Senior Pastor

John is starting his 29th year as pastor in Methodist churches in North Georgia, including a church start in 2001.  

John’s deep loves are ministries of discipleship with men, baseball, cooking, deep sea fishing (and hunting), the Tour De France, gardening, reading and spending time with family.

A central focus of John's ministry at Monroe First Methodist since he began serving here in 2021 is leading the church toward possessing disciple-making DNA that treasures Jesus' call "to make disciples, baptizing ... and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." The church is partnered with NarrowGate ministries and uses Apprentice of Jesus curriculum in disciplemaking. In addition to leading men's groups, John serves with NarrowGate in the intentional growth and training of pastors toward leading disciple-making congregations.

John is a diehard Florida State Seminole, attending as an undergraduate. It was at the Wesley Foundation at Florida State that John first received and responded to the grace of being loved in Jesus Christ. The remaining three years at Florida State were spent on the program staff at the FSU Wesley Foundation, the last two years coordinating the staff. The grace of being loved in Christ soon took the shape of a call to pastoral ministry that John continues to answer. John follows in the footsteps of his grandfather who was a pastor himself for nearly 40 years.  

John and Beth have been married for 30 years. They are blessed with children, Ian and Grace. Ian, a graduate of Georgia Tech in industrial engineering, is working in Atlanta as an operations manager of a local company. Grace is a senior at Auburn University in pursuit of veterinary medicine. Both possess infectious laughs that make the home a haven of life and love. Beth’s vocational calling has been doing home health for over 30 years as a physical therapist where she loves her patients to health in the home. She has worked for Amedisys for the past 18 years and was the Southeast Therapist of the Year in 2020 for her company. As a family, the Purringtons are passionate about the grace of serving Jesus at Monroe First Methodist and look forward to what God will do in the days ahead.

I was raised in Athens, Georgia and have been a Methodist my entire life. Growing up, I was an active member of the Youth Group at Athens First United Methodist Church and served on several committees. Upon Graduation from Clarke Central High School in 2002, I attended Georgia College and State University. Majoring in Health Sciences with a concentration in Community Health, I also was a four-year Letterman on the college baseball team. In my senior season I was 2nd team All-Conference and 2nd team All-Region as a pitcher. Our team won the regular season conference championship and was one game away from the college world series.

My wife Ashley and I have 3 beautiful children and are blessed and excited to be at MFMC. While at FMC I obtained a Master's degree from Asbury Theological Seminary with a concentration in Christian Ministries.

I enjoy spending time with family and friends, playing golf and seeing our youth and the church grow in their relationship with God.

Emma Graduated from Georgia College and State University in 2022 with a degree in Sociology. She also attended and graduated from Social Circle High School in 2018. While attending HS she worked with children in the Social Circle High School Pre-K program. Her love for working with children started as a sitter at the early age of 14. She has grown up and been involved in Monroe First Methodist church her entire life. Presently, she is working for a local law firm in the Monroe area.

Lisa graduated from The University of Montevallo with a degree in Music Education. She retired from public school teaching as a music teacher after 30 years in the Americus City School System, DeKalb and Rockdale County Public Schools Systems.

In July of 2014 she became our Director of Children's & Youth Music. She feels that music plays a vital role in the spiritual upbringing of a child. The children of Monroe First will feel God's presence and love as they grow stronger in their faith through various music.

In August of 2017 she took on a second role by also becoming the Director of Children's Ministry.

Lisa is originally from Alabama, but has lived and taught music in Georgia since 1983. She lives in Social Circle with her husband Doug and they have two adult children, Emma and Davis.