From The Pastor:

Pastor Michaele Wood

Unity Takes Work

A young couple came to the minister's office to ask if he would marry them. They knew that the minister and his wife had been married for over thirty years and seemed genuinely happy together.  In fact, you never saw one of them without the other.  They wanted that kind of happiness in their own marriage.  The minister sat the couple down and asked all the usual questions about faith and their expectations of each other and their concept of living together as husband and wife.  After receiving what they thought were satisfactory answers the minister asked them one last question.  “How will you solve disputes in your handling of problems, such as how to handle budgets or where to live?”  The old minister noticed that they were not in agreement on how to handle the conflicts in their marriage that would surely come.  The man thought he should have the final say because he was more logical and the woman thought she would be closer to right in most situations because she would feel the deepest about the results.  So the old minister took them outside and threw an old 30 ft. bullrope over the roof of the garage.  He told them to each grab an end and pull until the rope was totally pulled off the roof.  Both began to pull and the old minister sat down to watch.  Soon they were both tired and ready to quit but neither would give in.  It took about a half hour until they finally agreed to slide the rope forward and pull it off the front of the garage together.

The old minister laughed and said, “And that is how you handle conflict.  You must come to an agreement you can both live with.”   God desires for us to be in relationship with Him but if we continue to go our own way there will always be conflict and stress in our life.  If you do not ask God, if you are not walking with God then you are pulling against the plan for your life and happiness will continue to elude you.  You will still have trials but God will be your partner in deliverance.

Church, know that God is our partner in all we are called to do. Let’s agree to walk together.

Amos 3:3 Two people will not walk together unless they have agreed to do so.
Amos 3:7 Before the Lord GOD does anything, he tells his plans to his servants, the prophets.

Pastor Michaele

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Rev. Michaele RJ Wood was born the eldest of four children in Harrisburg PA. Her father was a Marine and Korean Veteran and her mother was a caterer. Michaele says, “Dad maintained order and discipline and mom added the spice.” She attended Catholic school through her junior year before graduating from a public school closer to home. It was during a school assembly about teen suicides that the message “God is love” became real and the Bible became a favorite read.

The years following high school were a hodgepodge of military service as an EMT / Practical Nurse and a liaison to the Military Police Units working narcotics, often accompanying them on the execution of search warrants and arrests. She met and married her husband during that tour and one year later put military service behind to be a mom to a new daughter. The following year she gave birth to twins.

In 1990, she was ordained as a minister in Kingdom Fellowship Ministries, a Charismatic fellowship, and assigned to Fountain Gate Ministries, an inner-city Harrisburg Church. There she served for 15 years as an elder, ordained minister associate and part-time instructor in Biblical & Church History for the ETS School of Ministry. She also held the position of Chief Financial Officer for a Harrisburg non-profit organization, while maintaining employment as a medical claims adjuster and raising a family.

The church grew quickly but the authoritarian form of government did not support the growth which led to problems of discipline and doctrine within the fellowship. This led her to a time of discernment. Seeking the help of a more experienced female pastor, who just happened to be Presbyterian, she was introduced to the Book of Order and Reformed Theology. Michaele states, “I had found the missing piece of my faith journey but the church I served was not ready

to change its style of government.”  In 2005, she became a member of Capital Presbyterian Church in Harrisburg. She was soon asked to serve on session and was ordained as an elder in the Presbyterian Church. Michaele completed the Dubuque CRE training in January 2006 and was then accepted to Lancaster Theological Seminary receiving her Master of Divinity in 2009.  In 2010, she was ordained by Carlisle Presbytery as  Minister of Word & Sacrament. Subsequently, she was  accepted as a member of the initial class of the “For Such A Time As This Program” leading to her installation as the pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Pontotoc, Mississippi,  where she served until December 2017. 

She now comes to Gainesville as the called pastor of Kanapaha Presbyterian Church and will be installed as the way is made clear.

Pastor Michaele holds an Associate in Human Services from Harrisburg Area Community College; a Bachelor of Christian Ministry from Chesapeake Bible College; a Master of Divinity from Lancaster Theological Seminary; a diploma from the CRE program at Dubuque Seminary, and Certificates of Completion in Spiritual Direction; Clergy Tax Management & Law (Chitwood); and Stewardship (Kirby-Smith).

She is the widowed mother to three adult children, grandmother to (10) ten grandchildren, great-grandmother to two boys, ages 2 years and an infant of 3 months, with another due in October. Saying of her journey thus far, “Life has not always been easy, but then, God didn’t say it would be. God did promise to give us strength to continue the journey even when it seems impossible, even when we are afraid, even when we aren’t sure where God is leading us.  And so, I look forward to our journey together.”

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