Denise Watkins is a second career minister after receiving a call to the ministry in December of 2004 at Woodlake United Methodist Church. She and her husband Mike joined the Woodlake United Methodist Church in 1988, when it was a Church Plant that met in the local elementary school. They served that Church in many ways: teaching, serving on Committees and special teams. Then she went to Union Presbyterian Seminary for a Master’s of Divinity degree and graduated in May 2010. She served sixteen years in the ministry field. First she served as a Christian Education leader for Salisbury Presbyterian and Woodlake UMC churches. Then for the last thirteen years, she was blessed to serve as Lead Pastor for several small churches around the Richmond and Crewe areas. Huguenot UMC will be her seventh church.
She and her husband, Mike Watkins, have been married for 39 years. Mike works for the Chesterfield County Public Schools as a Career Experience Consultant for the Work Based Learning Program, after working more than thirty years in the hospitality field. They are blessed with three adult children and two precious grandchildren.