Reverend John Shaver is the new minister at the Community United Methodist Church.
Community United Methodist Church on Via de la Paz has a new minister, Reverend John T. Shaver. The church’s former minister, Dr. Wayne Walters, retired July 1.
Shaver’s first sermon was on July 7, and this editor was instantly hooked as he spoke about Mr. Rogers and it’s “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.”
Shaver explained to the congregation that before the 10 a.m. service, he had been on the sidewalk in front of the church welcoming people, “won’t you be my neighbor.”
Some weren’t even congregants. Yet, they still seemed to be delighted to meet the new minister, and one woman even explained church to her child.
This editor had a chance to sit down with Shaver at Flour on Via de la Paz this past week. He said he had worked as a barista during divinity school, and he also met Fred Rogers, who was an ordained Presbyterian minister through the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.
Shaver said he was headed to an 8 a.m. Greek class – not one of his favorites – and Rogers saw him and acknowledged his mood about having a difficult class at an early hour.
Initially Shaver, a fourth-generation preacher, who grew up in Pittsburgh, had no intention of following in his father’s footsteps in the ministry. He had helped his dad at churches in rural areas and small towns outside of Pittsburgh.
“People in my family are preachers, teachers and farmers,” said Shaver, who received a bachelor’s degree in political science from North Carolina University, with plans to go to law school.
When not a lot of job offers for a political science degree materialized, Shaver went to Boston University and then the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary where he received his master’s degree in divinity in 1998. He also started working on his master’s degree in social work at the University of Pittsburgh (he’s one clinical class short of the degree).
About this time Shaver was sent to two small churches in the area where coal mines were closing and steel mines shutting down. It was a tough economy for the people living there. Shaver, who “didn’t want to do what dad and his grandfather had,” was told “Just try these churches.”
And as Shaver said, “Sometimes God has other plans.
“When I walked in the church, vacation bible school was going,” he said. “I stayed for a year, and we had a wonderful time.”
His grandmother lived in the Thousand Oaks area, and he came West for a visit. While he was here, Pastor John Nadel “asked me a lot of questions,” Shaver said, and later found out, “It was an interview.”
Shaver accepted a call to the Westlake area, and one of the people working at the church would become his future mother-in-law.
Michele, his future wife, was also working part-time at the church before she started teaching elementary school in 2002.
Shaver went back to Western Pennsylvania, where he was assigned two medium-sized churches and the couple dated, long-distance. They married and Michele joined him on the East Coast. Their daughter Madison was born in 2006, but Shaver said he could see his wife missed California.
Then, District Superintendent Catie Coots brought him to the West Coast in 2008, and he became the lead minister in Valencia. His daughter Kendal was also born that year.
After six years in the Santa Clara area, he moved the family to Encinitas at the San Dieguito Methodist Church, where he worked for about 10 years.
Before coming to the Palisades, he took a six-month sabbatical, working in Central America in Nicaragua and then Mexico. He worked with a dentist, helping to make sure there was clean water, and aiding with entrepreneurial skills with community members. “I went into help with needs, and share God’s love, while helping people with basic necessities,” he said.
Shaver made an interfaith Holy Land Trip in February 2023, with a man he describes as one of his best friends, Rabbi Mark Blazer of Temple Beth Ami in Santa Clarita. The two clergy had about 50 congregants accompanying them.
About coming to Pacific Palisades, Shaver said, “I felt it was time for a new challenge. God was saying it was time to try something new.”
He describes this location, “It’s a wonderful church, great music, a fantastic preschool – there are so many wonderful things about this church,” he said, and added he’s also fascinated with the history of the Methodists developing the Palisades.
If you would like to hear Shaver, service is at 10 a.m. on Sunday Morning, at 801 Via de la Paz. The music is wonderful and there is a Sunday School program for children during the service.
This Sunday, July 14, after the service there will be a potluck lunch to welcome Pastor John and his family. The church will provide chicken, and members are asked to bring a side salad or dessert to share.
Thank You Sue great article.
Sounds like they have a wonderful pastor. I pray he, his family and church will do great works for God here. The Love of God is a powerful thing.