Jon Strother, District Superintendent
I am honored to partner with local church memberships and pastors to serve as district superintendent of The Beacon District. This is a call I have answered before; and found to be humbling, life-giving, challenging, and rewarding. I cannot remember a time when God has not been shaping my life through the influence of the Church. My entire life has been nurtured and nourished through the Body of Christ; baptized in infancy and marked for discipleship, a life-long United Methodist. My home church was a small membership church, where I was given many opportunities to explore faith as I served. In the fall of 1974, while participating in a Lay-Witness Mission, I accepted the grace of God through Jesus Christ, and some years later, experienced a call to ordained ministry.
I have been serving in pastoral leadership since 1982. Answering this call has taken me to all shapes, sizes, and expressions of church, here in North Carolina and around the world. I served a three-point charge while in seminary, and after graduation, in 1986, I served as associate pastor in a large urban church. I have been graced to serve small town and county seat congregations, like Hertford UMC, as well as helping to plant a new church. I have also served in lead pastor roles in two other strong congregations. For two summers, I lived on the OBX and was part of an outreach ministry in Kill Devil Hills called The Circus Tent.
I am married to Cathy Thompson, whose life’s vocation is the practice of law. Cathy is a “PK” whose father served our annual conference and was superintendent of the former, Greenville District, Em Thompson. Her mom, Catherine, was raised in parsonages as well. Her father, D.D. Traynham was a pastor as well as our first conference statistician. Cathy and I have five wonderful children, a grandson and granddaughter, and four granddogs. We call Greenville “home.” I am the youngest of three children who share a vibrant and active mom. She lives In her own apartment at ninety-five years young, and with my sister and brother, calls Moore County home. I enjoy music and poetry, reading and photography, and suffer from an incurable desire to see the world. I enjoy movies that stir the soul; mixing, grinding, and brewing my favorite coffee beans, and I will pull up a chair to be captured by a good story anywhere one is offered.
My experience has taught me that God’s fingerprints are everywhere. God is not hiding from humanity but makes himself known through scripture, prayer, mission, worship, creation, the mundane experiences of everyday life, and a thousand other ways as well. The Church’s mission is “to make disciples,” loving, lifelong, obedient, followers of Jesus. The mark of discipleship is evident in our capacity to love and serve like Jesus. The church is the community in which we are called and equipped by God to be agents of grace. Jesus lived in community, and so do we. We cannot become his disciples on our own. The call of the Church is to be on mission, together, with Jesus Christ, in the world. In Christ, we are called to announce, to put on display, the rule and reign of God in this world. It is my joy to join all of you in answering this call.
Ashley Kennedy, Beacon/Sound Administrative Assistant to the DS
Ashley was born and raised in Eastern North Carolina in the small town of Bethel. She grew up in the Bethel United Methodist Church and remains a member of that church along with her husband, Matt, and two daughters, Ava and Elizabeth.
Ashley attended East Carolina University where she earned her undergraduate and Masters Degrees in Education. Upon graduation, she began her career as an educator with Pitt County Schools for the past 15 years.
Ashley is excited about this opportunity working with such a wonderful team and serving others.
Tom Santa, District Lay Leader
Tom grew up in Eli Whitney, NC, a farming community centered 20 miles between Chapel Hill, Burlington, and Pittsboro. He is the son to Tom and Dianne Santa and grew in faith at Mount Olive Baptist Church. Tom Sr. continually epitomized selfless service as an Army Veteran, builder, volunteer firefighter and paramedic. Tom and Michelle met during the summer of their senior years at UNC-CH, and she also introduced him to the United Methodist Church central to her upbringing. He graduated from UNC-CH with a BS in Nursing in 1992 and continued his education in 1999 as and Emergency and Acute Nurse Practitioner and Clinical Nurse Specialist through the University of Maryland, Baltimore and Post Master’s Family Nurse Practitioner through the University of Massachusetts, Boston in 2009. He served in the U.S. Navy as an active duty Nurse Corps Officer between March 1991 and July 2013 when he retired as a Commander after being stationed in Portsmouth, VA, Guam, Annapolis, MD, Jacksonville, FL, Guam, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and aboard the USS Saipan, USS Bataan, USS Kearsarge, and USNS Comfort. During his 22 year career, he deployed multiple times both seagoing and “boots on ground.” In 2007 they returned from the second tour of Guam to settle in Moyock and joined Moyock UMC immediately upon arrival. Since retirement from the Navy, he serves as a full time Family and Acute Care Nurse Practitioner at Patient First in Chesapeake, VA.
Tom and Michelle are blessed with two daughters, Mary Elysse, who graduated from Western North Carolina University in May 2019 with a BS in Entrepreneurship and Business Management and will graduate from Regent University in August with an MA in Theater and will be teaching theater in a fortunate school system and Lauren who is a rising Sophomore at Radford University pursuing a BFA in Graphic Design. Michelle continues her lifelong engagement in Girl Scouts as a member and volunteer and through various volunteer activities through the schools and church. Mary Elysse’s non-profit business, Broadway or Bust that provides summer camp musical theater experiences for children and youth is a total family endeavor as well.
Tom has served the Moyock UMC as Lay Leader, Sunday School Facilitator, Administrative Council Chair, Finance Committee member, and various leadership positions of the UM Men. He teaches several Lay Servant continuum courses in the Beacon District and most recently served as an Area District Lay Leader. He is a Certified Lay Minister and Certified Lay Speaker. He enjoys woodworking, gardening, exercise, volunteering with Hospice Veteran efforts, and continual lifelong learning.