Our Staff

Friendly people to guide you

Reverend Becky Weamer

Elder and Lead Pastor

Phone: 330-823-9270 | Email: pastor@unionavenueumc.org

Rev. Rebecca Weamer is the 44th pastor of Union Avenue United Methodist Church and its second woman ordained elder and lead pastor.

Pastor Becky grew up near Flint, Michigan, where her family was active at Court Street United Methodist Church. She attended the University of Michigan, and eventually moved to West Virginia where she served for two years as an AmeriCorps VISTA at a rural community center. In West Virginia she met Joe Clark. They married and moved to Washington, DC, where Pastor Becky attended Wesley Theological Seminary. From 2008 to 2012 she was the youth and young adult pastor at Christ Crossman UMC in Falls Church, Virginia. In 2013 they moved to Crestline, Ohio, where she pastored First UMC, and from 2018 to 2021 she pastored First UMC in Mansfield. Pastor Becky enjoys spending time with her husband and children, yoga, meditation, hiking, running, baking, and playing violin and singing.

Reverend Scott Hayward

Minister of Pastoral Care

Phone: 330-823-9270 | Email: scotthayward520@gmail.com

I am privileged to be your Minister of Pastoral Care having started in this position in January 2021. I am a retired United Methodist pastor and have been appointed to UM churches for 42 years. My wife Peggy and I live in North Canton. We have two daughters, Megan and Emily. They both live and work in Stark County. I grew up in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, graduated from Westminster College in New Wilmington, Pa. in 1975, and Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington DC in 1978.

My first appointment was a two-point Charge in Western Pennsylvania, near Punxsutawney. (Ask me where Punxsutawney Phil lives most of the year.) I transferred to the East Ohio Conference in 1982 because Peggy’s family was in North Canton and my mom and dad were so near the Ohio/Pa border. In East Ohio I served four full-time appointments, Cambridge Ninth Street, Louisville Fairhope, Tiffin Ebenezer, and Stow. Then for six years in retirement I served Lexington UMC, a few miles north of Alliance.

It has been my privilege these past 4 plus years to get to know the good people of Union Avenue and to walk with you on life’s journey, of course, along with Pastor Becky. In seminary this was called a ministry of presence, a reminder that the Lord is with us in all of life. I am grateful that there are others in the congregation who share in the ministry of caring via telephone, card contact and in other ways. Together we serve the Lord.