Snyder’s First United Methodist Church has a new pastor — who has a history at the church — looking to make a difference in the congregation and community. Pastor Ryan Ford, who is moving to Snyder from Seymour, is again on staff at First United Methodist Church. He worked at the church as a youth pastor in 2007 and 2008.
“I was raised in Denver City, and I wasn’t really raised in the church. I was invited to church, actually, by my now wife in the seventh or eighth grade,” he said. “So I started going to the Methodist church in my hometown. I was going to go into the military, but I ended up blowing out my knee in high school, so I didn’t get to do that. I floated around jobs for a while, and then I felt like God was calling me to be a youth pastor. I worked in the oilfield for a little while before God called me to do this.”
Ford said that he had originally planned to be a math teacher. After he graduated, several Methodist pastors retired and he was asked to pastor a church, which he did in Seymour while working toward a master’s degree.
In the Methodist church, pastors are under itinerancy. That means a board made up of district superintendents and bishops appoint and re-appoint pastors to churches each year. Ford was informed of his impending move in March, and he said that the process was even more stressful than usual.
“Moving was crazy,” he said. “School was still kind of going on, and everyone was cautious, but normal. Then, all of a sudden they closed down the schools. My wife is a teacher, so then she was at home and we went to online services so I was at the house, but we couldn’t really pack yet or do a whole lot. Plus I’m taking 12 hours this semester for my master’s course. Doing that while moving was probably even harder than moving during COVID.”
After overcoming those challenges, Ford said that he is excited to be back at FUMC Snyder. Although he has only been able to conduct a handful of in-person services since his arrival, he is looking for new ways to reach the community.
“We just launched our new vision and mission, and those are to love God with all that we are, love others with all that we have and make disciples in all that we do. We’ve plastered it on everything,” he said. “That’s what I’m trying to do, is grow the congregation’s relationship with God so that they can have a deeper love and a relationship with Him, and then really focus on serving the community. We want to help those who are hurting and lift up those who are down.”