Rev. Christopher M. Tweel

Hailing from a small town WV, my life was filled with my church family. My mother was a church choir director, my uncle was a pastor, and my brother and I were underfoot at every service. In college, while majoring in History and Sociology I was elected as the Christian Life Council Chaplain, which served the whole school creating worship services and being an open ear to the spiritual concerns and cares of the community.

After college, I served as the Youth and Fellowship director for First Presbyterian Church in Charleston, WV. We had a bustling youth program and 14 basketball teams that were only a part of our overall sports ministry program. From there, my wife Leah and I moved to Greensboro, NC where I served at Buffalo Presbyterian in a new position as the Director of Youth and Family Ministries. Before coming to seminary I served at Prospect Presbyterian Church in Mooresville, NC as their DCE. It was this church that supported me through my time in seminary, and it was here that we had our daughter, Amara in 2012.

 

More recently in Richmond, VA, I have served as the Associate of Education at Grace Covenant Presbyterian, and am currently serving the church family at Three Chopt Presbyterian Church as their pastor and head of staff. Additionally, I've been blessed to work closely with Shalom Farms, a food organization that brings healthy options to Richmond's urban population and works in the city for food advocacy, and the Richmond Peace Education Center. Richmond is a vibrant community with a lot of bifurcation and pain. In the past 6 years, I've devoted myself to training in trauma healing and conflict resolution and have been working with the Richmond chapter of Coming to the Table, and have been passionate about being a leader with our presbytery's Dismantling Racism group.

 

Living in and being raised in the mountains have made their mark on me in the form of musical interests and recreational activities. Our family gardens, hikes, camps, stargazes, picks a banjo and canoes with the best of them any chance we get. I am excited to see how God will use my leadership alongside new ministries in the coming years.