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Dr. Phyllis Provost, Associate Pastor

316-267-6244 ext. 305

As Associate Pastor, my primary ministry is Pastoral Care. With a Family Systems focus, working from a Theology of Hospitality, it is a blessing to be able to provide counseling and pastoral care to individuals and families in times of grief and crisis as well as in times of joy and celebration. I also work with the confirmation classes, and with the pastoral care team coordinating hospital, home and nursing home calls. We are also working to begin a Stephen Ministries program to train, equip, and send out lay ministers in order to broaden and enhance our care of each other this year. I am responsible for administering the Helping Hands fund, and the overall administration of the Missions, Christian Education, Preschool, Early Childhood, and Congregational Care areas. I assist in leading worship weekly, preach God’s Word approximately once a month, and fill in for the Senior Pastor in his absence.

I was born in Philadelphia, PA and grew up primarily in the Washington, D.C. area, graduating from high school in Gambrills, MD. I hold a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from Rider University, with an area of concentration in theatre. I received an M.Div degree in 1995, and a D.Min degree in Pastoral Counseling in 2009 from Phillips Theological Seminary. I was ordained deacon in the United Methodist Church in 1993 and elder in 1997 and have served in the Kansas West Conference since 1990 as a Christian Education Director at Derby Woodlawn UMC, and pastor of Winfield Grandview, Rose Hill and Winfield First United Methodist Churches. I have been at First UMC, Wichita since 2008.

As a biblical storyteller, I travel to a variety of groups, doing retreats and storytelling workshops and concerts, re-telling the biblical story in ways designed to make it fresh, new, and personal for each person there and helping them to receive God’s Story as their own. My stories are published in The Storyteller's Companion to the Bible, Vol. 10: The Gospel of John, and Vol. 13: New Testament Women, as well as The Circuit Rider, Jan./Feb., 2001. They are also available on two CD’s: “Phyllis” (which includes a group study guide) and “Women of the Word.” A CD of guided meditations called “A Quiet Place of Healing” is also available, which came out of my work in pastoral counseling.

Qualified and certified as a trainer in the Myers-Briggs Type Inventory, I also assist couples preparing for marriage, families, groups and staffs in utilizing type preferences and family systems dynamics and understandings to better understand each other and work and grow together.

I currently serve on a conference level as treasurer of the Board of Ordained Ministry, and in leading a Clergywomen’s Consultation Group through the Counseling and Mediation Center here in Wichita. I serve on an ecumenical level as a member of the Regional Board of the Disciples of Christ in Kansas. My community involvement includes serving as a tutor at the Park Elementary School, and as a reader in the Wichita Radio Reading Program (WRRP).

In addition to the blessing of being able to answer God’s call to the ministry, I love theatre—both performing and watching, reading, writing, storytelling, swimming, skiing and especially KU Basketball! My favorite activity, however, is being with my 2 sons and their families, particularly my 5 phenomenal grandchildren.

My life verse is from Micah 6:8 - He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?