Debbie Snapp
ECB Publishing, Inc.
Pastor Bethany Grosvenor is the co-pastor at Monticello Church of the Nazarene with her husband of 13 years, Shawn Grosvenor.
She shares that God called her into ministry when she was just a little girl, but it wasn't until she was in seminary that she understood that God wanted her to be a pastor.
Pastor Bethany was born in Asheville, N.C and raised in a Christian home. She attended a Christian college and went on to seminary in Kansas City, Mo., where she met her husband. They knew immediately that God wanted them to be in ministry together.
Pastor Bethany has a Bachelor's degree in General Education and a Master's degree in Religion from Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville, Tenn.
She has held several pastoral positions. She was a children's pastor at the New Start Church of the Nazarene in Stillwell, Kan.; a youth pastor at the Asheville Church of the Nazarene in N.C.; and pastor of Connections at the Norwood Church of the Nazarene in North Carolina.
She and her family relocated to Jefferson County, Fla. on October 1, 2015 to co-pastor at Monticello Church of the Nazarene in Monticello.
She says that it feels like she was in the ministry from birth. Her mom worked at the church that she grew up in and she volunteered a lot as a child and a teenager. When she was at seminary, she volunteered at her church the entire time. However, she has only officially held a title at a church for the past 15 years.
Her pastoral responsibilities at the Monticello Church of the Nazarene include preaching, teaching, oversight of ministries, visiting, loving, leading and serving. The very best part of her position, she says, is that she gets to tell people about Jesus and His great love for all of us.
“My future goals for this church are to witness as many people possible come to know Jesus,” she says. “I want Monticello Church of the Nazarene to be known as a place of love. It doesn't matter who you are or where you come from, you are welcome here.”
Pastors Bethany and Shawn Grosvenor have four children ranging in age from 11 to one. They have always included their children in their ministry. “We love working together and have always included the kids,” she adds. “They come visiting with us, they work at the church with us, they supply us with plenty of sermon material, they are our resident technology experts, they make bread deliveries. They just live life with us and do what we do.”
Her hobbies include refinishing furniture, creating things on her Cricut machine, playing with her children, visiting the beach and reading.
At this time, thinking about retirement seems so very far away, but she would like to think it will eventually include time with Shawn on a beach somewhere. She would like to visit all six continents, though she's okay with not going to Antarctica. She already has a headstart on that dream, as she has been to three continents already.
She would also like to visit all 50 states in the United States with her husband and her children. “I want to take my kids all over the world and show them how people live,” she adds.
Pastor Bethany is a volunteer at her children's school. In the past she's worked at a domestic violence shelter, taught middle school English and worked in childcare. During her college years, she worked in the cafeteria as an assistant to the prep cook and learned how to do fancy banquets. She also worked as a call specialist asking people to donate to her university.
In conclusion Pastor Bethany shares: “I want to help people grow in their faith. I want people to understand that Jesus loves them. Their past doesn't matter. What they look like, where they've been, what they've done...none of that matters. Jesus loves them.”
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