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Meet our Minister
Reverend Wheeler was appointed to Signal Hill United Methodist Church as of July 1, 2010, by Bishop Gregory Palmer, Illinois Great Rivers Conference, Springfield, Illinois. Wheeler follows Rev. Peter Wehrly as Directing Pastor of this Belleville congregation. Born in Poplar Bluff, MO, Rev. Jim says he is a certified Missouri mule, living in Illinois. His father was transferred by Kroger Groceries to four towns in three states before settling in Marion, Illinois. Wheeler says that this prepared him for itinerant ministry in the United Methodist Church.
Rev. Jim met his wife, Marjorie Freeman Wheeler, at the Carbondale Wesley Foundation his senior year. After two years of letters to and from Haiti, they were married in 1973. Margie joined Jim in Haiti where she did teacher training for the girl’s home economic centers. Jim and Margie have been together for 37 years.The Wheelers have three grown sons, two daughters-in-law and one grandson. Their home is in Godfrey, where Margie is an Early Childhood Educator for the Alton School District.
Rev. Jim received a diploma from Marion Community High School where he played sophomore football, played in the band, ran track and lettered in Cross Country. Jim then earned a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture Industries from SIU Carbondale, 1971. After graduation, Wheeler joined the Pax Service of the Mennonite Central Committee, serving 34 months in Haiti, West Indies. From there he returned to the US for a Master of Divinity degree from Drew University, Madison, New Jersey, with a special emphasis in Church and Society.
Jim did not plan to go into ordained ministry. A visit to the seminary at Drew by two pastors from the former Southern Illinois Conference planted the seed for Jim’s call to ministry. Much prayer and discernment lead to Jim’s change of degree programs in favor of ordained ministry. After four years of seminary, completion of the Master’s degree, and two years of probationary membership in the Conference, he was ordained a fully Ordained Elder in the United Methodist Church and appointed to serve his first ministry. In 1979, Jim became the campus minister for the Wesley Foundation at SIUE, where he served seven years. Subsequently, Rev. Jim served churches in Effingham, Alton, Bushnell, St. Elmo, Jacksonville, Tolono—Pesotum churches, and now Signal Hill. He has been in full time ordained ministry for 31 years.
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