PHOTO SUBMITTED A welcome lunch for Keith and Rhonda Gaughf will be Sunday, July 13, at 11 a.m. in the fellowship hall of First United Methodist Church following the 10 a.m. service.

Keith Gaughf’s journey to the pulpit at First United Methodist Church started with a pretty 15-year-old he met in high school, and a shove from God.

Gaughf was 16 when he noticed his future wife at Mt. Olive High School.

“It was when Rhonda and I were dating that I started going to church with her in order to spend more time with her,” he said.

He’d grown up at Rock Hill Baptist Church where all of his family attended. Rhonda, however, went to Lone Star United Methodist Church.

“It was during this time that I became aware of my call to the full-time ministry and God made it clear to me that I should become a member of the United Methodist Church and seek ordination there instead of the church that I had grown up in.”

He and Rhonda dated for six years and married in their last year at the University of Southern Mississippi nearly 37 years ago. Gaughf holds degrees in biology and chemistry from USM.

He’d already begun his first appointment at McLain when they married and it was a first of many. He spent three years at McLain at the McLain, Grace and Leaf UMCs.

All told his journey took him all around the state. He spent four years on the Batesville circuit at Mt. Olivet, Cold Springs, Terza UMCs; five years at Marks and Lambert UMCs; nine years in Booneville at Christ UMC, Lebanon UMC and as the Northeast Mississippi Community College Wesley Foundation director; seven years at FUMC Columbia; four years at Purvis and Talowah UMCs and five years at Tunica and Crenshaw UMCs.

Along the way he earned a Master of Divinity at Memphis Theological Seminary.

The couple have two grown children.

Daughter Keleigh lives in Columbia with her husband Cole and their two children, Warren, 10, and Sawyer, 8. Their son Taylor lives in North Dakota and has served in the US Air Force for almost 13 years.

Rhonda Gaughf is a retired high school math teacher after three decades in the field.

Gaughf, 59, said regular weekly worship service to give thanks to God for His abundant grace and mercy is important, but encourages churches where he pastors to go outside the walls.

“I am proud of the times when churches were willing to go outside the walls of the church and into the community where the church was to be in ministry and service to the people of the community,” he said of his 37 years in ministry so far.

His immediate goal at FUMC Brookhaven is to get to know the people inside the church walls and in the community around it.

“And to help the church have the confidence to move forward from where we are to where God wants us to be,” he said.

He believes it’s important for churches in a community to be willing to work together regardless of their denominations to make the town and community a better place for everyone.

“Oftentimes, the leaders of the community are part of some church in the community. Working together allows the community to benefit from the gifts and talents of all the people in all of the churches,” he said.

When not involved in church work, he’s studying the newest trends in technology so he can help others understand it. He’s written software in the past and also built computers with scratch.

Now he’s more into building a barbecue feast and taking pictures of his prize-winning dishes.

“People might be surprised to learn that I have entered and won barbecue cooking competitions,” he said. “I love to cook and I love to cook for a crowd.”

He’s an accomplished drone pilot and uses it to take photographs.

“I use my drone to help other people from time to time and to just see the world from above while standing on the ground,” he said.

He describes himself as a conservative when it comes to theology and studying the Bible. But when it comes to people, he’s very liberal.

“I believe everyone should be welcome in the church regardless of who they are or where they are from or whatever is going on in their lives,” he said. “It is not our job to change a person. It is our job to introduce them to Christ, who, if He so desires, can and will change their hearts and minds and lives.

“We as a church need to be careful in what we expect of non-churchgoing people. After all, many times we ourselves haven’t gotten our own act together. If that is true, then how can we expect others to do something that we ourselves aren’t willing to do?”

The Gaughs will be the guests of honor at a lunch Sunday, July 13, at 11 a.m. in the FUMC fellowship hall.