10 Questions with Pastor Danny

1. How long have you been a part of St. Paul’s? Became a Pastor at St. Paul’s in January 2022.
2. What is your favorite food? Popcorn with good theater-quality popping oil.
3. What is the best movie/TV show you have seen recently? During Covid, we started streaming Disney movies at home. So many…
4. What is your earliest fond memory of serving in the church? My father was a pastor and he would use me to hold down a rug and pull me around the room as he polished a newly waxed floor.
5. What is some thing most people don’t know about you? I love to read and be outdoors. High tech and low tech are both fun.
6. What is your dream for the future of St. Paul’s? A community of people centered on Jesus Christ who love one another like Jesus loves us.
7. Where did you graduate high school? Putnam City when there was only one Putnam City in Oklahoma City.
8. What is your favorite scripture? Philippians 4:4: Rejoice in the Lord always, again I will say, rejoice.
9. What is the best concert you ever attended?  Mercy Me—especially when they turned off the instruments and they led old hymns with just the human voice. Powerful emotions from the people joining their voices together in unity of love for Jesus Christ.

10 Questions with Tate Monroe

1. How long have you been a part of St. Paul’s? Since June of 2017
2. What is your favorite food? Medium Rare Prime Rib with extra Au Jus!
3. What is your favorite memory from St. Paul’s? During the Gratitude Campaign I created a video highlighting the beautiful ministries that demonstrates St. Paul’s acting out of what it is to “Be” the church. I was moved to tears by the spirit of generosity I’ve witnessed.
4. What is the best tv show you have seen recently? I am a huge cheerleader at heart and I love having someone or something to root for! That’s why my television is usually dominated by sports, particularly football and the OKC Thunder. I especially love when it’s time for the Olympics. My guilty pleasure is the CBS social fishbowl known as Big Brother. Studying the way a variety of different personalities work with or against each other fascinates me.
5. What is your earliest fond memory of serving in the church? I was a member of First United Methodist Church of Downtown Oklahoma City from age two until adulthood. The earliest memory I have there was performing as a lamb at age three during the Christmas Pageant. “See that great big star up there? High up in the sky?” I must’ve worked so hard on that line that I’ve never forgotten it. That was the beginning of a wonderful relationship with the stage and performing, including an opera with the Philharmonic Orchestra titled Amahl and The Night Visitors.
6. What are some things most people don’t know about you?
   1. As a boy soprano at age 11 I was a featured soloist performing in front of a sold out Civic Center Music Hall.
   2. I am a script writer and composer currently working on the next great american musical with aspirations of making it to Broadway.
   3. I have played my guitar across the country performing in a variety of places such as the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in D.C., Bourbon Street in New Orleans and the iconic Bluebird Cafe in Nashville.
7. What is your dream for the future of St. Paul’s? To be an exuberant contributor to the revitalization of Downtown Shawnee and the neighborhoods around it. To meet the needs of the community and for St. Paul’s to be a place where you feel at home in worship and experiencing God.
8. Where did you graduate high school? I graduated down the road at Midwest City High school where I was often found on the sidelines of the football stadium getting the crowd fired up during our state champion years or in the Performing Arts Center with the Show Choir or in many of our stage productions such as Anything Goes, West Side Story and Into the Woods.
9. What is your favorite Scripture? I’ve wrestled with my favorite scripture for many years now because though it is my favorite it seems there must surely be a scripture that is less difficult a pill to swallow! The verse is James 1:2-4 which reads, “Consider it pure joy, brothers and sisters, when you encounter trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Let perseverance finish it’s work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”  Though I certainly do not get excited to know that there will always be suffering and hurt in life, it is comforting to know that our pain is not pointless. God can work with those experiences for the good of your life and others to God’s Glory.
10. What is the best concert you ever attended? I love going to concerts so it is hard to pick just one. From Garth Brooks to Elton John, Harry Connick Jr to Jason Mraz, I love any concert I go to where I know every word to every song they play! Oh, how I love to be entertained!

10 Questions with Sharon Reese

1. How long have you been a part of St. Paul’s? 25 years
2. What is your favorite food? White cake with white icing
3. What is your favorite memory from St. Paul’s?  When Steve and I joined the church, the choir and handbell choir came down and stood with us. It was very touching.
4. What is the best movie/TV show you have seen recently? I LOVE Downton Abbey.
5. What is your earliest, fond memory of serving in the church? It wasn’t really “serving” the church, but as a very young child, I would sit on the piano bench with our church pianist. My granddad was the song leader and would sometimes disagree with her tempos. It was funny to see who was going to be the loudest and win the tempo war. The pianist usually won 🙂
6. What is something most people don’t know about you? I grew up target shooting with my dad and granddad, and I took riflery in college from an Olympic gold medalist.
7. What is your dream for the future of St. Paul’s? Musically I would love to have a 6th octave of handbells, and I would really love to have 5 octaves of handchimes.
8. Where did you graduate high school? Morgantown High School in Morgantown, West Virginia, and yes I was a HUGE band nerd. (Okay, I still am.)
9. What is your favorite scripture? Deuteronomy 31:8 The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you: he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be discouraged.
10. What is the best concert you ever attended? Earth Wind & Fire at the Zoo Amp. My dream is to be their bass player when I “grow up”.