paula artmann’s
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Just moments past six o’clock
on a Friday night in early April
there are nearly a hundred
women streaming through the
doors of Heritage United
Methodist Church in
H a t t i e s b u r g . Pastor’s wife
Paula Artmann is front and cen-
ter; greeting with heart-felt
embraces and words of wel-
come and comfort.
Yet all the while, she is acute-
ly aware of the ‘behind the
scene’ details involved in this
weekend conference designed
to enrich and enlighten the
women of her church.
“We’ve been working on this
weekend for quite some time,”
noted Artmann, taking stock of
the schedule that’s been
mapped out for the next 24
hours.
Artmann heads up the
women’s ministry, aptly titled
“ C o n n e c t i o n s ” . The name
reflects the group’s core
endeavor to connect women of
PHOTOS BY ED LASHLEY AND LAYLA ESSARY
journey of faith
faith to each other.
It was this type of connection
to other women that led to her
own, unique journey of faith.
Growing up in a faithful
Jewish family, Friday nights
like this one would find her
parents and siblings in one
place; gathered around the fam-
ily table for Sabbath Eve dinner.
“This didn’t change when I
became a teenager either,”
recalled Artmann. “I wasn’t
allowed to go on a date until we
had Sabbath Eve dinner. We
shared the meal and said the
prayers over the wine and the
candles and the bread. It was a
great childhood.”
Yet even from an early age,
Artmann said she remembered
feeling like something wasn’t
complete.
“I came from a very close-
knit Jewish home,” said
A r t m a n n . “I went to Sunday
school every year, won atten-
dance awards every year. W e
STORY BY LAYLA ESSARY
had regular attendance to tem-
ple. But I wanted something
m o r e . Hearing the stories of
friends who were a part of
church and sang in the choir
impacted me. I wanted that.
But I didn’t really know what it
was that I wanted.”
Throughout her teenage
years, Artmann said she
befriended a number of
Christian women who lived out
their faith in a way that both
impressed and intrigued her.
“I had some really wonderful
people in my life. They were
committed Christians who real-
ly showed me their faith with-
out having to say a whole lot.”
Later in college, she made
even more friends and joined a
sorority.“ Those girls became
my very best friends, without
ever pushing their Christian
faith on me.” After hearing a
sermon streaming from the live
radio in her car, Paula Artmann
decided to become a Christian,
south mississippi scene • 2 5
never truly considering how it would impact her
family back home.
“Life’s never been the same since then,”
Artmann said. “It was a struggle with my family
for a while. My dad wasn’t especially happy
about it and my grandmother never came to
terms with it, even to her death. But I think it
was a sort of ‘holy ignorance’ because I didn’t
know how they would react. While they always
loved me and supported me, early on my dad
thought I was taking the easy way out to please
my friends. I think he even felt I would change
my mind.”
But during that season of her life, Artmann
would make a friendship that would help ensure
she would indeed not change her mind. W h i l e
attending a church in Montgomery, Alabama,
she met the man she would eventually marry.
Tommy Artmann was on staff as a youth direc-
tor at the church.
“When Tommy and I started dating, I had
only been a Christian for two or three years,”
recalled Artmann. “We had an instant connec-
tion. Tommy had dear friends in seminary who
were raised Jewish and when they became
Christians, their families disowned them. I ’ d
never known anyone who had an understanding
of what I was going through. My family did
continue to love me but they just really didn’t
agree with me.”
Yet while continuing to follow different faiths,
Tommy Artmann had an appreciation for Paula’s
rich Jewish heritage, even driving long distances
to participate in the Sabbath Eve dinner tradition
with her family.
“I genuinely loved them for who they were,”
said Tommy Artmann. “Paula’s family had
always been good to her, but there was an
underlying angst there. You know that reli-
gion’s one of the most important things to you,
but deep down you disagree with each other.
Paula’s grandparents founded the temple in
their hometown, so you can understand this
wasn’t easy.”
“Tommy was determined he would show love
to my family,” said Paula Artmann. “Over time
they came to respect him for having a really
authentic faith. He was never condescending to
t h e m . My family had faced a lot of that. D a d
grew up during World War II and there was a
lot of name-calling and dissension and anti-
S e m i t i s m . Seeing an authentic faith being lived
out was a big deal.”
