Staff

Pastor J. Michael Smith is a graduate of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and Wesley Theological Seminary (Washington D.C.)  His academic degrees are in psychology, history, and theology.  He is married to Jie Wu.  (Jie is the director of Chinese Ministry based at the Wesley Foundation at the University of Illinois in Urbana.)  They are the parents of three grown daughters:  Mindy, Alison, and Scarlette.  And they have one grandchild, Sean.   Pastor Smith has served churches in West Virginia (Harpers Ferry) and Illinois (Olney, Madison, Carmi, Carbondale, Granite City, Glen Carbon, and Urbana.)  He is an ordained elder in the Illinois Great Rivers Conference of the United Methodist Church. You can read his writings at his website:  jmichaelsmith.net

Jordan graduated from Greenville College in 2016 with degrees in philosophy and pastoral ministry. He grew up in Springfield, IL where he went to Springfield High School. He was the children's ministry intern at Hope Church in Springfield, worship pastor at Cornerstone Community Church in Auburn, IL, worship/youth intern at Hope Church, and worship pastor at New Hope Church in Edwardsville, IL. He has served missions internships in South Africa and Romania. You can follow his blog at: https://jordanthomasword.wordpress.com

Tammie has a Master's Degree in clinical psychology from Eastern Illinois University.  She has bachelor's degrees in psychology and zoology, also EIU.  She is a graduate of Mattoon High School.  She is married to Dan and is mother of Luke and Xandra.  Tammie's mother Pat was a long time secretary at First UMC. Tammie worked for the Central-East Alcoholism and Drug Counsel for ten years.  She did counseling and had supervision for the Drunk Driving program.  She has been on the staff at Mattoon Church doing counseling since 1997.  She provides a wide variety of counseling for all ages, including marriage and family counseling.  She leads a support group at the church for women each Tuesday night.

Dora is a native of Atwood, IL and moved to Mattoon in 1987.  She is the mother of 3 children; Matt, Doug and Kylie and Nana to Will and Kyren.  She is in the process of working on a degree in Marketing and Management and certification in Small Business Management and Professional Sales at Lake Land College.   Dora  is Food Service Management certified.  She graduated from Atwood-Hammond High School.  

Mindy currently works full time in Champaign as a Business Engagement Specialist with Champaign County Regional Planning Commission. She has experience in program design and management. Mindy has a BA in Theater Performance from Bradley University, and has worked with churches in the past to put together holiday musicals for the children's programs. She also helped create a short term children's workshop series in Urbana that has been adapted for the current Downtown Kids program here at Mattoon First United Methodist Church. She is excited to be joining the team and looks forward to providing a needed service for the church and the community.