Our TEAM
First United Methodist Church of Poplar Bluff
David Stewart
Lead Pastor
davidstewart@fumcpb.org
BIO:
FULL NAME: David Allison Stewart
FAVORITE RESTAURANT: Crab Cooker (Coronado Island, CA)
FAMILY/KIDS: Married to Nancy Stewart, two kids; Christy and Ben.
HOBBIES: Traveling
HOMETOWN: Born in Anchorage Alaska, childhood years Farmington, MO
FAVORITE MINISTRY MOMENT: Love walking with people as they discover God’s love and healing in their lives.
FUN FACT: I have college letters in baseball and soccer and do not have a high school letter for either sport because they were not high schools sports in Farmington at the time.
Our Staff
Blake Buchanan
Associate/NextGen Pastor
blake@fumcpb.org
Bio
FULL NAME: Blake Ashley Lewis Buchanan
FAVORITE RESTAURANT: Texas Roadhouse and Mike and Zack”s BBQ.
FAMILY/KIDS: Married to Rebekah Buchanan, parent of three dogs!
HOBBIES: Playing/ watching sports, traveling, being outdoors.
HOMETOWN: Gideon, MO
FAVORITE MINISTRY MOMENT: Starting Elevate College Ministry on the campus of Three Rivers College and seeing college students come to know Christ and worship Him passionately.
FUN FACT: I had 13 people in my high school graduating class.
Amanda Gowen
Youth Pastor
amanda@fumcpb.org
Bio
FULL NAME: Amanda Kristene Gowen
FAVORITE RESTAURANT: Chick-Fil-A.
FAMILY/KIDS: Married to Travis Gowen, two kids: Ireland and Rowan.
HOBBIES: Soccer and Serving- in whatever capacity.
HOMETOWN: Houston, TX
FAVORITE MINISTRY MOMENT: FUGE, watching kids share intimate moments with God, and baptisms that followed.
FUN FACT: My father is a 20+ year engineer for NASA, building spaceships and coordinated the Russian/American space program as the Manager of the Technical Moscow Liaison Dept.
Bio
FULL NAME: Rebekah Lynn Buchanan
FAVORITE RESTAURANT: Fuji or China Wok
FAMILY/KIDS: Married to Blake Buchanan, parent of three dogs!
HOBBIES: Decorating, organizing, cooking, and gardening.
HOMETOWN: Poplar Bluff, MO
FAVORITE MINISTRY MOMENT: Seeing kids make the connection that God loves them and being able to relate Bible stories to every day life.
FUN FACT: I want to own a farm one day.
Timothy Starnes
Contemporary Worship Leader/ Media Ministry
tim@fumcpb.org
BIO
FULL NAME: Timothy Ryan Starnes
FAVORITE RESTAURANT: FIve Guys and Chick-Fil-A.
FAMILY/KIDS: Single for now!
HOBBIES: Music in basically every capacity. I love playing guitar and piano, writing and producing songs and expressing myself and my heart through music. Also video games!
HOMETOWN: Poplar Bluff, MO
FAVORITE MINISTRY MOMENT: Too many to count, but seeing youth come to know Jesus is always a standout. Seeing the youth at FUGE in 2018 be completely transformed by Jesus and some coming to know Him for the first time was incredibly awesome.
FUN FACT: I learned/play guitar and piano entirely by ear.
BIO
FULL NAME: Pam Howard Becker
FAVORITE RESTAURANT: Any place that serves good steak!
FAMILY: Widowed. Three Kids, Kaylin, Andrea, and Coulton.
HOBBIES: Hanging out with family and friends.
HOMETOWN: Franklin, OH
FAVORITE MINISTRY MOMENT: Watching shy kids find their voice and performing in church musicals.
FUN FACT: My summer job while in grad school was singing in the opera chorus with the St. Louis Opera Theater.
Shiela Boyles
Lay Leader/ Worship Leader
shiela@fumcpb.org
BIO
FULL NAME: Shiela Jean Boyles
FAVORITE RESTAURANT: Exotic Grill.
FAMILY/KIDS: Married to Larry Boyles and we have 4 children: Amanda Johnson, Tyler Davis, Matthew Boyles, and Allison Humphrey. We have 4 grandchildren.
HOBBIES: Singing and playing piano.
HOMETOWN: Campbell, MO
FAVORITE MINISTRY MOMENT: Every moment that I am able to share God’s word.
FUN FACT: Early in my walk with Christ, I prayed that God would allow me to sing and He answered my prayer.
Renee Bobo
Office Manager
renee@fumcpb.org
BIO
FULL NAME:Renee Jean Bobo
FAVORITE RESTAURANT: Anything Mexican!
FAMILY/KIDS: Married to Devin Bobo, four kids; Maddyx, Royce, Maylee, Makynzee.
HOBBIES: Spending time with family/friends, playing with my kiddos, and all things sports!
HOMETOWN: Flora, IL
FAVORITE MINISTRY MOMENT: Watching my son accept Jesus Christ in his heart and then be baptized.
FUN FACT: I played 6 years of competitive level volleyball, and 2 years of college volleyball.
Cynthia Gonzalez
Director of Finance
cynthia@fumcpb.org
BIO
FULL NAME: Cynthia Lorena Gonzalez
FAVORITE RESTAURANT: Fuji.
FAMILY/KIDS: Married to Chris Gonzalez, have 4 children.
HOBBIES: Singing has always been a huge part of my life, designing art, and desiging cakes.
HOMETOWN: Born in Amsterdam, raised in Castricum, Netherlands
FAVORITE MINISTRY MOMENT: There are so many, but I think my favorite is when leading worship and hearing the people singing praises to our Almighty God in adoration.
FUN FACT: I love to travel and have been to 10 different countries so far! Our kids’ first mode of public transportation was an airplane.