Ridgewood United Methodist Church, Parma OH - Where Faith Grows

Meet Pastor Paul E. Wilson

Pastor Paul WilsonPastor Paul Wilson was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, and is the second child of Paul and Jenny Wilson. He has two brothers and a sister. He attended Baton Rouge Magnet High School where he focused on drama and dance and graudated in 1978 as the class president. Since his teen years people had been telling him that he has a gift for the ministry, but he had been bitten by the dance bug and chose to pursue a career in dance.

He went on to Houston, Texas, on a ballet scholarship to the Houston School of Ballet that summer, and later to New York City at Melissa Haydn's School of Ballet on another scholarship. He got his first professional job at the Mississippi Ballet in 1979, and after one year he joined the Chicago City Ballet for three years. After that he danced with the New Orleans Ballet, the Fort Worth Ballet, the New Orleans Ballet again, and then the Washington Ballet where he had the opportunity to tour China. He met his wife, Linda Adolphi, while in the Washington Ballet, and they had their first date in Nanchang China while on tour. They were married on June 14, 1986, in her hometown of Alexandria, Virginia in the Methodist Church she grew up in.

They danced in the Fort Worth Ballet for one season, and then joined the Cleveland Ballet in the fall of 1987. After a few years they retired from dancing and opened ballet schools in Amherst and South Euclid. Paul received a degree in dance from Akron University in 2005, but started seriously considering going into the seminary. During this time, Linda had decided to go back to school to pursue a degree in nursing, and that prompted Paul to answer the call he had been hearing for many years now. They sold the dance studios and Paul graduated with a Master of Divinity degree from the Methodist Theological School in Ohio in 2008.

Paul is currently a provisional elder. He focused on the elderly and Nursing Home care, but works extremely well with children and youth, both in his years as the owner of a ballet studio and now. Paul loves the outdoors - he is an avid hiker, biker and swimmer. In 2009 he participated in the Pedaling Parsons Fundraiser - a 5-day bicycle marathon from Fancy Gap to Front Royal, Virginia, on the Blue Ridge Parkway. He is appointed to both Ridgewood and Pearl Road United Methodist Church, and is very passionate about his ministry. He still takes the opportunity to dance as he, Linda, and some of the Pearl Road UMC Youth engage in liturgical dance.

Paul is the father of three children. His oldest son, David, is married with two little boys, and his daughter, Jennifer is married with a little girl. His youngest son, Reid, is still in High School and lives at home with him and Linda. They have a german shepherd named Troy, and two cats, Little Bear and Sabrina.