Updated: Congratulations and THANK YOU to both Tom and Elise Dumser for so faithfully serving our congregation for 30 years! The Dumsers began enjoying their well-deserved retirement January 1, 2024!
Dr. Tom Dumser was born in Memphis, Tennessee, but with a father serving in the military he spent his early years in San Diego, California. By the time Tom was in high school, his family had been relocated back in Tennessee and it was there he graduated from Millington Central High School, just north of Memphis.
At twenty years of age, Tom trusted in Christ and accepted a call to the ministry. That call took him to Union University, where he earned a BA in sociology with a double minor in religion and psychology. Of equal importance to his future may have been the talented young woman he met while in college, Elise Crook.
Following Tom and Elise's marriage, they moved to Kansas City so he could attend Midwestern Theological Seminary, where he received a Master of Divinity. With that stage of education completed, the young couple accepted a call to New Orleans, Louisiana where Tom served as Associate Pastor for Education and Administration at St. Charles Avenue Baptist. During this time, Elise was concentrating on earning her Master of Church Music, while Tom began to work on his Doctor of Theology.
While Tom worked on his dissertation, the Dumsers returned to their home state, this time to Harrogate, Tennessee near the Cumberland Gap. After completing his doctorate, Tom was chosen as pastor of Edgefield Baptist Church in Nashville where he served from 1989-1993.
By the time Tom and Elise moved to Lewisburg, Tennessee in 1994, they had three children - Lauren, Evan, and Nathan. All three take after their parents and are talented musicians.
