Second Church - UCC

A Season of Gratitude:
Announcing the Retirement of Our Co-Pastors

With hearts full of gratitude — and no small measure of grief — Second United Church of Christ in Lexington, NC, announces the retirement of our beloved co-pastors, the Reverend James "Jim" Luck and the Reverend Paula Wells.
Jim arrived among us in the autumn of 2015, and in 2017, Paula joined him in ministry, called into this new chapter in the midst of the cancer diagnosis of Jim's son. Together, they have walked this congregation through some of our most defining years, including the sale of our historic building in the early summer of 2023, helping us grieve what was and imagine, with courage, what might yet be.
Jim was ordained in 1992 in the Baptist General Association of Virginia. He carries with him an MA from Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York, a ThM from Union Presbyterian Seminary in Virginia, and advanced graduate training in pastoral psychotherapy from Garrett Theological Seminary in Illinois — a rare depth of formation that has shaped him into a pastor as skilled in the care of souls as in the proclamation of the Word.
After beginning his UCC ministry in the New York Conference, Jim came back south, and for the past 30 years he has poured himself into the life of the Southern Conference, serving six churches as pastor or interim minister. He has taught boundary training to clergy throughout the conference, given years of service on two associational committees on ministry — including a term as chair — and worked for several years as a conference ministry specialist, walking alongside more than a dozen churches through seasons of conflict with wisdom and grace. He has represented us as a General Synod delegate, and for many summers gave his time freely to the campers of John’s River Valley Camp.
Paula, a business attorney in Greensboro, brought an unusual and generous set of gifts to pastoral ministry. A 2014 graduate of the Divinity School at Wake Forest University, she was ordained that same year at Hebron United Church of Christ in Winston-Salem, where she began the pastoral ministry she would later bring to Second UCC. Her legal training became a quiet gift to the wider church: she has served on numerous conference committees and repeatedly offered her expertise pro bono on real estate transactions — for local churches, the Western North Carolina Association, and the Black Lake Retreat Center — sacred work rarely seen, but deeply felt. She also served as Vice President of the Southern Conference board.
Together, Jim and Paula have been generous with their gifts far beyond our walls — as speakers, workshop leaders, and preachers for local churches across all three associations.

As this chapter closes, a new adventure begins. This autumn, Jim and Paula will make their way to Évora, Portugal, where they hope to put down roots. Jim, a certified wine professional, dreams of lending his talents to one of the region's storied Alentejo DOC wineries, while Paula looks forward to a season devoted to writing and painting. We send them off with full hearts, trusting that the same curiosity and care they poured into this congregation will now bear fruit — quite possibly literally — in the vineyards of Portugal.
Our congregation and community will join together to honor Jim and Paula's many years of faithful ministry at a reception on July 26, followed by a concluding worship service on August 2, 2026, as we give thanks for all they have meant to this church and beyond.
We are also glad to share that the Reverend Anne Tambling, a congregational consultant and a certified intentional interim minister, has accepted the call to serve as Second UCC's Designated Pastor beginning in October. We look forward to welcoming her into this next season of our shared life together.
Please join us in celebrating Jim and Paula, and in wishing them every blessing as they begin this new chapter.