Veranita Alvord

Welcome! Welcome! Welcome! I'm so glad you're checking out Brevard First Church! What a fantastic community of faith that is Christ's Body, Drawn Together in Love, Moving Out to Serve. I'm Veranita, like very-neat-ahh. I get to serve this community as Lead Pastor. I am neat as in interesting and not tidy! I was born in Zimbabwe, Africa, the youngest of three kids. There are many years between my sister, brother and me. I wasn't a planned child. Much of my internal landscape and healing journey is around the movement from feeling myself  "mistake" to trusting myself to be "miracle" instead (Psalm 139 is  important to me). I have had many thought and conversation partners in the healing arts, most especially my Spiritual Director, Amma Katie, who has helped me tell a different story than "mistake." I've been working with Amma Katie since 2011. We all are on a healing journey, are we not? I pray that Brevard First Church can be a place for your healing, wholeness and even holiness.

My parents were missionaries with the United Methodist Church in Zimbabwe from 1959-1977. We moved to NC in 1977 when I was eight, due to the civil war which moved Rhodesia (a British colony) toward independent rule as Zimbabwe, named for ruins which are one of the seven natural wonders of the world. Southern Rhodesia is where my paternal grandparents went as missionaries in 1919. They were from Utah and Nebraska.  My Dad was born in Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) and had a wonderful southern African accent. My Mom was born in Town Creek, Alabama. Dad died in 2021, Mom lives at Givens Estates in Asheville. This makes me an odd mix of the south- the Southern Hemisphere and the Southern USA. My birthplace and origin story is how come I have this name that can be hard to pronounce!

As a teen, I felt called to make a difference in the world. Initially, I thought this would be by becoming a medical doctor, like my brother-in-law, Jimmy, and like Joe Fesperman, for whom I babysat through junior and senior high. When I failed organic chemistry at UNC Greensboro, I tried again and received a "D." Clearly, I had to revise! That revision and the lover's quarrel I have with God has brought me to Brevard First, five congregations and three decades later, by faith with thanksgiving. I was ordained in the United Methodist Church as an Elder in Full Connection in 1999. I've been serving churches since 1994, which is also the year I got married to Joe Tarpley, from Rome, GA, the nerdy-cool guy who asked profound, provocative questions in a small seminar focused on the tome, Systematic Theology, by Paul Tillich. We both attended Candler School of Theology at Emory University. From Candler at Emory in Atlanta, I hold a Master of Divinity and a Master of Theology Degree.

Joe serves Skyland United Methodist Church. We have two young adult kids. Olivia works in Washington DC and Ivan is working on his Master's Degree at the University of Georgia. We are grateful and privileged to serve such powerful, justice-working and grace-filled communities of faith in the beautiful mountains of WNC! 

My Dad's favorite spot was Little Switzerland, near the Linville Gorge Wilderness. We love to watch sunsets or sunrises from mountain peaks or from our back porch. Our 2026 intention is to see as many waterfalls as possible! Welcome! Welcome! Welcome!