Meet Our Pastor

Our pastor, Reverend R. Randy Day, and his family joined the First Church family in June, 2008, moving into the parsonage next to the historic church. Preaching, teaching and being involved in the Greenwich community as well as the international community dominate his active agenda. He combines his love of pastoral duties—baptisms, weddings, ministering to families at times of crisis and death—along with his lifelong passion for mission.

Reverend Day attended Illinois Wesleyan University for two years before going to the Philippines through the Junior Year Abroad program of the Presbyterian Church to attend Silliman University. He remained there for two years, earning his BA degree along with a Certificate of Competency in Southeast Asian Studies. He then earned an MDiv at the Yale University Divinity School where he concentrated on world religions, missions, and preaching. He has also earned a Certificate in International Affairs from New York University School of Continuing and Professional Studies.

His formal education has been greatly enhanced by extensive travel, study and work in 81 countries on 6 continents. Most of this travel has been in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Caribbean.

An ordained Elder in the United Methodist Church, Reverend Day has served as the Senior Pastor of the Jesse Lee Memorial United Methodist Church in Ridgefield, Connecticut for ten years. Among the many programs there, he worked with corporate executives to establish a computer training center for young adults in Maputo, Mozambique. He was the Senior Pastor of the First UMC of Jamaica, NY where he developed an ethnically diverse congregation with more than two dozen nationalities fully participating, working across a wide range of theological, political, social and economic perspectives. He was also a pastor in Astoria, NY and Bridgeport, CT.

Reverend Day has served in top denominational positions in the United Methodist Church. He was the District Superintendent of the Metropolitan District of the New York Conference, providing administrative and spiritual leadership for 71 congregations in the Bronx, Manhattan, Staten Island and Westchester County. He worked successfully with other religious leaders to build interfaith coalitions to eliminate homelessness, child abuse and urban poverty. He also served as the General Secretary of the General Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church for several years. Through this international mission board, he articulated and generated global attention around a vision of healthy, educated children. He visited hospitals, clinics and schools throughout Africa, Asia and Latin America regarding health and education for children and youth. He provided a vision to eliminate the diseases of poverty affecting millions of children and built working collaborative relationships with United Methodist Communications and the UN Foundation. This led to the very successful "Nothing But Nets" campaign, an alliance of the United Methodist Church, the UN Foundation, Sports Illustrated, the National Basketball Association, and the Measles Initiative, raising millions of dollars for the distribution of nets in sub-Sahara Africa where malaria kills one child in five under the age of five.

Reverend Day was invited to the House of Commons, UK, where he signed a Memorandum of Understanding on behalf of the United Methodist Committee on Relief, with Muslim Aid. The ground-breaking nature of this partnership, based on collaborative operational work in post-tsunami Sri Lanka, received international media attention. Reverend Day appeared on BBC World in London for a 10 minute interview. He also spoke at the Time Magazine Global Health Summit press conference in New York and at the National Press Club inWashington, DC, mobilizing support for children with AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. He attended the White House Summit on Malaria. He led teams of development staff and communications staff to Banda Aceh, 6 days after the tsunami; into New Orleans and along the Mississippi Gulf coast days after Katrina; to Mt.Pinatubo, Philippines, following the 1991 volcanic eruption; airlift of medical supplies to Tbilisi, Georgia, 2007...in each case, providing immediate direction as well as initiating strategic planning.

Reverend Day joined the Heads of Mission Church World Service Delegation to the Middle East, visiting national Christian, Muslim and Jewish leaders in Egypt, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Israel and Syria. He was a delegate to the World Council of Churches Assembly in Brazil, and has been a delegate to several General and Jurisdictional Conferences of the United Methodist Church over the years. He was presented the "Extraordinary Leadership Award" by the Council of Churches of the City of New York. He has been a mission study leader throughout the United States. He is author of "Indochina — Study of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos" and "The Economy of Indonesia" both published in The New World Outlook.