musicians in every possible style ranging from heavy metal (back when he had lots of hair), to fusion jazz, to alternative, as well as power praise that is now popular. He is a multi-instrumentalist and a vocalist. He consides it a privilege any time he is able to give back of this talent that has so freely been given to him. Mike says that the more he gives, the more he gets. And he'll do most anything to help people reach out and touch the hem of His garment.
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