The Rev. Kristin Dollar's life was a clash of ups and downs, questions about God and times of depression. Then, while pursuing her undergraduate at Furman University, one of the newest additions to St. John's United Methodist Church found her "la familia" and her true calling while working with a Spanish-speaking congregation.
Dollar started her role as the associate pastor of nurture on June 28. Her daily routine involves a great deal of pastoral care, including visiting people and hearing out their problems.
But before accepting the job, she was fighting her own problems dating back to her days as a North Augusta resident attending Augusta Prep.
"When I was in high school, I had a lot of questions about God, and I went through some really rough times," Dollar said. "I'd say I had a really shaky faith."
The questions continued at Furman, but Dollar was able to balance her confusion with an internship that provided more than class credit. She interned at Triune Mercy Center in Greenville, South Carolina. The center is a church that welcomes everyone, but mainly provides a house of worship for the homeless and less fortunate.
"My sophomore year, I got a lot of life out of listening to peoples' stories, and I like to think I was able to help them as well," Dollar said.
But her next year brought even more challenges, and Dollar said she hit a pretty bad low point and was not doing very well. Thinking of her time at Truine Mercy Center, Dollar said she went back to the church "in search of a pew to sit in."
Not only did Dollar find a pew, but she found a sense of peace.
"All of those questions I had been asking didn't even matter," she said. "It was really incredible because all of the people who I was listening to before were now saving me by listening to my problems."
After that experience, Dollar said going to seminary was something she had to do. And through her time at seminary, she met St. John's Senior Pastor Tim McLendon at a conference. After learning about her Aiken County roots, the church was eventually able to recruit Dollar as its associate pastor of nurture.
"I got such a strong sense of family at Truine, and that experience is one I hope I can bring with me to St. John's," she said. "This congregation has been so opening and welcoming by embracing me before they even knew me."
In addition to Dollar, St. John's has recently announced other changes. Dr. Ray Litts, the former nurture pastor has been named senior pastor at Hibben UMC in Mt. Pleasant. Also, the Rev. Nancy Reed will remain with McClendon and Dollar, at St. John's.
Derrek Asberry is the SRS beat reporter for the Aiken Standard and has been with the paper since June 2013. He is originally from Vidalia, Ga., and a graduate of Georgia Southern University. Follow him on Twitter @DerrekAsberry.