Rev. Alan Gantzhorn came to Aldersgate in June 2005, and is serving his sixth year as our pastor. Though he was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Alan grew up in Fort Walton Beach and he considers himself to be a native of the Florida panhandle. He graduated from Choctawhatchee High School in 1973, and then attended Okaloosa-Walton Junior College until 1975. He earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of West Florida in 1977, majoring in history. While pursuing coursework toward his master’s degree, Alan worked as an historic sites specialist for the Historic Pensacola Preservation Board, and he assisted in completing the state historic site inventory of Molino.
In 1983, Alan joined the United Methodist Church at FUMC Pensacola, and became an active lay member, serving as Sunday school class president, and on the Board of Trustees and Council on Ministries. In February 1985, he met Jackie Reeves, a registered nurse, on a blind date; and they were married in October.
In 1986, Alan embarked on a career change. He was accepted at the Walter F. George School of Law at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia. He graduated magna cum laude in 1989 and was hired by the attorney general of Georgia. For the next thirteen years, he practiced law for the State Law Department, in the areas of environmental enforcement, consumer protection, insurance and public utility regulation, agriculture law and transportation law.
Feeling the call to ministry in 1998, Alan enrolled in the Masters of Divinity program at the Candler School of Theology, Emory University, in 2002. He served as Associate Pastor of First United Methodist Church in Pensacola for three years.
Since 2005, he has served as pastor of Aldersgate, and since 2010, Alan has additionally served as pastor of Cottage Hill United Methodist Church.
In 1998, after taking Disciple bible study at Peachtree Road United Methodist Church in Atlanta, Alan discerned his call to the ministry and made another career change. He attended Candler School of Theology at Emory University, receiving his Master’s of Divinity in 2002. He and Jackie then returned to the Alabama West Florida Annual Conference. Alan served for three years as an associate pastor at First United Methodist Church Pensacola before coming to Aldersgate. He was ordained an Elder at Annual Conference in June 2008.
A lan also serves the Pensacola District as disaster response coordinator; he serves ex officio on the district core leadership team. He is a member of the conference spiritual formation team. He presently serves on the board of directors of Milk and Honey Outreach Ministries and the Interfaith Housing Coalition of Northwest Florida. An active member of the Cantonment Rotary Club, he has traveled twice to Central America on Rotary service projects; and he has participated in mission teams to Costa Rica.
