John Wilkinson became Third Presbyterian Church's Pastor in April 2001. Previously, John served as Executive Associate Pastor of Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago. A graduate of the College of Wooster (1985, B.A. in American History), John received a Master of Divinity from McCormick Seminary (1989). He received a Ph.D. in American Religious History in June, 2001, from Northwestern University/ Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary.  

In 1989 John became pastor of St. James Presbyterian Church in Chicago. He was named Associate Pastor for Mission and Communications at Fourth Presbyterian in 1994. In 1997 he was appointed to the newly created position of Executive Associate Pastor.

John serves on the Executive Committee of the Covenant Network of Presbyterians. He also currently serves on the Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity and Purity of the Church (www.pcusa.org/peaceunitypurity) as well as the Board of Trustees of Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School. John believes that the church is the best place for people, believers and searchers, to gather to ask the deepest, most profound questions of faith and life. He wants to serve a congregation that is vibrant, robust and active in its community and city and he feels he has found that at Third church. John’s goal is for the church to instill in its own members a vision for hope and justice made real by the ministry of Jesus, with the members in turn serving as ministers in their daily spheres.

John is married to Bonny Claxton who is the Controller for the Rochester Presbyterian Home. They have two school-aged children, Kenneth and Ann.