Rev. Julie Thompson
Transitional Pastor
Rev. Julie Thompson (she/her) has stepped in as our Transitional Pastor for Rivermont Presbyterian. Throughout her life and 35 years of ministry, she has learned to navigate a variety of transitions. She grew up as the eldest of five children, with one biological sister and three brothers each adopted as pre-schoolers. As a child, she relocated from Connecticut to northern Virginia to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In each new location, her parents provided generous hospitality to refugees, exchange students, and people in transition. Neighborhood kids and church families loved to gather at their welcoming home.
Julie was born into a Boston Irish Catholic family but was raised in the Episcopal Church. As a teen she attended a summer camp run by a Presbyterian minister, and met Presbyterian kids who talked about God and really knew the Bible. In high school she became active in Campus Life and church youth group. As a student at Miami University (Ohio), she began to explore other faith traditions with different worship styles. During her senior year, a sorority sister invited her to attend the Presbyterian Church, and she never left. After graduation she worked in campus ministry in Pittsburgh for several years before attending Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.
Julie has served in a variety of pastoral roles in a variety of places, in churches and parachurch ministries of all sizes, in communities in the northeast (Connecticut), mid-Atlantic (New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania) and southeast (South Carolina and Georgia). In 2016 she joined the faculty of the
Presbyterian Transitional Ministry Education Consortium, teaching pastors transitional ministry in week-long courses at Princeton Seminary in New Jersey and Calvin Center in Georgia. She has also been active in each Presbytery where she has served. Until January 15, Julie will continue serving as the Designated Pastor at The Presbyterian Church on the Hill in Ocean, New Jersey. She is happy to make Chattanooga her new home, and occasionally welcoming her adult children Sam (28), Claire (25), and Ellie (20).