Drew Cleveland
Director of DIscipleship and adult formation
804-282-4645 | Email Drew
Describe your primary responsibilities at Third: I hope to encourage people to know the love of God and follow Jesus in every area of their life. I aspire to support a community where everyone can belong, serve and discover who God calls them to become as they strive to connect their deepest beliefs to our daily work and deepest longings to their daily relationships.
What are your favorite books? A friend once said: “Drew, I think ‘book recommendations’ is one of your love languages.” Hey, I’ll take it!
Current Reads: Faith Formation in a Secular Age by Andrew Root, Science and the Good by James Davison Hunter, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality by Peter Scazzero
Recent Favorites: Surrender to Love by David Benner, The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt, The Sermon on the Mount and Human Flourishing by Jonathan Pennington, Divine Sex by Jonathan Grant, Life 3.0 by Max Tegmark, One Blood by John Perkins
Formative Classics: Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, My Bright Abyss by Christian Wiman, Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman, Surprised by Hope by NT Wright, The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard, Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster, Problem of Pain by CS Lewis, and The Call by Os Guinness
Recent Fiction: There There by Tommy Orange, The Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin
Classic Fiction: The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien, The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett, A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean
What is your favorite thing about Richmond? I moved to RVA for friendships and a quest for rootedness. Richmond has all the benefits of a big city and a small town; that’s hard to beat! I enjoy gathering with people of all kinds around kitchen or conference tables, porches, fires or the rocks of the James.
Tell us about your family: I’m a son, a brother and I’m trying my best at a relatively new vocation, ‘Uncle Drew’ to my five and counting nieces and nephews.
I experience joy when I’m helping someone become who God calls them to be and reading/thinking through interconnected ideas, social issues or strategies for action. I also enjoy cooking, hosting dinner parties with meaningful discourse, live music, a good movie night, and the feeling of earning the view from a mountain peak.
Why are you excited to be a part of Third Church? I see God moving at Third through the community’s consistent faithfulness to say ‘amen’ and ‘yes!’ to the needed changes and challenges of following Jesus in our present age - to choosing the difficult yet biblical path of the beloved community over the easy highway of the fearful tribe. I am excited to be a part of a church striving after Jesus as a diverse, multigenerational community from differing theological backgrounds, cultural preferences, across the socio-political spectrum and coming from many neighborhoods and counties, yet united under one Spirit.