San Marcos — As Greg and Jeanette Passty approached the front of the sanctuary to become official members of First United Methodist Church, Senior Pastor Jenna Heart had trouble holding back her emotions.
“(When they got to the front) I told them, ‘I think I’m going to cry,’” Heart said.
It was an exciting day for the Passtys, but also for the congregation as FUMC in San Marcos welcomed the couple as the 999th and 1000th member at First Methodist. Heart set the goal to reach 1,000 members last October.
The achievement is yet another milestone for the oldest church in San Marcos, established in 1847.
“Last October, we had about 917 members, I wrote in our newsletter asking our church if ‘917 people could become 1,000?’ I was just laying it out there as a vision and a goal,” Heart said. “As the year progressed, we got closer and closer, and then it became a very exciting thing.”
New member Robert Dorr joined at the 8:30 a.m. service, becoming the 998th member, several hours before the Passtys made First Methodist their church home. The next week, the church celebrated by dropping balloons down from the balcony. The membership achievement is more than just a number, Heart says. It’s a testament to the active spirit of the congregation.
“I think it comes down to a matter of excitement and energy. I think it’s a lot of members to take in a year. The whole congregation seems to have this open spirit of welcoming people,” Heart said. “As a lot of mainline churches are declining, we are growing... It’s very exciting.”
The Passty’s faith journey is a unique one. Greg, born in Ontario, Canada, has been christened in the Ukrainian Orthodox tradition of his father, but raised in the Swedish Lutheran faith of his mother. Jeanette was born in Los Angeles, Calif. and raised in a secular household, though at various times worshiped with Catholic, Jewish, Hindu and Unitarian family and friends.
In 1979, the couple moved to Atlanta and were invited to attend Buddhist worship with their Vietnamese neighbors. In 1982, the couple moved to San Marcos and eventually joined the FUMC under then pastor Bill Henderson. They spent 10 years at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church before recently returning to First Methodist.
For a church that works closely with the University to invite college students and has instituted an active welcome center in efforts to reach new membership, Heart says that the Passtys are another example of a congregation that invites members from all walks of life and faith backgrounds.
“Sometimes we close our eyes to people who are not just from our own tradition, instead of thinking ‘open hearts, open minds, open doors (the slogan for the United Methodist Church);’ If we’d been thinking only about attracting other Methodists, we wouldn’t have 1,000 members. We have to all look at people who are all walks of life and all faiths. There’s hope for the world when we can unite like that.”
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Jeanettte and Greg Passty are welcomed as new FUMC members. (Photo by Ken Moss) Submitted Photo
Faith in Numbers: Passtys become 999th, 1000th member of FUMC
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