Peacock is new pastor at First United Methodist-Atmore

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, August 2, 2017

From a young age, the Rev. Brennan Peacock knew he wanted to go into the ministry.

Peacock was appointed as the lead pastor of First United Methodist Church in Atmore, and he began his ministry here on July 1. He replaces Dr. Debora Bishop, who was appointed as the superintendent of the Mobile District of the Alabama-West Florida Conference in April.

Peacock graduated from Duke University Divinity School in 2006. His first appointment was in Mobile at Ashland Place United Methodist Church, where he served as an associate pastor for seven years. He then went to Providence United Methodist Church for two years, and served for two years at Wetumpka First United Methodist Church before coming to Atmore.

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In the Methodist Church, bishops make annual appointments, putting pastors in churches that match their gifts.

“I’m here because the bishop appointed me to come here, but I’m very excited,” Peacock said. “Debora Bishop was the pastor here before me. Debora is somebody that I’ve found that has tremendous passion. I’m discovering that more each and every day by the conversation I have with the congregation, and in understanding the talents, gifts and passions of this church.

“There are a lot of good things happening here, and I’m excited to continue those and see where that goes,” he said.

Peacock said he experienced the call to ministry as an 18 year old at a church camp.

“I felt like at the time that I didn’t want to go just from college to seminary and then into the church,” he said. “For whatever reason, I felt like I needed to discover a little bit more about who I was. So, as I moved through college, I became involved in hotel management.”

Peacock said he then left school and went into hotel management for eight years. He worked for a variety of properties, including Best Western, Holiday Inn, Hampton Inn and Residence Inn.

Peacock said the conversation with his wife, Patti, before getting married included him answering the call to ministry.

“When Patti and I got married, part of that conversation leading up to our marriage was that I would respond to that call,” he said. “About a year and a half after we got married, I left the hotel management side of things, went back to school and finished my degree.”

Peacock worked nights and went to school during the day. Once he got his bachelor’s degree, he and Patti, now with 4-month-old Eli (who is 14 years old), went off to Duke for seminary. When they arrived in Mobile at Ashland, the couple had Adam, a 5 month old, and Eli, then 3, in tow.

“It really was an exciting time for us in seminary, but that process was really most beautifully displayed in the church,” he said. “We feel like we belong.”

Peacock said his gifts include teaching, consensus building and leading in a spiritual way.

“I look at who the church is called to be and what steps we need to take in the community that we’re in,” Peacock said. “I believe in a church being for its immediate community before anything else. A lot of churches are regional churches and draw from different areas; and this church is similar in that regard. But, the strength in the church is its zip code.

“We have to be a church for its zip code at the same time being a church for folks a little bit farther in the field,” he said.