Our Guest Minister for May 7 is Dr. Elizabeth Tyson. Born into a Christian family, she had a childhood dream of being a missionary which matured into a call to ordained ministry. Growing up mostly in Southern California, she attended U.C. Santa Barbara (B.A.) before following her ministry calling at Gordon-Conwell (M.Div.) and Yale Divinity School (S.T.M.). Dr. Tyson met her husband John in Scotland, where she earned her Ph.D. in Ecclesiastical History with a concentration in Missions. She has served as pastor at Mighty Wind UMC (Outer Banks, NC), as Associate Pastor at Haymount UMC (Fayetteville, NC), and is currently serving as pastor at McMannen UMC (Durham, NC).
Dr. Tyson and John have two older daughters, Joanna (Boston, MA) and Julia (Durham, NC), and three younger adults: John Jr. who lives in Los Angeles and works in advertising; Victoria, who lives and works in Chapel Hill; and Charlotte, studying at UNC-Chapel Hill. Since John Jr., Victoria, and Charlotte are all connected with Carolina, and since John went to Duke Divinity, our cars may soon have Duke/UNC divided license plates! On days off, Dr. Tyson especially enjoys swimming, biking, reading, and working with John in renovating a 19c house.