Resume – Edward W Walters

1018 Alvine Road, Pittsgrove NJ 08318 856 – 305 – 6467

ewalters1018@gmail.com Objective: To minister among the people called Wesleyan's

The Wesleyan Church: 1990 – 1998

I came to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ in June 1989, in April 1990 I began to attend the Wesleyan

Church in Bridgeton. My pastor was Rick Shockley and under his guidance I immediately became

involved in the church as a Bible study leader and several committees. Rick left the church to pastor

elsewhere and sometime later Dwight Mikesell began his Ministry at first Wesleyan of Bridgeton.

Under Dwight's leadership I began to explore my gifts and graces for the ministry, I began to preach as

supply for churches that found themselves without a pastor on a particular Sunday throughout the

district. I had started taking the courses required for licensing. An opportunity presented itself to

become the Assistant Pastor at the Trinity United Methodist Church and after much prayer and

discussion I made the best decision I could at the time and that was to go where God was leading me.

My heart was still with the Wesleyan church and during my time away from her I never lost my

dedication to my Wesleyan roots.

The United Methodist Church: 1998 – 2015

Trinity United Methodist Church, Pennsville: 1998 – 2003

I began ministry under JD Overcash for about six months until a new pastor was brought in

whose name was Carlton Bodine. My primary duties under both of these men were to fill in

preaching for them when they were not available and teach Bible studies as needed and assist in

worship weekly. Additionally as led by God and of my own initiative I started a worship service

at the Pennsville Towers senior citizen complex which met on Sunday. I enlisted several people

from the congregation who had a gift to preach and rotated them through their along with

myself and that ministry survives to this day.

Additionally, I procured, wired and created a video delivery system that went through the entire

Trinity complex so that whatever was going on in the sanctuary could be broadcast throughout

the building also announcements could be presented in this way. Nursery workers and others

who were in other parts of the building no longer would have to miss all of the worship service..

Additionally, I researched, worked with demographic data and raise the funds necessary to

begin a new worship service that was aimed at reaching those in the community there who did

not necessarily come to morning worship. The team that I assembled had at least one member

who previously only came to church when it was his turn to take the offering, whose marriage

was on the verge of failure and relationship with Christ was virtually nonexistent. I asked him to

Resume – Edward W Walters

1018 Alvine Road, Pittsgrove NJ 08318 856 – 305 – 6467

ewalters1018@gmail.com be a part of the planning committee because he was exactly the kind of people that I was trying

to reach and because of our friendship and his respect for me he did. The change in him was

quite remarkable, within months he came to know the Lord, his marriage was and is completely

healed and he is now preaching among other places at the Pennsville Towers.

I was the primary preacher for this service.

Union Grove and Willow Grove United Methodist Church, Pittsgrove: 2003 – 2015

In July 2003, I was assigned to a two point charge in Pittsgrove New Jersey. This charge

consisted of the Union Grove and Willow Grove United Methodist churches. When I started

there the church attendance was approximately 50 between the two churches. At the

conclusion of my ministry the attendance between the two services is around 75.

When I started at these churches the organization of the church was severely dysfunctional and

continued to be so for several years after, at the conclusion of my ministry all committees have

been reestablished and the future outlook for these churches is bright.

During my leadership at these churches, several improvements were made and the churches are

both in good repair at the end of my ministry there.

Outreach and ministry: Along with the normal week to week worship services additional

opportunities for worship within the community were created. These included an annual

Christmas Carol event held in a local barn (which drew people from the community of all classes

and denominations together to proclaim), a growing VBS program, several concerts "The

Itzel's", " Jim Hughes Ministries" and many others to encourage people from the community to

come into the church. Additionally this spring we held a tractor Blessing which was the headline

in most of the local papers throughout the county and brought the church much needed

publicity. A strong social media outreach was designed and implemented using a website,

Facebook pages and Twitter feeds. This has been a successful vehicle to bring people into the

church. The churches were very active in the community and all community events there was

representation of our church. Just this year we received a grant from the United Methodist

Church to develop and implement a youth outreach program which is in progress now. The

result of all these activities and the preaching of over 600 sermons has been to attract people in

the community who did not know Christ and the each year we have had several conversions

Resume – Edward W Walters

1018 Alvine Road, Pittsgrove NJ 08318 856 – 305 – 6467

ewalters1018@gmail.com within the congregation from new members. Additionally, there were many who came to a

saving relationship with Christ but were part of another church.

Worship: Worship at the two churches was generally traditional but an evening Saturday night

service has been established called the "Beacon of Light" that is specifically designed to reach

out to the 20 some things in our community, especially those who are struggling on one side or

the other of an addiction problem.

Local Benevolence: Several funds have been set up over the last few years to deal with the

problems of local benevolence. These funds set up out of normal giving within the congregation

were ready to go when I need was presented such as "no oil" or "no food". We put a young man

through high school in Jamaica, raised money for gifts to an orphanage in Africa and packed

boxes for Samaritans purse each year.

The reach of these churches was quite remarkable as several missionaries were supported over

my time there, we sent Bibles to our troops overseas, we fed people with gleaning ministries,

we did service projects for people in our congregation and others and because of our influence

on social media we have in able to help people that are far outside of our ministry area.

Education: The requirement within the Methodist Church for a "Local Pastor" is licensing via

school and then a program of continuing education through course of study at Wesley

Theological Seminary. This is done over multiple years. In addition to my own efforts to educate

myself through reading and listening to sermons for people who were spiritually grounded I

took the following courses and completed them successfully.

111-Pastor as Interpreter of the Bible

112-Theology in the Wesleyan Spirit

113-Pastoral Care for Spiritual Formation

213-Formation for Christian Discipleship

211-Hebrew Bible I

212-Theological Heritage: Early & Medieval

413-Worship & Sacraments

114-Pastoral Leadership & Administration

312-Theological Heritage:Reformation

314-Pastoral Care and Counseling

214-The Practice of Preaching

411-Hebrew Bible II

412-Wesleyan Movement

Resume – Edward W Walters

1018 Alvine Road, Pittsgrove NJ 08318 856 – 305 – 6467

ewalters1018@gmail.com 313-Our Mission From God: Evangelism

Licenses:

Licensed as a local Pastor in 2000, my license remains in force at the writing of this resume

References:

Dwight L Mikesell - Senior Pastor at Calvary Wesleyan Church, Bethlehem Pennsylvania

Rick Shockley – Former Pastor of First Wesleyan Church in Bridgeton New Jersey

Dave Medders – Executive Vice President at the Association for Biblical Higher Education, formerly the

President of Bethany Bible College.

Additional references can be provided upon request.

Personal:

I have been married happily for over 40 years, we have four daughters. The two oldest, Tracy and

Danielle, live away from home, the third, Rebekah, was tragically killed in a car wreck in 2011 and the

youngest is graduating next week from Stockton College with a degree in Psychology and has been

inducted into the National Honor Society for Psychology. My wife and I currently have custody of my

three-year-old grandson who was the son of my daughter Rebekah. For the last 18 years I have worked a

full-time job and pastored at least one church, for most of that time I have pastored two churches. I

currently work a secular job in Wilmington Delaware through Catholic Charities where I do

weatherization for low income and elderly clients.