Rev. Dr. Sharon L. Bryant

Pastor

 

Sharon Louise Bryant was born in Davenport, Iowa, but left that city when she was a toddler to travel with her parents to Thailand where they were serving as missionaries for the Presbyterian Church (USA).  She spent her first seventeen years in that country, learning its language, studying at a mission school, and playing with friends from countries around the world.

 

She returned to the United States to study vocal music at Pfeiffer University in Misenheimer, North Carolina.  Shortly after she graduated, she was married to Robert James Bruce, Jr., and had a son, Julian Kristopher, who is currently studying law at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, DC.  After her marriage ended in divorce, she traveled to Chicago where she worked as a vocational counselor and educator, earning a masters degree in Counselor Education from Western Illinois University.  She started her own business, Phoenix Systems Associates, working as a management consultant and trainer for a variety of clients, including nonprofit organizations and major corporations.  While serving as CEO of that organization, she also completed her doctorate in Adult and Continuing Professional Education from Northern Illinois University.

 

In 1998, she was hired by Dell Computer Corporation to manage its Educational Services for employees and contractors.  Already an active church member, she became an elder in Central Presbyterian Church in Austin, Texas.  Here she felt God’s call to be a Minister of Word and Sacrament and, with the support of the Session of Central Presbyterian Church, she went to seminary.  Completing her studies at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary in May of 2003, she served as a chaplain for Lone Star Hospice in Smithville, Texas, for a year before being called to serve as pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Stephenville.

 

Dr. Bryant currently lives in Stephenville, Texas.  She is a member of the Optimist Club and a member of the 2006 class of Leadership Stephenville.  Her parents, Rev. Richard and Evelyn Bryant, now retired from the mission field, also live in Stephenville.  In her free time, Pastor Bryant enjoys reading murder mysteries and spy novels, writing poetry, creating works of art from stained glass, traveling, and working on older homes.