Pastor Martha Myre
Cell phone: 903-513-5845
email: mvmyre@gmail.com
Martha was born and raised in Dallas, Texas. Her family has been Methodist for several generations; her great-uncle Rev. Henry Vail a Minister in the North Texas Conference for many years. Martha graduated from Vanderbilt University in 1980 with a degree in Molecular Biology. She married Chris in 1981 and they began their family with the births of Amanda in 1985 and Rachel in 1987. Though she had two young children, a husband and a mortgage, Martha finally heard God’s call into ministry and entered Perkins School of Theology in 1989. She received a Masters of Theological Studies in 1996 and a PhD in Hebrew Bible in 2000.
Martha’s first appointment was as a Student Pastor to the Windom Charge in Fannin County where she pastored four small churches from 1991 to 1993 and had a third child, Christopher. She moved to Greenland Hills United Methodist Church in 1993 as the Youth Pastor, built the children’s program as the Minister to Children and then worked as an Intern Pastor. Martha spent 5 months in Horatio, Arkansas in 1996 as an Interim Pastor and then returned to the North Texas area. After finishing her dissertation in 2000 and receiving the PhD, she began as a part-time Pastor at Oak Grove United Methodist Church. A small rural church in the path of growth, Oak Grove doubled its worship attendance in two years, built a new sanctuary, and decided to move to a full-time pastor. Martha was appointed as that pastor and the church continued to grow for the next 4 years.
In June of 2006, Martha was appointed as Pastor of First United Methodist Church in Bowie, and moved there with her husband Chris and son Christopher, the only child left at home. During her tenure at Bowie, Martha concentrated on building the youth program and bringing new and younger people into the church. She also became heavily involved in the community as a member of Rotary, a volunteer at the Bowie Mission, a cheering fan at football games, and Cubmaster of the Cub Scout Pack among other things.
After a brief appointment at Spring Valley UMC as the Associate Pastor, Martha came to Leonard in July 2010.
Now in her second year at FUMC Leonard, Martha is enjoying the community and the congregation. Getting to know both much better will be a focus of her second year.
Kevin and Rhonda Schur, Youth Directors
Cell phones: Kevin - 972-832-1457 Rhonda - 903-267-1111
email: Kevin - kevinschur@verizon.net Rhonda - rkschur@verizon.net
Dawn Sudderth
Office phone: 903-587-3463
Cell phone: 903-227-4110
email: leonardumc@yahoo.com
The Staff-Pastor-Parish Relations Committee announces with pleasure the hiring of Dawn Sudderth as the Secretary of FUMC-Leonard.
Dawn is the mother of three children, Devon, age 27, a teacher/coach with Denison ISD; David, age 22, student/football player at Texas A & M-Commerce; and Joe Mac, age 15, a student at Leonard High School. She is also the grandmother of Averie, age 3.
The Sudderth family has been attending FUMC-Leonard since 1998/1999. Dawn also served as church secretary during Rev. Wally Williams’ pastorate. She recalls that the first Valentino’s was served from the “old” kitchen.
Dawn is a member of the Images Sunday School Class and Women’s Bible Study. She enjoys reading books by Beth Moore, Tim LeHaye, Jerry Jenkins, and James Patterson, just to name a few. Along with ready, Dawn enjoys her granddaughter, Averie and anything her kids are involved in.
Just mention “Mission” and Dawn is ready to help out. She has served on the Mission Trips to Jarrell, TX; San Marcus, TX; Houma, LA; Panama City, FL; and recently, Fayetteville, AR. Dawn has also been instrumental in the Backpack Food For Life program, and she feel called to help out wherever there is a need.
Dawn is a graduate of Executive Secretarial School and has completed approximately two years of college toward a bachelors degree. She is currently Business Manager of the East Fork Baseball Association Board.
We welcome Dawn to the Staff of FUMC-Leonard, and we ask you to support her with your encouragement and your prayers.
Brent Kern
Cell phone: 972-505-0171
email: brent.kern@hp.com
We welcome Brent Kern as our Director of Music Ministry. Here is a little bit about him:
Brent lives in McKinney, TX with his wife Corrie, his daughter Lily (8 years old) and his son Ethan (6 years old.) He works for Hewlett Packard in Health Care (Medicaid) as a Technical Lead. He has a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Texas at Arlington. Currently he is working on a Master’s of Theological Studies at Perkins School of Theology at SMU.
One of his passions is to serve the church through music and energetic worship. Brent has served many churches in the DFW area and around the south eastern United States. He has performed locally with the Dallas Vocal Majority, Fort Worth Opera, and has sung the National Anthem for many local sports franchises (Texas Rangers, Dallas Mavericks, Lone Star Park, FC Dallas, and others.) His interests and hobbies include music, sports, reading, preaching, and coaching.
