‘Pastor Tammy’

Sept. 10--A revival of church and community

TRINITY -- A fire in her belly coupled with a desire to pastor multiracial congregations led to the appointment of Rev. Tammy Ingram, new pastor at Trinity Memorial and St. Mary's United Methodist churches.

Ingram's appointment began July 3.

Pastor Tammy, as her congregations affectionately call her, played in the band during high school at Page High School in Greensboro. She always enjoyed being in front of people and envisioned her future career on stage or screen.

Instead she pursued a business degree while working in the drama department at UNC-Chapel Hill. A career in ministry was the farthest thing from her mind.

After working in the field of finance, Ingram's husband Rodvegas Ingram answered the call to preach in 2001. Now a pastor at Memorial UMC in High Point, he earned his Master's in Divinity in 2005.

"I would read his books and look at his notes and I wanted to go to school with him," said Ingram. "And I thought, surely God won't call both of us at the same time. After years of running, God let me know that He was big enough to call two people at one time."

In 2011, she started attending seminary and in 2014 she got her first part-time appointment at St. Stephens United Methodist Church. It was a positive experience, something that prepared her for the next step -- full time ministry.

After a 30-year career in the insurance business, she made the decision to retire early.

"Just the years that I had worked there, to leave all of that and the vacation and pension that I had accrued and the accolades -- it was a big step to leave all that and go into that crazy thing called full-time ministry. God made it increasingly difficult for me as I dug my heels in, only to realize that my place was not there anymore. A job that I had done for years no longer brought me joy, and all I wanted to do was preach.

"My husband at the time was pastoring a cross-racial appointment. We were nervous going into it our first time, but once we got there it was beautiful and that's what I fell in love with. As he was doing this, I went from the anxiety to the longing to have that experience for myself. This is what God intended -- for all of God's people to be together, especially on Sunday morning."

Ingram implored Methodist officials, "I would love to serve a cross-racial appointment if there are any here in the district. I know I could do this with God's help."

Ingram herself was surprised at how quickly the answer came. When she heard of the placement at Trinity Memorial and St. Mary's UMC, she was honestly overjoyed.

Ken Thompson, who is a member of the Trinity UMC administrative council, said members of the church are just as happy to have her. He said there has been a lot of enthusiasm since Ingram came on board.

"She has been a real blessing," he said. "Leading a two-church charge is difficult at best but you have to have enthusiasm and energy. She is a marvelous speaker and a good listener. She believes in bringing a variety of different backgrounds of people together in different way and a blending of the spirits and emotion."

In her short time at the churches, Ingram has not only preached Sunday sermons and taken part in church activities, but also taken part in a prayer session at Wheatmore High School, visited nearly all of the church shut-ins and taken part in the Neighborhood Cafe, a joint effort between Trinity and St. Mary UMC and other area churches.

Church Laity Leader Renee Hayes described Ingram as "dynamic" and "a people person."

"We just completed four years on a charge with St. Mary's UMC," Hayes said. "We have been in ministry together especially at Neighborhood Cafe and lots of other things that we are trying to do in the community to create trust and rapport across ethnic lines. Pastor Tammy has come right into that and been very much a part of that and has big dreams for our churches, both individually and together. Hopefully that will spur some revival within our church as well as our community."

"Our only motivation is love of God because we want to make disciples of Jesus Christ," said Ingram. "I know how he turned my life around and made me whole. Our goal in ministry is to connect to people on the outside. It's going to be up to us to let them know what they are missing. [People] are looking for more than a preacher in a robe with cute sound bites. They are missing the love of Jesus in their lives.

"I know it is going to involve getting out into the community to find out

what it is that we can do. There's no way we can use all of people's gifts and people's talents unless we are all together."

Trinity Memorial United Methodist Church is at 7140 N.C. Hwy. 62. Sunday service times are 9:45 a.m. for Sunday School and 11 a.m. for worship service.

St. Mary's United Methodist Church is at 5583 Rockford Drive, Trinity.

For more information call 336-431-1379.

Staff writer Debbie Hightower can be reached at [email protected] or 336-888-3576.

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