New pastor joins Colfax ministry

A new part-time minister has made his way to Colfax and is now serving the Colfax First United Methodist Church, officially taking over July 1.

Terry Pollard is originally from Kansas City, Mo., but his career in ministry has taken him all over the country from places like Washington to Louisiana during his time as a preacher.

“My ministry career as being a pastor has taken me different places, moving with my family across the years,” Pollard said.

Pollard and his wife have a blended family of five now grown and married children. They also have 14 grandchildren with two more on the way. Pollard and his wife currently live in Easter Lake in southeast Des Moines.

“My roots are in Kansas City, that’s what I call home. I have children that live there, grandchildren that live there,” Pollard said.

Like a lot of those who serve as members of the church Pollard felt that there was a higher calling pulling him to devote his life to the work he has been doing for 39 years.

“For me it was a very personal divine call. It was something that I felt I was to do with the rest of my life is make a difference in peoples lives,” Pollard said.

Pollard has been serving as a pastor in churches for over 39 years and has plenty of experience doing so after getting his Bachelor of Arts in Religion degree in Overland Park in 1980 from Kansas Christian College.

“I received that degree in 1980 and went immediately into pastoral ministry,” Pollard said

It has been a long career for Pollard of preaching about God and being involved with the church and Pollard said in his plans that he wanted to switch to being part-time and after taking a position as part-time regional director for The Family Leader he was able to.

“That’s what brought me there is because I wanted to go from full time ministry to part time in combination with the other position that I have part time,” Pollard said.

Event though Pollard lives in the Easter Lake area with his wife Diana he has noticed things about Colfax that he likes in the short time he has been around as he tries to get connected to the community.

“I think the community is just a really nice community that has some diversity in it, you know it seems to have a decent economic base, a strong school district,” Pollard said. “Colfax is a really inviting community.”

Pollard said that he will be in Colfax on Sundays but wants to make sure he is in town for another day more than likely to be Thursday. He also stated that may change depending on events in town.

“I always feel like it’s really important in small communities for a pastor to be visible and to find ways to interact with families in the community,” Pollard said. “I really try to keep aware of the community calendar.”

In terms of what Pollard would like to bring to the community through his preaching and his experience he would like to share some of his love for doing mission work for those around the world who need it.

“My primary passion globally has been the country of Haiti and I have been traveling to Haiti since 1979 ... One of the things that comes as a result of that is I like to engage my church in mission outreach opportunities in the country of Haiti,” Pollard said.

While Pollard is new to the community he isn’t new to the role of being a pastor and Pollard said he wants to learn what the needs of the community are and how the church could possibly help with those needs.

“I’m all about being a world changer or a difference maker,” Pollard said.

Contact Dustin Teays at 641-792-3121 ext. 6533 or dteays@newtondailynews.com