Fittingly for the season of Advent, our speaker on Thursday is Dr. John Ed Mathison.

Dr. John Ed Mathison retired in June 2008 after serving 36 years as senior minister of Frazer Memorial United Methodist Church. Under his leadership, Frazer grew from 400 members to 9,000 and had the largest Sunday School attendance for United Methodist churches in America.

In July 2008, John Ed and his Board of Directors established the John Ed Mathison Leadership Ministries, which involves preaching, teaching, conferences, and seminars, focusing on training pastors and laypersons to be leaders for Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God. John Ed also records a daily one-minute audio devotion, a weekly blog for newspapers and e-mail subscribers, and a weekly one-minute Got a Minute video available on YouTube and Social Media. He has written 11 books.

John Ed holds a Bachelor’s degree from Huntingdon College, a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Candler School of Theology, a Master’s degree from Princeton Seminary, and a Doctor of Ministry Degree from Candler School of Theology.

He and his wife, Lynn, have three daughters and one son. They are also the proud grandparents of ten grandchildren.