WHO IS PASTOR PATRICIA SEBRING?
Huntingtown UMC pastor brings energy, change
Friday, Aug. 31, 2007-- Southern Maryland News, Meagan Boswell
When Patricia Sebring was 13 years old she preached her first sermon at a small church in Pennsylvania.
Afterwards, a member of the congregation suggested she consider becoming a pastor when she was older. Sebring dismissed the idea at the time, but more than 25 years later that idea has become a reality.
Sebring is the new pastor at Huntingtown United Methodist Church, coming to the Huntingtown congregation July 1 after serving for three years at College Park United Methodist Church. It’s been seven years since she entered the ministry, and she couldn’t be happier.
‘‘I am definitely at home in the pulpit,” she said.
Like many pastors, Sebring entered the ministry as a second career, she said. With masters degrees in biology and chemistry, Sebring worked as an environmental coordinator for Bechtel Engineering, ending her career there as the public relations and business development manager. She also served as a layperson at a Methodist church in Gaithersburg, and it was there that she felt the call to serve full time in the ministry of the church.
‘‘I was teaching Bible disciple study and heard God’s call to leave my profession and enter the ministry,” Sebring said, adding that ‘‘that wonderful thing called the Bible” got her interested in the church in the first place.
Because her father also worked for Bechtel when Sebring was a child, she said she moved around a lot, living everywhere from New York to Georgia.
But she is grateful for those moves, she said, because she feels they prepared her for the ministry by helping her to be comfortable meeting new people.
‘‘God uses all those wonderful times in our lives to prepare us for what’s coming,” she said.
Sebring said she feels ‘‘absolutely wonderful” about her new assignment at the Huntingtown church.
‘‘I love Calvert County,” she said. ‘‘I have an incredible congregation. And I’m excited about the fact, the changing demographics in Calvert County are a sea of opportunity for making disciples.”
‘‘She’s bringing a lot of new energy to this congregation,” said church secretary Donna Phalen.
Sebring said she hopes to see the Huntingtown church grow a young adult ministry that will serve primarily ages 18 to 35.
‘‘I think we have more and more young people and professionals who are building their homes in Calvert County and they need a place where they can nurture their spirituality,” she said.
Overall, Sebring just wants others to know that all are welcome at Huntingtown United Methodist Church.
‘‘Through these doors we have the most welcoming, warm-hearted people I have ever met,” she said. ‘‘I think we are on the verge of some very exciting ministries at Huntingtown. There’s a lot of energy and it’s ready to be directed and reach out to the community here and beyond Calvert County into the world.”
E-mail Meagan Boswell at mboswell@somdnews.com.
