Cyd Stein returns to SW Kansas

As pastor for Jetmore and Hanston United Methodist Churches

Cyd is a Dodge City native and she completed public school in Dodge City and received her B.S. in Journalism from the University of Kansas in 1990. She was baptized in the Dodge City United Methodist Church and the church served as her church home until she left Dodge City. Because her employment since graduation has been in the public, she is fairly well known throughout Southwest Kansas. She used her education to work in Southwest Kansas television and radio after graduating. Her primary responsibility was in advertising sales and management.

As many of us do, Cyd felt a call to a slightly different career and she began a teaching career at Garden City Community College in 2006 where she was a media instructor and advisor. She felt a great deal of satisfaction from teaching others the skills which she had learned in college and had practiced throughout her career with the media.

Along comes God….Cyd has always been active in her church with her family and through volunteer positions with children’s and youth programs, but God placed a “call” in her life around 2010 to enter the ministry as a career. She completed a candidacy into ministry program, and was awarded licensing for pastoral ministry in the United Methodist Church in 2011. Stein was surrounded with local church support, with Dr. Jim Godbey serving as candidacy mentor. She recalls her then pastor, Dr. Lance Carrithers was very encouraging and edifying as she started exploring the possibility of entering the ministry. She says nothing had been more frightening and exciting than becoming a pastor, and she originally questioned her qualification and worthiness.

After completing the program, she was appointed to serve the United Methodist Churches in Selden, McGraw and Hoxie. She says she loves God and loves people and the first congregations made the change into ministry a very easy transition for her.

Cyd served those churches for five years until the Bishop reappointed her with the Jetmore and Hanston United Methodist Churches. She explains that the United Methodist church actually “appoints” ministers so it wasn’t much of a decision for her to make the move back to Southwest Kansas. She started her new position last July. The move was also special for Cyd because she recalls having taken her family to “Journey to Bethlehem” in Jetmore, and now she’s the Pastor of those churches.

In discussing such a major career change, Cyd said that it was one huge step of faith, she recalls “It’s one thing to give Christ your past, another to give Him your present and still another to give Him your future.” Once she came to that full trust, she just said, “Alright God, here we go!”

She also feels that God had prepared her through her previous careers. The journalism skills which she had learned and developed serve her well as a pastor. This is especially true when it comes to meeting with members of the congregation and writing sermons, press releases and dealing with the media. These skills also help her in assessing the needs of the congregation.

Upon moving to Hoxie, she recalls that when she drove up to the church, the congregation had already changed the sign in front of the church to “Pastor Cyd Stein.” She says that was the moment that it hit her and she felt quite humbled and honored to be their pastor.

She recalls that the congregations at all three churches were wonderfully supportive. She led Sunday service at each of the three church congregations every week. This involved a 49 mile round trip every Sunday. In addition to Sunday services in Sheridan County, she also officiated 57 funerals, many baptisms and several weddings. In fact, she conducted a funeral during her first week in Hoxie. She always tries to make funerals a blessing of hope and salvation. Although the median age of the members was close to 70 she said that the congregations were very warm to her and she is very appreciative of their support. She concludes, “They helped me become a pastor.”

The move to Jetmore and Hanston was almost like “coming home” because she was familiar with the churches and had previously attended services and programs at the churches. In addition to only having to drive 11 miles every week to deliver a sermon at each church, she already sees several differences from her previous position. First, she has a great staff to help with the organization and paperwork, plus she has a worship team to help with the actual Sunday services. She also chuckles a bit that the median age is probably only 50 as compared to 70 in her previous pastorate. She likes this because the churches have very active youth ministries. She is also involved with weekly Bible studies and other community-based programs.

The churches mission statement states “To Know Christ, and to Make Him Known”. “The purpose of the Jetmore United Methodist Church is to make Christ known to all through fellowship, prayer, teaching, worship, example and acts of service. The vision of the Jetmore United Methodist Church is to see our members, our community and our world come to faith in Christ and to grow in the enjoyment of Kingdom blessings.” She plans to give special emphasis to this mission statement.

Cyd says that she’s still a student and she expects to graduate this summer from the United Methodist Church Course of Study through the Perkins School of Theology on the Southern Methodist University Campus in Dallas, Texas.