New Pastor at United Methodist Church
Written by Hunter Pane on September 17, 2019
There have been a lot of changes recently in and around Kansas Wesleyan this year and with these changes comes a new Pastor at the United Methodist Church which is located right next to campus. I recently asked the new Pastor a brief series of questions regarding his relationship with Kansas Wesleyan and to get a better understanding of his background. Below are the questions that I asked him and his responses. I hope you find his responses as insightful as I did.
What is your current relationship with KWU?
- I am the Lead Pastor at University United Methodist Church
- I serve on the Board for Campus Ministry at KWU
Pastor Talbott
- Campus Ministry Team Member
- I am the KWU Campus Ministry Liaison to the Great Plains Annual Conference
- Football Chaplain
What are some future plans you have regarding the community surrounding KWU?
- Creating a pipeline of host families from UUMC
- Providing meeting, and worship spaces for Campus Ministry at KWU
- Creating college small groups
Also if I could get some brief information on your background and history of service for the church or even just some history of where you came from previously.
- I am from Wichita Kansas
- Graduated from Bacone College in Muskogee Oklahoma
- Married for 17 years to Amber Talbott
- Three Kids, Bailey 16, Barron 13, and Bishop 11
- First Career, Education and Coaching where I coached Football and Wrestling for the last 18 years at the high school and college level
- Started in Ministry as an FCA huddle leader, Youth Director, and Worship Leader and went into fulltime ministry in 2013
- I have served in Hillsboro, Stockton/Woodston, and now University
Another question that I thought of was what are some barriers if any that you have had to overcome while being a Reverend that has visible tattoos and do you use that to your advantage or is it seen as a hindrance to your practice.
- It has not always been easy! I have been asked to cover them by churches in the past. I have been told, “I should not be a pastor, looking like that.” But, I believe if I can have a conversation with you, you won’t care about the tattoos after that.
- I believe the tattoos have helped me more than hurt me in ministry. Because of the tattoos, I am not viewed as your normal clean-cut pastor. People are usually curious about how a pastor can have tattoos, so natural conversation takes place. The tattoos visibly tell people, I am a normal, flawed, follower of Jesus. I am not perfect, I am approachable.
- The main question I get is Why? My best answer is this, “I love art, people will go buy a painting and hang it on the wall because it moves them somehow. I just chose to hang my art on my body.”
Reader's opinions
Continue reading
