First Presbyterian Church Lead Pastor Tom Willcox found he had a calling to serve God and a heart for pastoring early in life. He became a Christian in high school, then worked with Campus Crusade for Christ and served as president of the Intervarsity Fellowship chapterwhile attending William Paterson University in New Jersey. Additionally, at the age of 21, he was chosen as an elder in his church and was one of three people in the church providing pastoral care.
While finishing college, he took a job as a stockbroker, logging 100 hours a week, and the combined schedules left him exhausted and burned out. He realized he could not do it all and his boss at the brokerage firm told him to take the weekend to think about his career path.
“I didn’t need the weekend; I didn’t need an hour. It wasn’t even close,” he said. “I realized that everything I wanted to do involved helping people in the church.”
That weekend, he told his girlfriend, Raylene, a nursing student at William Paterson, “I’m quitting my job. I have no idea what the future holds. Will you marry me?” She did, and their path together moved toward ministry.
Tom and Raylene both applied to Princeton Theological Seminary, where both earned Master of Divinity degrees. For the next 25 years, Tom pastored at Presbyterian Churches in New York and Pennsylvania, and started work on a Doctor of Ministry degree. Raylene worked as a nurse with a later focus in hospice nursing.
Nearly 15 years ago, they were called to ministry at First Presbyterian in Branson, where Tom serves as lead pastor, and Raylene serves as a volunteer pastor in pastoral care and works full-time hospice nursing.
Central to Tom’s leadership in churches is his focus on congregation-wide “commitment to the Bible as the Word of God and as the guide to life and ministry,” and listening to the voice of God individually as well as corporately. The group focus on God’s direction led to FPC Branson joining ECO in the reformed Presbyterian Church family 12 years ago. ECO's name reflects the belief that the church is meant to be an ecosystem – “a place to do life and to flourish as disciples and disciple-makers of Christ,” Tom said. “Our vision is for everyone to discover their God-given purpose.”
This is reflected in the church’s mission statement: Grounded Biblically, we love genuinely, pray expectantly, follow courageously, share extravagantly, all in the name of Jesus Christ.
Anyone looking for a church family or just interested in knowing more is invited to come to the 10:30 am Sunday worship service, check out the Sunday morning or Wednesday evening Bible study classes, or join one of the fellowship or outreach groups.
“We are a welcoming church and we are happy to have visitors. This is a gathering of the family of God. We treat each other with the best parts of family, and all are invited to join us.”
Tom and Raylene, married in 1981, have passed their path on to their children and grandchildren.
