St. Paul UMC in Oxon Hill has been blessed with the appointment of Reverend Antoine (Tony) Love to serve as its Senior Pastor. 

Pastor Love comes to St. Paul from the Office of Bishop LaTrelle Miller Easterling, episcopal leader of the Washington Area, where he serves as the Assistant to the Bishop in the Baltimore-Washington Conference. Prior to becoming the Bishop’s Assistant,  he served as the Director of Vibrant Communities, overseeing the conference’s church development and new church start efforts. 

Pastor Love has a deep understanding of grace, hospitality, and spiritual discipline. In his ministry, he is noted for a reliance on prayer, for his abilities to encourage and empower lay and clergy people in their ministries and as an advocate of revival and renewal in the local church.

A graduate of the University of Maryland and Howard University, he brings to St. Paul over 30 years of experience in ministry.  

Pastor Love, a son of Christ UMC in Aquasco, responded to his call to ministry by first serving, in 1992, at Corkran Memorial UMC in Temple Hills as the assistant minister. In 1994, he was appointed to Zion UMC in Lexington Park. In 2004, he became pastor of the new faith community of Covenant Point UMC in Waldorf. In 2010, he was appointed lead pastor of the Covenant Point – Lakeside Cooperative Parish, a multicultural faith community that he moved towards merger and, in January 2012, birthed The Journey of Faith Church, a United Methodist Congregation. He has also served as an Interim Pastor at Cheverly UMC in Cheverly, Maryland and Wesley Freedom UMC in Eldersburg, Maryland.

Beyond the local church, Pastor Love serves as the Chairperson of Black Methodists for Church Renewal (BMCR), one of the five ethnic-racial caucuses of the UMC, the Chairperson of the NEJ Programs and Arrangements Committee and Executive Director of the NEJ MultiEthic Center for Ministry.

 From his high school days, our Pastor has realized that “God is always up to something.” He embraced the words from Lamentations 3:22-23, which he still holds fast to today. “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning; Great is thy faithfulness, O Lord unto me.”

Min. Deborah Johnson has been serving the St. Paul Church since the year 2000.

Min. Johnson has a heart for God and a heart for God's people. Minister Johnson works diligently assisting Pastor Love in worship preparation, resource development, and pastoral care.

She is a graduate of the University of Maryland Global Campus with a degree in Business Administration and a graduate of the initial class of Certified Lay Ministers of the Baltimore Washington Conference.

Minister Johnson is a mother of two, a grandmother of three and great grandmother of five.