Meet the Minister
Rev. Dr. Morris Hudgins
Interim Minister
Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church-Unitarian Universalist
Reverend Morris Hudgins has accepted our call to become the Interim Minister of TJMC-UU!
Read or listen to sermons by Morris.
Read Morris’ Musings.
His career includes 32 years as settled minister in Boca Raton, Delaware County, PA, Raleigh and Cincinnati followed by interim positions in Richmond and Chapel Hill. This Fall he will become an Accredited Interim Minister, a designation available after training and three years’ experience in interim ministry.
Meeting Our Criteria
Morris meets all the criteria the Board and Interim Search Task Force developed. (Comments derive from phone interviews and, when in quotation marks, from references.)
- Preaching strength, ability to inspire: His sermons “said something important … simple and clear.” His services are “cohesive, readings support the message, clear focus, includes the personal.”
- Collegial collaborator, team-player style: Morris has a gentle persuasive style. He does not try to shake things up. “He listens actively, gives sage advice, lives our values, and provides a lesson in everything we do. He has become an integral part of the church community without ever being overbearing.”
- Spiritual philosophy supportive of a variety of traditions: Morris calls himself a spiritual humanist. His B.S. degree is in religion and philosophy. He draws on a variety of spiritual traditions.
- Energy: “…he works incredibly hard.” He has missed one scheduled Sunday in 36 years.
- Compassion/caring: “He is an excellent listener. He is compassionate and caring in a really nice way that is calm and centered.”
- Experience as Interim Minister
Certified Interim Minister - Comfort in Chief of Staff role: “Has helped … with role definition of … staff. …willing to ask the tough questions …and deal with harder issues.”
- Skilled at building financial base: Morris stresses the importance of a well designed and run canvass. He works hard to increase funding through capital campaign and endowment.
- Demonstrated ability to set boundaries re workload: Morris’ recreational passion is golf. He limits evening meetings to 3 or 4 per week and sets aside 1½ days a week for recreation.
- Supportive of social action programming: Social action cannot be separate from religion – it must be in the forefront.
- Experience in congregations growing from medium to large size: He has had 3 congregations in the 300-600 size range.
- Experience in congregations in transition: “His focus was on the transition to the settled minister.” “Morris has assimilated remarkably quickly. While he has not dismissed any of our issues, he uses them as a springboard to move forward.” “His experience and his ability to see all sides of an issue have quickly built trust and a high comfort level with the advice he provides.”
Reverend Morris will be joined in Charlottesville by his wife of 13 years, Marti Toms. Marti has been a hospice nurse. She has been very active in SUUSI (Southeast UU Summer Institute).
Morris typically hits the ground running when he comes to a new church, scheduling many cottage meetings in the first month or two with the aim of meeting and hearing everyone in the congregation. He also makes an effort to attend a meeting of each committee. So there will be many opportunities to meet and get to know him.
| © - denotes text of sermon is available | Ω - denotes audio of sermon is available |
- "Signals of Transcendence", March 28, 2010
- "A Mystical Theology", March 21 2010
- "The Social Gospel", March 7 2010 ©
- "Why Religion Matters" February 14, 2010 ©
- "Pillars of our Faith" February 7, 2010
- "Trust the Greater Good" February 28, 2010©
- "Thomas Jefferson’s Religion" January 10, 2010 ©
- "Service of the Living Tradition" January 3, 2010
- "Martin Luther King, Jr. Sunday" January 17, 2010 ©
- "Conservatives Among Us" January 31, 2010 ©
- "The Light Within" (9:15), "Giving Tree" (11:15) December 20, 2009
- "Amazing Grace" November 29, 2009 | ©
- "The Many Faces of Humanism" November 22, 2009 | ©
- "Spirituality and Spiritualism" November 8, 2009 | ©
- "All Soul’s DayTransformation" November 1, 2009 | ©
- "Where It All Began" October 4, 2009 |©
- "Thomas Jefferson, Slavery, and TJMC" October 18, 2009 | ©
- "Looking for Ghosts" October 25, 2009 | ©
- "Thoughts on Atonement" September 20, 2009 |©
- "Water Ceremony" September 6th, 2009 |©
- "A Theology of Covenant" August 30, 2009
- "Mary and the Holy Grail" July 26, 2009 | ©
- "Naturalism and Deism" June 21, 2009 |©
- "Memorial Day Service" May 24, 2009 |©
- "The Meaning of Membershp" May 3, 2009 |©
- "Searching for the Divine" April 25, 2009 |©
- "The Death of Jesus" April 5, 2009 |©
- "The Iowa Sisterhood" March 8, 2009 |©
- “The Blessings of an Imperfect Life” March 1, 2009 |©
- “The Spirituality of Abe Lincoln” February 22, 2009 |©
- "The Poetry and Messages of May Sarton & Wendell Berry" February 8, 2009 |Ω
- “Spiritual Transformation” February 1, 2009 |©|Ω
- “The Way of Reconciliation” January 11, 2009 |©
- Congregational Conversations On Race - mhudgens
- Happy New Year - mhudgens
- Reflections at Years End - mhudgins
- Harvest Season
- The End of Summer
- Notes from Salt Lake City (UUA General Assembly) - mhudgins
- Recovery - mhudgins
- One Foot Forward - mhudgins
- Spring Rituals - mhudgins
- An Impatient Patient - mhudgins
- A Trio of Events - mhudgins


