Our Staff
Reverend Mary Townsend
Pastor
About
The First Presbyterian Church in Clinton, Missouri is pleased to announce our new pastor, Reverend MaryAnna E. Townsend of Warrensburg, Missouri. While she joined us in that new role in August of 2025, Rev. Townsend responded to her call to ministry in 1994. She has since served as a Presbyterian pastor in several Missouri towns including Blairstown, LaTour, and Shawnee Mound – where she still ministers. She has also served as a minister representative to several sessions of the General Assembly, sitting on theology and social concerns committees, and has just completed her tenure as Moderator of Missouri Presbytery for the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.
Rev. Townsend holds baccalaureate and master’s degrees in history and political science from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. She later earned a MS in Human Resource Development from Webster University, and a master’s level certification from Memphis Theological Seminary in Ministry. Pastor Townsend was ordained as a Presbyterian minister in 2018 after completing those seminary studies. Prior to her ordination, and alongside her following the call to pastorship, Rev. Townsend taught fulltime in the Humanities and Social Sciences department at State Fair Community
College. While she primarily guided students through the intricacies of American national government, Missouri and US constitutions, and world geography and history, She has also taught courses in ethics, philosophy, and contemporary world religions. Missouri welcomed Rev. Townsend and her spouse Ronnie Dean, now deceased, and their daughter Emma in 1983 when they moved from Littleton, Colorado. Emma currently resides in Columbia, MO along with her 3 adult children. In her free time, Rev. Townsend enjoys playing the guitar, sewing and quilting, and visiting with her family.
She also finds joy in studying the historical and cultural settings of the sermons she delivers to the two congregations she serves. She shares her Warrensburg home with two Pembroke Welsh Corgis: Ripley and Banjo.
Other Team Members
