Rev. Tom Deviney is a native of South Texas, having grown up in Victoria and Corpus Christi. He graduated from Del Mar Jr. College with an Associate of Arts degree, from Southwestern University with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, and from Iliff School of Theology with a Master of Divinity. He was ordained a Deacon in 1982 and an Elder in 1984 in the Southwest Texas Conference of the UMC. Beginning in 1982, he served as: Associate Pastor at FUMC, Austin (3 years); Pastor of South Bluff UMC, Corpus Christi (6 years); Pastor of Lutie Watkins Memorial UMC, Llano (4 years); Senior Pastor of FUMC, Seguin (6 years); and the Lead Pastor of Bethany UMC, Austin (22 years). These churches spanned a variety of settings from downtown urban to inner city to rural to very large suburban. Prior to COVID shutdowns, Bethany had approximately 3000 members and worshipped approximately 1200 on a weekend. He served on both the Southwest Texas Annual Conference Board of Ordained Ministry and the Southwest Texas/Rio Texas Annual Conference Finance Table, each for more than a decade. He was a member of the General Conference/Jurisdictional Conference delegations in 2012, 2016 and 2019. He has been and remains an active supporter of Seedbed and the New Room Conference. He has served with several non-profits including: founding board member for Corpus Christi Habitat for Humanity; Board Chair for Corpus Christi Metro Ministries; Chair of Seguin Area Recovery (established following the 1998 Flood); and currently serves as Board Chair for Harvesting in Spanish which operates ministries in El Salvador (www.harvesting.org) His largest effort was to lead Bethany’s involvement with World Vision in the Matete Area Development Project in Kenya which developed, over 15 years, infrastructure, education, medical care, and business in the most impoverished county of Kenya. Tom retired from Bethany at the end of 2023 and transferred his orders to the Global Methodist Church in January of 2024.
Tom and Cindi were married in 1979 and will celebrate their 45th wedding anniversary on August 25th. Cindi retired from a 35-year paralegal career in August 2023 to be more available for “Grammy” duty/joy. Through the years, she has actively served in ministries of worship/music and teaching. Their daughter, Aislinn Deviney Kelling, graduated from Oklahoma City University, attended Hillsong Leadership College in Sydney, Australia, and currently researches backgrounds for the Texas Department of Human Services. Son-in-law, Matthew Kelling, graduated from University of North Texas and manages media presentation for continuing legal education provided by the Texas Municipal Courts Education Center across the state of Texas. They have blessed Tom and Cindi with two grandchildren. Their son, Forrest Deviney, graduated from Texas A&M University in Corpus Christi and Perkins School of Theology and currently serves as the Lead Pastor of Asbury Global Methodist Church in Corpus Christi, Texas. Daughter-in-law Mercedes Ruiz Deviney graduated from Texas A&M, Corpus Christi, with both Bachelor and Masters degrees. She is a licensed marriage and family counselor and works at Corpus Christi Medical Center Bayview. They blessed Tom and Cindi with their first granchld.