In the mid-1980’s, Tommy Artmann decided to
become an ordained United Methodist minister,
and that’s when Paula realized her world was
about to change forever.
“It began to occur to me we might have to
move,” said Artmann. And move, they did.
As part of the call to ordained ministry,
United Methodist ministers must be willing to
move to church appointments in cities and
towns across the state. Currently, Reverend
Tommy Artmann is the Pastor of Heritage
Church in Hattiesburg.
“I had no idea what I was getting into,” Paula
Artmann laughed, adding that before then, she’d
lived in one home all her life.
“Roots were very important to me. Early in
his ministry we thought we would not be asked
to move. But the Bishop approached him about
south mississippi scene • 2 7
 being appointed and at that
point I realized that moving
would be a part of the picture.”
The Artmanns lived five
years in one place, then five in
a n o t h e r . And the list of moves
to other cities would continue.
“I thought we’d be at that
first church forever. But God
used all that moving to shape
m e . It taught me that I can’t
have my security in people or
things or home. I had to have
my dependence on Him.”
In those very first days of
ministry, long-time friend Scot
Jones remembers how the cou-
ple influenced his own decision
to enter the ministry.
“They were always a min-
istry team,” said Jones, who
knew the Artmann’s when
Tommy was on staff as a youth
minister in Clinton. “They have
remained a continual source of
inspiration and encouragement
to me, both in their ministry
and their example with their
f a m i l y . ” Jones is now in min-
istry with Rev. Artmann as the
minister of programming and
outreach at Heritage.
And as the Artmann’s min-
istry turned from youth work to
ordained ministry, an interest-
ing thing began to happen with The appreciation for their me to preach at her mother’s
Paula’s family back home in ministry reached a pinnacle funeral, alongside two Jewish
Alabama. when Paula’s mother Nellie rabbis,” said Rev. Artmann. “ I t
“While it was a hurtful thing Cobb passed away in 2004, and was an honor; such great men
in the beginning, my family her family asked Tommy to to share the platform with. To
really opened their heart to our stand alongside two rabbis to join these prestigious, respected
family and our ministry. M y perform the funeral. Jewish men and yet honor my
dad will ask Tommy, ‘So, how’s “The greatest opportunity own faith and celebrate Paula’s
church?’ and he will genuinely and perhaps the scariest and mom’s life; all of it was a chal-
want to know how things are weightiest thing in my ministry l e n g e . And somehow I believe
going.” was when Paula’s family asked we managed to do that very

2 8 • south mississippi scene

well.”
Laid out on a table before nearly three dozen
children, Paula Artmann has prepared a plate full
of traditional Passover meal items.
From time to time, she is asked to speak to
groups about her Jewish heritage and this is one
such opportunity, timed during the weeks leading
up to the Jewish Passover celebration.
“I don’t feel like I know enough to share with
the youth and children of our church, but it’s been
fun,” said Artmann. She lifts each item to explain
the Passover meal ritual, in much the same way as
her own parents would have done during her
childhood.
“I can share my experiences. Not that I proclaim
to be an authority, but I am able to share how I
grew up and give them a glimpse of what Christ’s
life was like. He grew up as a Jewish boy and this
shows what life might have been like for him.”
Tommy Artmann said that the similarities
between temple and church have led to terrific dis-
cussions over the years, and the relationship with
Paula’s family has greatly impacted his own min-
istry.
“We share some similar struggles so it was fun
getting a chance to learn about their practices,”
said Tommy Artmann. “It has enhanced my min-
istry because I have grown to appreciate their tra-
ditions of faith.”
Paula’s background in the Jewish faith is a well
known fact among her friends and acquaintances,
which often leads to interesting questions.
“People will ask me, ‘How should I witness to
my Jewish friend or neighbor?’ But I’m very hesi-
tant to answer that question,” adding that her own
journey of faith was established by the subtle
approach of men and women she came to know
over the years.
“It’s easy in the Christian community to label
people or make jokes about other faiths,” said
Paula Artmann. “Every time we do that, we push
others away. And that’s a sensitivity I have. I f
people could only understand the weight their
words can have and how important it is to live an
authentic faith before people. It’s the greatest tool
they have.”