Rev. John Girard
Rev. John Girard is the newest member on staff at First Community, as Minister of Mission & Justice. John comes to First Community from Broad Street United Methodist Church where he served as Senior Pastor of the downtown church for the past three years. Prior to that he served in a variety of United Methodist clergy roles in the Columbus metro area for two decades.
A ”second career” clergyperson, John worked previously as a licensed funeral director and embalmer in Ohio before recognizing a call to ordained ministry. Funeral directing was never anything he dreamt of doing when he was growing up, though. He really wanted to own a restaurant and be a chef, or a schoolbus driver.
Once a cat-owner trapped in a dog-lover’s body, John currently has no pets and no partner – providing all kinds of freedom to come and go with ease, allowing him to enjoy hiking, biking, cooking, reading, and indulging his Titanic, and tiny house obsessions. John also enjoys watching documentaries and wombat videos in his free time.
A native of Granville, Ohio, John attended Hanover College (Hanover, IN), and received a B.A. in Business Administration. John then attended the Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science, completed his state and national boards, and worked at funeral homes in Cincinnati and Columbus, before eventually attending and graduating from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary (Northwestern University, Evantson, IL) in 2005.
Favorite color: blue
Favorite food: pizza and Chipotle
Favorite day of the week: Sunday!