Rev. Michael Tomson-DeGreeff
Senior Pastor
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I love music! You can see the joy on my face when I play the drums. So, I was surprised when God called me to become an ordained pastor because my plan was to become a rich and famous rock drummer. God has a great sense of humor. Now, as I look back on my life, I can see how God worked through my life experiences to prepare me for ministry. I had a solid Christian upbringing, but I drifted away from the church in my youth because I thought church was boring, irrelevant and condemning.
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I lived for six years in Boston, MA, attending Berklee College of Music, playing in bands and working in restaurants to pay my bills. After surviving my battle testicular cancer at the age of twenty, I began searching for answers to the questions of life the way a man with his hair on fire seeks water. In 1999, I earned a Bachelor of Religious Studies from the University of Kansas. At that point, my plan was to become a professor of religious studies.
Along my spiritual journey, I met wise teachers who inspired me to re-examine my Christian roots. Writers like Thomas Merton, Thich Nhat Hanh, Stephen Mitchell, Joseph Campbell and Virgil Brady opened my mind and heart to new ways of understanding Christianity. By God’s grace, I met Jesus “again for the first time,” and very unexpectedly, fell into faith.
In 1995, I began to feel the call to ordained ministry in the United Methodist Church. I attended Saint Paul School of Theology in Kansas City and earned a Master of Divinity in 2003. I was ordained in 2006. I love being a pastor! I served for one year as the Campus Minister at KU (1998-99), then as the Senior Pastor at Pleasant Hill UMC in Topeka, KS (1999-2006), the Senior Pastor at Eudora UMC (2006-2013), the Senior Pastor at Wamego UMC (2013-2020) and starting in 2020, the Senior Pastor at Trinity UMC in Hutchinson, KS. I am proud to serve at Trinity UMC with such a wonderful staff, strong lay leadership and vibrant ministries. I look forward to many years of fruitful ministry together.
My wife, Steffani, and I met in a dance club in Boston on June 19, 1992. We dated for three years before we got engaged and moved to Lawrence to attend KU. We were married on October 19, 1996, at Lawrence First UMC. We have four tall boys who range in age from 16 to 22. Steffani works for Reno County Educational Coop as a Social Worker (MSW, LSCSW). Steffani and I enjoy walking in nature, cooking and going to concerts.
Along my spiritual journey, I met wise teachers who inspired me to re-examine my Christian roots. Writers like Thomas Merton, Thich Nhat Hanh, Stephen Mitchell, Joseph Campbell and Virgil Brady opened my mind and heart to new ways of understanding Christianity. By God’s grace, I met Jesus “again for the first time,” and very unexpectedly, fell into faith.
In 1995, I began to feel the call to ordained ministry in the United Methodist Church. I attended Saint Paul School of Theology in Kansas City and earned a Master of Divinity in 2003. I was ordained in 2006. I love being a pastor! I served for one year as the Campus Minister at KU (1998-99), then as the Senior Pastor at Pleasant Hill UMC in Topeka, KS (1999-2006), the Senior Pastor at Eudora UMC (2006-2013), the Senior Pastor at Wamego UMC (2013-2020) and starting in 2020, the Senior Pastor at Trinity UMC in Hutchinson, KS. I am proud to serve at Trinity UMC with such a wonderful staff, strong lay leadership and vibrant ministries. I look forward to many years of fruitful ministry together.
My wife, Steffani, and I met in a dance club in Boston on June 19, 1992. We dated for three years before we got engaged and moved to Lawrence to attend KU. We were married on October 19, 1996, at Lawrence First UMC. We have four tall boys who range in age from 16 to 22. Steffani works for Reno County Educational Coop as a Social Worker (MSW, LSCSW). Steffani and I enjoy walking in nature, cooking and going to concerts.