I am a native of west Texas and grew up in the Midland area. I attended school in the Greenwood school district and graduated from Greenwood High School in 1994. Growing up, my family were members of the Greenwood United Methodist Church. I received my calling to ministry at the high school One Way camp at Ceta Canyon when I was 16.
I served in youth ministry for 20+ years, beginning at the age of 20 at Trinity UMC in Snyder, TX during the summer of 1996. After moving to Canyon to attend West Texas A&M in the fall of 1996, I served at San Jacinto UMC in Amarillo, followed by a stint at FUMC – Stanton. After marrying Veronica (Roni) in 1998, we continued serving various United Methodist churches in the west Texas area in the youth ministry. We served in Abernathy, Colorado City, Sweetwater, and San Angelo. In 2008 we moved to Quitman, TX in east Texas to serve as the youth minister at First UMC. It was during this time that I knew God was calling and moving me toward full-time pastoral ministry.
I was licensed as a local pastor in 2013 and received my first appointment to Higgins UMC in Higgins, TX in the northeast Panhandle. Our family served and lived there for seven years (2013-2020) working and ministering to the people of that small, rural community. In 2020, I was appointed to St. Luke’s UMC in Midland as the associate pastor. We have been back in Midland for four years now.
I am a graduate of the Course of Study program (basic and advanced) through Duke Divinity School and I was ordained as an elder in full connection on May 19, 2024 at the final annual conference of the Northwest Texas Conference. My biggest desire when it comes to ministry is to help people know and experience the love, grace, and forgiveness of God through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. My hope is to be able to find new ways of sharing the Gospel in our ever-changing world, ways that will help people to know God’s grace and mercy, especially as it is experienced in and through the community of believers we call the church.
– Pastor Blake
Photo taken by Jamie Montgomery of the NWTX Conference of the UMC
