Coastal Bend and El Valle

District Superintendent Announced

Bishop Robert Schnase is announcing the appointment of Rev. Laura Brewster as the superintendent of the Coastal Bend and El Valle Districts effective July 1, 2021. Laura is currently serving as the senior pastor at Northwest Hills UMC in Austin.

Laura is a native of Pharr, Texas, where her family has resided for generations. After graduating from PSJA High School, she earned a Bachelor of Journalism degree from The University of Texas at Austin. Following graduation, she worked as a broadcast journalist with several television stations, including KAUZ-TV6 in Wichita Falls, KFDA-TV10 in Amarillo, KVOA-TV4 in Tucson, and KOTV-6 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Laura considered her work a type of ministry because it allowed her to inform others about issues such as poverty and racism. She eventually felt God calling her into ordained ministry. “I went from sharing bad news on television to sharing good news from the pulpit!”

Laura earned her Master of Divinity from Perkins School of Theology in 1995 and was ordained in the Oklahoma Annual Conference. She served in Oklahoma before transferring to the Southwest Texas Conference in 2000. Laura served as pastor of St. Andrews UMC in San Antonio, First UMC in Edinburg, St. Mark UMC in McAllen, and Newcastle UMC in Newcastle, Oklahoma. Laura currently serves on the Rio Texas Conference Board of Ordained Ministry, Conference Relations Committee, and Joint Medical Leave Committee, as well as the Capital District Committee on Ordained Ministry. She has been in the ordained ministry for 25 years. She is most passionate about mission work both local and beyond.

“I am humbled and grateful for being afforded the opportunity to serve in a new capacity, in a place that I have always considered home. I look forward to working alongside the many wonderful clergy and laity in the Coastal Bend and El Valle Districts, and together strengthening God’s church and its missions,” said Laura.

“For many years, I’ve appreciated Laura’s passion for ministry, her ability to work with people, and her thoughtful approach to leadership,” Bishop Schnase writes. “I look forward to the significant gifts she brings to the work of superintendent ministry.”

Laura is married to Scott Clear, who is employed with HUD. She is mom to Rachel, who is finishing her master’s degree at the UTHealth School of Public Health. In her spare time, Laura enjoys gardening, hiking, and spoiling her two cats, Selena and Shadow.