It seems unbelievable that Rev. Susan Pinson has been our Associate Minister to the Glenn community for 15 years. Glenn Memorial UMC was her first appointment upon graduation from seminary at Duke University and the University of North Carolina School of Social Work. She remembers her employment interviews with Dr. David Jones and SPRC member Roberta Shoup and how welcomed and comfortable they made her feel. Upon graduation, she had hoped for a position that would allow her to draw on the strengths of both her degrees. However, she could not have envisioned how perfectly her calling and her career have come together here with us.

Fearless, Susan tackled part-time positions with older adults and children to seam together those ministries into a full-time position that now extends her gifts and graces to all our members as Pastor for Congregational Care. Her position at Glenn is therefore unique in several ways. No one previously carried these particular responsibilities as Associate Pastor. Her many years of service at Glenn is a unique personal experience as well. Growing up as a Preacher’s Kid, she had many church homes for several years at a time, but never in one congregation for a period as long as 15 years. She also points to the unique aspects of congregational caring for the younger and older generations at the same time. She has relationships with the grandchildren of her earliest older adults, who are now adults with Glenn children of their own. She has truly enjoyed the intergenerational aspects of her ministry and how it has enabled her to know and nurture Glenn families, whose members are old, and young and in between.

Obviously not afraid to take on challenging assignments, Rev. Susan used all of her creative juices to power Glenn through the pandemic years. As a key part of the pastoral team leading us in 2020 through 2022, Susan came up with ways to keep families engaged with the ZOOM and Facebook platforms. Remember the parade of pictures families submitted to model how they celebrated Christian events at home. We all took pictures of our Third Grade Bibles, our Easter flowers, our Advent Wreaths made around the breakfast table, and then shared them on Sunday. The walk-through Nativity Story was unforgettable. Our children learned Bible stories and songs, while Sunday School and the Vacation Bible School did not push a PAUSE button, but kept on going. The FriendShip Group older adults met over ZOOM and the U.S. Postal Service stayed busy mailing Glenn children’s artwork to Glenn older adults.

Rev. Pinson is now nurturing a whole new bunch of older adults—former middle-aged people who are now telling her their stories and sharing their hopes and plans for the future. She has been touched by all the families who included her in end of life care and funerals. She considers this a key aspect of her role in Congregation Care, and she is grateful for each of our Senior Pastors who have encouraged her over the years and partnered in ministry together in these sacred milestones.

Susan is very appreciative of her long membership in the Glenn community. When she arrived in 2008 as a newlywed, she and Mathew quickly became part of Druid Hills, Emory, and their own neighborhood communities. Mathew’s work at Candler School of Theology and Emory University, as well as the Georgia United Methodist Foundation, provides additional connections to Glenn Church and community members who have supported them in their journey as young Atlantans. As a couple they have friends everywhere, and they have shared their love of neighbors in its broadest meaning. She adapted to the challenge of raising a family in such a public space as Sunday Worship, but marvels at how the congregation has adopted her children almost as their own. And, of course, she has adopted ours. In recent years she has been asked to write recommendations for our Glenn Youth as they move on with their education and training. She has seen a whole generation of Glenn children grow up, while she continues to love our current families and children.

We have much to be thankful for during Susan’s tenure at Glenn, and we are hoping for another 15 years, with it fascinating to think about who will be the children and the older adults in 2038!

- Written by Jane T. St. Clair, Staff-Parish Relations Committee (SPRC) Member