Pastor Dede feels blessed to call Asbury home after many years of ministry in the United Methodist Church. Pastor Dede grew up in Indiana, but she has called Arkansas home since 1989. She has served as a pastor, a recruiter, a superintendent and a conference church developer before being appointed to serve as one of Asbury’s pastors this spring. Dede is married to the Rev. Dr. Michael Roberts who is the Senior Pastor at Conway First United Methodist Church. The Revs. Roberts’ three children have all “left the nest,” but their home is far from empty. Michael’s mother, Linda Roberts and their two grandchildren, Emma (5) and Jacob (3) and Zeke, the dog all help fill their home with love, laughter, and a little bit of chaos!
Pastor Dede is a graduate of the University of Indianapolis (BA) and Duke Divinity School (MDiv). She is has also completed the Academy for Spiritual Formation and is a trained executive coach. She loves to travel, read and cook. Her favorite books are cozy mysteries and books on spiritual growth.
Pastor Nick grew up in Kansas City, Mo., but has called Arkansas home since 2009. Nick was raised Lutheran but became a Methodist a little over a decade ago. Nick and his wife Jennifer have been blessed with three beautiful, wild children: Tristan, Liam, and Hadley. They currently reside in Cabot, where they were members of Cabot UMC before coming to Asbury. Nick led the Adult Discipleship at Cabot and Jennifer regularly served in the children’s ministry and sang in contemporary worship. Nick’s passion in ministry continues to center around Adult Discipleship (Small groups and Bible Study) and looks forward to bringing his passion and enthusiasm for disciple making to Asbury. His favorite books of the Bible to both read and teach are Mark, Romans, Ephesians, and Esther. Nick is currently in his second year of seminary at Asbury Theological where he is working on his Master of Divinity and earned his Pastoral License in 2019.
Jennifer and Nick are blessed and honored to be part of the Asbury community and can’t wait to see what the future holds for this wonderful church!
Ordained in 1966, Rev. Tom Weir served for 44 years as an elder in the United Methodist Church. He was first assigned to Asbury in 1993. After retiring in 2005, he returned to Asbury and was officially bestowed the honor of Pastor Emeritus in 2008. He is married to his lovely wife Marion and has two adult children, Priscilla and Melissa, as well as two grandchildren, Thomas and Elizabeth. He loves the people of Asbury and it is because of them he has been glad to serve here for almost 20 years.