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The Rev. John R. Throop, D.Min., has served as Priest-in-Charge at Trinity Episcopal Church since October 2009. A native of Evanston, Illinois, John earned his B.A. with honors from the University of Chicago (1978) with a focus on pre-Reformation and Reformation history in England and Europe. Destined for law school, members of Trinity Episcopal Church in Wheaton, Illinois helped him to discern a call instead to the priesthood. He attended seminary at the School of Theology of the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, where he earned his Master in Divinity (1981). During his studies at Sewanee, he was a Scholar-in-Residence at Coventry Cathedral, England, focusing on the ministry of reconciliation.
Ordained deacon in June 1981 and then as priest in December 1981 in the Diocese of Chicago, John served parishes in the Chicago area, northern Ohio, and in central Illinois. Early in his ordained ministry, John entered a program at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, at the Institute for Christian Organizational Development. He entered the Doctor of Ministry program there, and completed his doctoral work there in 1995, with a focus on strategic planning and organizational development in Christian organizations.
From 1992 to 2009, John served in a bi-vocational capacity as a priest, and also as a management consultant, and trained for nonprofits, public agencies and corporations in the areas of strategic thinking/planning, financial management, and human resources development. His consulting firm, The Summit Group, worked with clients on a global scale, and provided basic non-profit/public agency management training in 22 community colleges in Illinois, Iowa and Michigan.
John’s life and ministry changed with the sudden discovery in early 2008 of a benign but dangerous meningioma brain tumor. Major surgery took care of the problem but left a lasting challenge: low-vision disability and facial nerve damage. However, this challenge has added to not only his spiritual strength but has also given him a new and very personal understanding of the health challenges often faced by his church members and people in the community which Trinity serves. His experiences help him inspire others to understand that what may be perceived as a limit is more often than not an opportunity to do things that glorify God!
John is a widely-published author on issues in management and in spirituality. He has a great interest in evangelism and global missions. John led a short-term mission teams and currently serves on the Outreach Commission of the Diocese of Southern Virginia.
John and his wife Cindy Ford enjoy great food and home cooking, art museums, movies and opera, and they are great fans of Antiques Road Show. Their two grown daughters are now replaced by a Weimaraner dog .
