Pastor Harvey Gaither has been in the United Methodist Ministry since he began his ministry as a student pastor at the Armstrong-Penfield UMC’s in 1990. Pastor Harvey has served in a variety of places and sizes of church throughout the Illinois area. Pastor Harvey is an ordained elder in the Illinois Great Rivers Conference and is a 5th generation United Methodist Pastor.
Pastor Harvey has been married to his wife Karen since 1987 and they have three grown children; Matthew, Emily and Sarah. Pastor Harvey loves to watch soccer and read in his spare time.
Joe Scheets was raised in our church, and heard God’s call on his life during the ministries of our own Dr. E. M. Leckrone and Rev. Wm. J. Causer. He comes to us after retiring from forty years of parish ministry in our Conference to serve as our Part Time Assistant Pastor focused on Journey in Freeburg. With a smile, he describes his work among us as Homebound Visitation and Other Good Stuff.
He and Patty have a son, Joseph, who lives in a group home in Cincinnati,
and a puppy named Martin who lets them live with him.
“My top two favorite Bible verses,” says Dr. Scheets, “are John 10:10,
where Christ Jesus offers us life in all its fullness, and 1st
Thessalonians 5:11, where St. Paul tells us to encourage each other.”
Pastors In Residence
Union is blessed to have these retired pastors participating in our church
Reverend Robert Edwards was ordained an elder in 1961 and retired in 1999. Besides serving as the District Superintendent of the Vandalia District, Bob has served at West Frankfurt, Kinmundy, Belleville Signal Hill, Centralia First, and Mascoutah.
We are pleased that Bob and his wife, Linda, are part of our congregation.
Reverend Roger R. Knox was the associate pastor at Union UMC from 1965 to 1967. He served with Reverend Eugene Leckrone. Reverend Knox has also served as an associate at Collinsville First and the East St. Louis Inner City Parish.
In 2003, Rev. Knox retired from the Great Rivers Conference as a pastor under appointment.
Reverend Knox was the pastoral counselor/administrator of the Catherine Kasper Center for 10 years and chaplain at St. Mary’s hospital in E. St. Louis for a year.
In 2012 he retired from Southwestern Illinois College (SWIC) where he previously served as a financial aid and academic counselor.
Reverend Knox also teaches Bible Study to various adult classes at Union.
Educational Profile: Rev. Knox received his BA from McKendree College, his M. Div. From Garrett Theological Seminary and a Masters of Science from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) in counseling education.
Personal Profile: Rev. Knox’s hobbies include fishing, hunting and spending time with his grand children.
Reverend Edward Weston recently retired as the Senior Pastor at Union UMC.
Union United Methodist Church | Belleville IL 