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Tim Tuthill
Campus Minister, Wesley Foundation
517-332-0861
tuthill@msu.edu
Rev. Tuthill previously was associate pastor at Mason First
United Methodist Church. He has been in the ministry nine years and is a
graduate of Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University. He and
his wife, Susan, have a two-year-old son, Benjamin, and another child on the
way.
Q: What made you go into the ministry?
A: It was a desire, when I first started college, to work
with people. I was a psychology major. But then I just really felt this call to
the ministry. And I thought, maybe I can do both. I can work with people and
really fulfill this calling that I had in my life. It was a natural fit.
Q: What has been your impression of UUMC so far?
A: It's a really eclectic congregation. You have some really
young people and some people with more life experience. It's just a good place.
I like that everyone comes from different geographical regions to be a part of
this church. There's a lot of diversity, a lot of creativity and dynamic music.
It's really exciting. It's neat that it's a shared ministry, between a campus
ministry and the local church. It is unusual. Most Wesley Foundations are free
standing.
Q: What does the Wesley Foundation do?
A: We have a program with five facets to it: Worship, small
groups, fellowship, retreat and outreach. Students can participate in any or all
of those ministries. We worship Wednesday nights at 8:30. Sunday nights we have
a program with speakers and different sorts of things. We have 75 to 100
students that are in and out of the program each semester.
Q: What are your goals for the job you have now, and for
your ministry in general?
A: The goal is to maintain a solid program that is up and
running, and to help that program grow. And then to develop a long-term funding
strategy, so that the program can be maintained. For myself, it's to find ways
to meet and connect with students. How do I meet them where they are?
Q: What inspires you?
A: Things like meditation...nature. I think watching my son
change and evolve. How can this helpless being, who two years ago couldn't do
anything, and now he can talk, he can run. How does this happen?
Q: What concerns you?
A: A decline in our ability as human beings to relate to one
another. How can we change the tide, and learn a better ways to connect to one
another? We're living in a time when the divorce rate is high, abuse is high in
families, neglect is high. We're living in a world where it is easier to take
out a gun and shoot someone rather than to work through our differences. How can
we begin to look at human relationships differently? How can we take better care
of each other?
Q: What's your favorite Bible verse or parable?
A: When Jesus says to the disciples, "Follow me." It's very
simple.
Q: Favorite book, other than the Bible?
A: The one I'm re-reading right now is "If God is Love:
Rediscovering Grace in an Ungracious World," by Philip Gulley and James
Mulholland.
Q: Favorite movie?
A: I like a lot of the 80s classic movies like "The
Breakfast Club," "Pretty in Pink," "St. Elmo's Fire".
Q: Favorite song or singer?
A: Sting is my favorite artist. And U2.
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