FAIRMONT, W.Va. (AP) - Coming from the town of Roxboro, North Carolina, which has a population under 10,000 people, Fairmont is a step up in size for Evan Walker.
The size and overall demographics of the area were a plus to Walker, who comes to Fairmont to serve as pastor of First Presbyterian Church on Jackson Street.
“I’m also excited we’re moving to a bigger town,” Walker said. “I’m just really excited with this church because I think there’s a lot of good things going on in this area.”
Walker, 36, said his wife, Jennifer, had gotten a position at West Virginia University, where she will be teaching this fall. This move provided opportunity for him as well, because the church had been without a full-time pastor for more than two years.
“One of the major things that brought us up this direction is my wife just graduated with her (doctorate) and was offered a position at WVU,” Walker said. “I started looking around and talking to many different churches, and was really thankful this one came open.”
Rev. D.D. Meighen - a retired United Methodist pastor - has served as interim pastor at First Presbyterian Church since July 25, 2018. Meighen stepped down Aug. 2 when he passed the torch to Walker who gave his first sermon at the church. Although it was a long period of time to be interim pastor, Meighen said he was prepared for a long shift because of the process the church has to go through to select a new pastor.
“The two years is a chance for the congregation to review their history, review their policy and see what they expect and want out of a new minister,” Meighen said. “During that time they send out information about their church and ministers who are looking to move can look at a brief of the church and see if it fits their resume.
“The interim is supposed to help guide that process.”
Meighen said he started several initiatives during his time at First Presbyterian, including the Fairmont Homeless Coalition, Blessings in the Basement and Shoes for Kids, which he did because he wanted to get the church more involved in community action and aid.
“The church was good to me,” Meighen said. “I have served four different denominations, so I have been around.”
Walker said the community initiatives he saw the church engage in was a reason why he wanted to take the job. Following on the heels of Meighen, he said he would like to also take part in community engagement as pastor.
“One of the main things we were talking about was this church is very vocal about its open and affirming stance,” Walker said. “Some of the work they have done with human rights issues have come up, and it’s always good to see a church active and putting action to faith.”
Walker also said he wants to bring new people into the church, namely younger members, which was an effort he made in his previous position as well.
“I think that’s one of my gifts is to do inter-generational stuff and talk to different generations,” Walker said. “It’s still a struggle, trying to convince young people. That was my main thing in North Carolina was getting more families.”
In addition to community engagement, Walker also said he would like to utilize more modern methods in the church, to potentially engage with more people as well. When the coronavirus pandemic ruled out large in-person gatherings, First Presbyterian started streaming its services live through Facebook, which Walker said is an advancement many churches could benefit from.
“It definitely forced pretty much all churches to change, which has been one of the biggest struggles for many decades,” Walker said. “Suddenly in 2020, there is no such thing as doing what you have done the same way. So you have to reevaluate and do things like YouTube or Facebook just to continue and reach.”
Meighen said the live streams have been helpful in keeping people in the church engaged amid the pandemic. Despite only being interim pastor of the church, Meighen said he enjoyed his time there and is confident Walker will do well there also.
“In terms of being an interim, it’s not a full-time minister,” Meighen said. “But you guide the church, and my job as interim, from the first Sunday I’m there, is to get out of the church as soon as possible.”
Walker has already preached at a few services at the church, and invited people to speak to him there, or at other community events where he is present. Listening is actually part of his plan for these early months, because he would like to learn about the community before putting plans into action.
“The first little bit here, my plan is just to listen and learn from people,” Walker said. “I’ve got some ideas of broad things like putting faith into action, but what that looks like I think has to be really contextual for the church; who we are, what our strengths are. So I’m looking forward to discovering those.”
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