...meet our new Associate Pastor

Rev. Tania Montero and her husband Gabriel will be appointed to Dodge City First UMC beginning July 1, 2010.  She will be an associate pastor with responsibilities for our entire congregation, but with emphasis with Casa de Oración, our Spanish-speaking group.

Rev. Tania is Cuban, graduating from the Polytechnic Institute Hermanos Gomez, in Havana.  She worked as a manager in Electric Energy Systems before meeting Christ.  After devoting her life to Christ, she graduated from the Bible Institute of Guanabacoa, in Havana and obtained a Certificate as Missionary, and served as a Certified Lay Speaker in Havana  

Her experiences in Cuba ranged from teaching Sunday School to working as a pastoral assistant, to eventually being the National Youth Coordinator and receiving her own credentials as a Missionary Pastor.  As a pastor, she planted three new communities of faith in Cuba.

In the mid 1990’s, Tania’s husband Gabriel Marrero won the visa lottery for he and Tania to immigrate to the United States.  Once here, Tania began to worship and offer leadership in United Methodist Churches in Pennsylvania and Michigan.  In the Detroit Annual Conference, Tania once again began to evangelize and plant new communities of faith in the Detroit area.

In 2001, Rev. Tania completed candidacy in the Wisconsin Annual Conference, and became a Licensed Local Pastor serving churches in Milwaukee.  In 2007, Rev. Tania and her husband were pastors of two separate Hispanic churches in Milwaukee, which they led to merge.  Tremendous growth ensued among people from numerous nationalities and cultures, in fact the congregation numbered around 200 in worship when they left.

While in Wisconsin, Rev. Tania completed all courses in the Licensed Pastor Course of Study at Garret Evangelical Seminary in Evanston.  She now completes seminary class work in Nashville, through the Latin American Biblical University in Costa Rica.  Rev. Tania and Gabriel are also Certified Facilitators for the Hispanic National Plan of the United Methodist Church.  

She lists her skills as:

·         New Church Planting

·         Identifying and developing new leaders

·         Multi-cultural ministry

·         Administration and Finances

·         Computer proficient

·         Construction and Remodeling

·         I am fluent in Spanish and I am able to communicate in English well

·         Team work

 We expect Rev.Tania and Gabriel to arrive in the first half of June.   She will begin her duties with the church on July 1, and her first Sunday with us will be July 4, 2010.   We are planning a large, combined service that morning, and of course we will all be gathering on the lawn for fireworks that evening—a terrific opportunity to welcome our new pastor and her spouse.