Rev. Tom Dawson

Personal Background

Born in 1948 in Steubenville. He graduated from Brilliant High School and received a BS degree from the Ohio State University in Agricultural Education and an MS degree from the Ohio State University in Agricultural Education.

• 1999 Served as interim pastor in the Bergholz Charge
• January thru June 2000 -2006 Perrysville! Pleasant Hill Charge
• Presently Pastor for Trinity and First United Methodist Churches, Bowerston

Family Information

Tom is married to Pamela and they have two sons and four grandchildren.

• Taught Vocational Agriculture at Carrollton High School in Carrollton for 8 years
• Taught Vocational Agriculture at Harrison Career Center in Cadiz for 6 years.
• Presently an inspector for The Ohio Department of Agriculture

Faith Journey

I grew up in the Methodist Church, but was not saved until 1977 when I was twenty-nine years old. Once I became a Christian, I had a passion to be in church and Sunday School every Sunday but remained a very immature Christian for fourteen years. I never read the Bible except to prepare a Sunday School lesson and then only the scriptures included as a part of the lesson. Despite having a Master's Degree, I seldom understood what the scripture was saying and relied on the commentary included with the lesson to explain the scripture. Then my church got a new pastor in 1990 and he, using many scriptures in his sermons, opened the Bible up to me. I slowly began to understand the scriptures and how the Bible could be applied to my own life. I also became aware that, although I was not a bad person, my thinking needed to be changed to be more in line with God's Word. It became apparent to me that I needed to become a more loving and caring person, putting others ahead of myself. I also needed to have a higher level of integrity in my dealing with others. I also discovered that doing these things were not easy, in fact, I could not do it with my own strength. However, with Jesus in my heart, overcoming these temptations is possible. I still have a lot of room for improvement in my life, but thanks to God's help, I am better than I was. I believe I have been called to help others to become more mature in their walk with God by teaching and illustrating God's word in a way that they will understand.

Faith Journey

I believe that we were all born with a major problem, a sinful nature. We are all sinners. because of this sin problem, we have all come short of the Glory of God and without forgiveness, we can never enter the Kingdom of Heaven. This sin problem is so serious that we cannot work hard enough or do enough good deeds to earn our way into Heaven. To make forgiveness available, God sent his son, who was perfect and sinless in every way, to pay the penalty for our sins by being crucified on a cross. Because of God's grace we can be saved by calling upon the Lord Jesus Christ and giving our life to him. Once we have accepted him as our Lord and Savior, then we will desire to show our love to him by serving him.