Dayton with the Pastor Nominating Committee
First Presbyterian Church is very excited to welcome our new minister, Dayton Wilson, his wife Michelle, and son “D”!!!
Everyone come out to any or all of these events to “Welcome them”. He will be in town to attend Empty Bowls Lunch on Friday, the N.A.P. meeting Saturday for final approval, and will be attending church with us on Sunday, Feb 25th!
Dayton Wilson was born and raised in Lumberton, NC. Lumberton is a small rural town in Southeast North Carolina. He was raised in a Presbyterian home where most of his family has served in one capacity or another at First Presbyterian. After high school Dayton attended East Carolina University where he majored in Economics and planned to join the family business. His family has been in the automobile business since 1963. They sold their Chrysler dealership in 1998. Dayton and his brother later opened another automobile dealership which brought him back to live in Lumberton.
After returning to Lumberton, Dayton became active in many civic endeavors as a way to give back for the many blessings he had received. He was active in the local Masonic Lodge and Shrine club, serving in many leadership positions. He also served on the board of directors for the Lumberton area chamber of commerce. In addition to his civic service he began to take an active role in the leadership of FPC. He served on the board of directors of the FPC Lumberton foundation as well as many other committees. In addition, he taught and led many groups of all ages.
In 2006 he was ordained as a deacon and later served as the chairman of the diaconate. In 2010 he was ordained as a ruling elder and then served on the session for three years. It was during this time that Dayton realized he was being called to ordained ministry. At that time he completed a BS in religion and began to consider seminaries. In the spring of 2014 Dayton and his family relocated to Richmond, VA where he attended Union Presbyterian Seminary. He was the recipient of the Promise for Parish Ministry Scholarship and graduated in 2017.
Dayton is married to Michelle and they have one son, “D”. Michelle is a registered nurse and has focused her career on serving in home health and hospice for the past 20 years. She was active as well in the Lumberton congregation teaching Sunday school, participating in a circle, as well as being an ordained deacon. D is an energetic 8 year old that enjoys all types of sports. His favorite is playing football and he wanted to be sure that Athens would have a football team for him!!
