Pastoral Staff

Rev. Doug Newton

Rev. Doug Newton began his pastoral duties at the Greenville Free Methodist Church on January 1, 2006.

He is also in his 13th year as senior editor of Light and Life magazine, a monthly periodical with a readership of 100,000 people that won the Evangelical Press Association’s top award, the “Award of Excellence” for denominational magazines in 2000 and 2002. He has served on faculty and presented keynote addresses at several leading conferences for Christian writers.

He and his wife, Margie, are also co-founders and directors of Mary’s Place, Inc. that serves pastoral couples by providing week-long, all-expense-paid trips to a secluded prayer retreat lodge in Bowling Green, Kentucky, for guidance in reorienting their ministry life around prayer.

He previously served five years as the president of Oakdale Christian High School located in Jackson, Kentucky, a private residential high school for students from around the United States.

Prior to going to Oakdale, Pastor Newton served a Free Methodist congregation in Bowling Green, Kentucky, for thirteen years where his congregation tripled in size. During that time he helped found a city-wide ministry to the poor, worked aggressively for racial reconciliation and integration among the local churches, and received an Outstanding Citizen award from the regional NAACP.

During the past ten years, Pastor Newton has traveled widely as a church, seminar, college and retreat speaker, speaking to more than 25,000 people annually. Storytelling is a common feature of his speaking ministry, and he is known for his book of Christmas stories titled, Christmas Stories from Enoch.

The issue of developing character in people is a special area of concern for Newton. He is the author of a book on character titled, Blink With All My Might: Provocative Essays on Personal Character.

The Newtons have two grown daughters.