Mt. Zion UMC welcomes new pastor

CLEARWATER – The Mt. Zion United Methodist Church of Clearwater welcomed a new pastor, the Reverend Lee Hall-Perkins, last Sunday, July 1. He is an ordained elder in the Church of God in Christ but currently serves in the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church.

Rev. Hall-Perkins received his bachelor’s degree in religious studies and master of divinity from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. At 28 years old, he is one of the youngest pastors in Mt. Zion’s 98-year-old history. Hall-Perkins brings more than 14 years of ministry experience to the congregation.

He was the associate pastor of the Living Word International Church in Nashville, Tenn., for six years, youth minister at Gordon Memorial UMC and an editor at R.H. Boyd Publishing Corporation—one of the country’s oldest African-American religious publishers.

Hall-Perkins is also an accomplished writer, having published work with BlackPast.org, The Tennessean, David C Cook’s adult Sunday School curriculum and the African American Lectionary. He and his wife Rev. Jana Hall-Perkins co-edited and authored their first book titled “Unashamedly Black, Unapologetically Christian: A Devotional for Black Faith and Life.”

For the past year, Hall-Perkins has been serving in ministry alongside his wife at McCabe UMC in St. Petersburg. She will remain the senior pastor of McCabe as her husband takes this new assignment. During Hall-Perkins’ last Sunday at McCabe, the members gathered around him at the altar praying God’s blessings upon him.