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Rev. Robert Countiss is the new pastor at First United Methodist Church, Elizabethton. His and his wife Carla’s first Sunday with the congregation will be Sunday, July 3.
Dr. Countiss was appointed pastor at First United Methodist at the 199th meeting of Holston Conference in June.
The new pastor is a lifelong United Methodist, having grown up in Bristol, Va.’s Reynolds Memorial UMC. After graduating high school (Virginia High School), he obtained a BA from Emory & Henry College (Mathematics), and, having completed the candidacy process, he entered and finished a M.Div. from the Divinity School of Duke University.
Dr. Countiss completed his formal education by earning a D.Min. degree from Emmanuel School of Religion (now Emmanuel Christian Seminary of Milligan University) in 1999. He has served churches in the Holston Conference since 1985, from Knoxville to Rural Retreat, Va.
He and his wife, Carla, a pre-school teacher, are the parents of two children.