Our Biographies
CHRIS CUMBEST, Senior Minister
Background:
Native of Jackson County – Cumbest Bluff; Married 27 years to Sheila Cumbest. They have
two children:
Elizabeth, 18, and Jesse, 13.
Education: East Central High
School, Hurley, Miss., 1980; Mississippi Gulf Coast Junior
College, AA degree, 1984; University of Southern Mississippi, BS, Sociology,
1987, and Duke Divinity School, M-Div., 1990.
Service: United Methodist Clergy since 1984,
Ordained Elder in MS Conference in 1992, Byrd-Wesley Charge, 1984-87; Student at
Duke, 1987-19
90; Hermon UMC (NC 1988-1990); First UMC, Clinton, Associate, 1990-1992;
Flora-Bentonia Charge, 1992- 1997;
First UMC, Lucedale – Grace, 1997-2001); Alta Woods UMC, 2001-January, 2006;
Coordinator of Church Recovery, Mississippi Annual Conference, January, 2006 to
June, 2007.
Activities: Advisory Committee for
Disaster Response & Recovery, Appointment to National Committee of Shalom by the
Council of Bishops to serve 2004-2008; past president of Lucedale and South
Hinds Rotary Clubs.
Interests: Hunting, fishing,
canoeing, hiking, syrup-making and most anything else outdoors. Learning to play
guitar.
SHEILA CUMBEST, Director of
Education and Church Administration
Background:
Sheila's early years were spent in
Wiggins, Miss., and later she and her family moved to Hurley, MIss. She has one
younger brother, and he and their parents still reside in Wiggins. Married to
Chris Cumbest for 27 years, Sheila enjoys being a mom to their two children –
Elizabeth, 18, and Jesse, 13.
Education:
Graduated from East Central H.S.; USM with
a B.S. in Accounting, 1987; Duke Divinity School, Masters in Religious
Education, 1990.
Service:
A diaconal minister from 1991-97, Sheila
was then ordained as a deacon in the United Methodist Church. She was: Director
of Children and Adult Ministries at Galloway UMC, 1990-94; Director of Education
and Youth at Flora UMC, 1994-97; Director of Education at First UMC, Lucedale,
1997-2001; Deacon at Alta Woods/Leavell Woods UMC, 2001-03; Director of
Ministerial Services, Mississippi Conference of UMC, 2004-2008. Sheila currently
serves as Director of Education and Church Administration here at St. Paul UMC
in Ocean Springs.
Interests:
Her favorite things to do in her spare
time are spending time with family, especially outdoors, and spending time at
the beach, camping, hiking, sports, and boating. She loves quiet time with
scripture and spiritual life retreats with her deacon friends and covenant
partners.Music has always been a special part of her life and even more so since
her children came along. She prefers contemporary Christian music and just
about anything from the ‘70’s!
"Now you may have guessed my age!" she
said.
CLIFF BURRIS, Associate Minister
Background: Cliff joined the St.
Paul staff in July 2006 as Minister of Worship and Evangelism. Cliff began
ministry in the Methodist Church at Camp Wesley Pines as a summer counselor in
1994 and 19
95, and as a youth pastor at Oak Grove UMC from 1995-98. He began
pastoral ministry in 1997 at L.L. Roberts Memorial/Oakdale charge in Bassfield,
Mississippi.
In 1998, Cliff and Leanne moved to Columbia, Kentucky, in Adair
County where they ministered at Bearwallow and Barnett's Creek UMC for five
years while in seminary at Asbury Theological Seminary. They returned
to Mississippi in 2003 as co-pastors of Morton UMC and remained there until
coming to Ocean Springs in 2006. Cliff and Leanne were both ordained as United
Methodist elders at the 2006 Annual Conference. They have been married 12
years.
Education: Southwest Mississippi
Community College, AA Degree, 1994; William Carey
College, BS in Communication with minor in Biblical Studies, 1996; Asbury
Theological Seminary, Master of Divinity, emphasis in pastoral ministry.
Interests: Golf, Tennis, Guitar,
Reading, Live Praise and Worship, and just hangin' out with ya'll.
Favorite Authors: N.T. (Tom) Wright, Jack Hayford,
Erwin McManus, Stephen Seamands, Brennan Manning.
Favorite Music: Hillsongs United, Hillsongs, New
Life Worship / Desperation Band, Darrell Evans, Chris Tomlin, Bob Fitts, Brian Doerksen, Israel
Houghton
LEANNE BURRIS, Associate Minister
Leanne's Blog
Background: Leanne was active
at Diamondhead Baptist Church during her school years and it was there she
perceived a call to ministry. Leanne began traveling on ambassador and
mission trips at the age of 11 and by the time she graduated from high
school had traveled to England, Finland, Italy, Antigua, Argentina, and
Valdez, Alaska. She continued to pursue missions during college and had the
opportunity to minister in Argentina, Honduras, and along the New
Mexico/Mexico border. After moving to Kentucky with her husband Cliff,
Leanne began to teach English as a Second Language at Campbellsville
University, and then Lindsey Wilson College.
Family: Cliff and Leanne have
four children: Joshua, 6; Jonathan, 5; Zoe, 1, and Joel, born in
December.
Education: Our Lady Academy,
Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, 1993; Bachelor of Arts (Spanish/English),
William Carey College, Hattiesburg, Mississippi, 1997; Master of Arts in
Teaching Language (ESL), University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg,
Mississippi, 1998; Master of Divi
nity, Asbury Theological Seminary, Wilmore,
Kentucky, 2002.
Experience: Counselor at Camp
Garawya, 1994; Baptist Student Union Summer Missionary to New Mexico,
1995; Interim youth minister ,Hurricane Creek Baptist Church, 1996;
Co-pastor of Morton United Methodist Church, 2003-2006; Church and
Community Worker at Trinity United Methodist Mission, 2004-2006; associate
minister at St. Paul UMC since 2006.
Interests: I
love to read. My favorite author right now is Ted Dekker. I also love to
travel. I made a mission trip to Uruguay in March, 2007, then to DisneyWorld in
May, 2007.
Talents: I
talk a lot. Actually I enjoyed competing with the speech and debate team in
college, and even won a few trophies.
Skills:
I am slowly learning to speak Spanish.
