New Pastor at Kahoka Methodist Church
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By Emily Bontrager
The Kahoka Methodist Church has appointed a new pastor to serve the congregation.
On September 1, 2023, Pastor Denise Moore, will officially be the new pastor of the church.
The Kahoka Methodist Church was formally known as Kahoka United Methodist Church for many years. A few weeks ago, the congregation voted to leave the UMC and they are now an independent church.
Denise, 56, grew up across the Midwest. She moved around a lot as a child because her father was a mechanical engineer and they moved where he could find work.
In 1985, Denise graduated from high school in Clinton, Iowa and she decided to attend a community college. This is where she earned an Associate of Mechanical Engineering degree.
Denise then furthered her education at UMass and completed a Bachelor of Computer Engineering degree.
After finishing college, Denise knew God called on her to serve others.
“I had a job offer, but God said, ‘Nope, you are going to the ministry.’ I said, ‘Ok, if you want me to go to seminary you have to tell me what school, you have to get me a scholarship because I just spent all my money going to engineering school, and you have to get me into school,’” Pastor Denise said.
“The way it works with seminary is if you are going for a Master of Divinity, you have to have the backing of your denomination to go. It was summertime and churches don’t meet a lot in the summer, so I said, ‘Ok, if you want me to go you have to help me on this.’ Within six weeks I was sitting in classes with a full scholarship, so it was meant to be.”
At the seminary school, Denise met her soon to be husband Dan Moore, who is currently the pastor at St. Paul United Church of Christ in Kahoka, Missouri.
“I had just decided I’m done dating and I’m just going to be single for the rest of my life and I met him. We just became best buddies and after several months of being inseparable best buddies, we both looked at each other and said, ‘You know what? We are both single!’” Pastor Denise laughed.
The couple started dating and Denise graduated from the Lancaster Theological Seminary school in Pennsylvania in 1995. A year later, Dan and Denise got married.
After finishing school, Denise preached at different churches over the years. She was a student preacher at a Mennonite church, she preached at a Union Luther UCC church and a Methodist church.
“My health deteriorated to the point where I couldn’t do much, but I still did pulpit supply,” Pastor Denise said.
Pastor Denise mostly filled in for other preachers when they went on vacation or were sick. Denise started pulpit supplying for the Kahoka United Methodist Church before she and her husband moved to Kahoka last year. She drove down from Fort Madison, Iowa to fill in at the Methodist churches in Kahoka, Wayland, and Bluff Springs.
“They are now all three independent, but Bluff Springs became independent first,” Pastor Denise said.
Pastor Denise is excited for the opportunity to be the new pastor at the Kahoka Methodist Church. She hopes to restore excitement when people come to church and to restore their faith. The thing she enjoys the most about preaching is giving God glory and she hopes to give the church hope in the future as their new pastor.
“I’d like to give them a sense of stability and a sense of hope and a sense of looking towards the future with excitement. That’s what I’d like to bring to them,” Pastor Denise said.
“Little churches can make a big difference in the community and just because they are small doesn’t mean they can’t.”
The Kahoka Methodist Church has a service every Sunday at 11:00 a.m. The church is located near the water tower in Kahoka on 1110 West Main Street. You can follow the church on Facebook or contact them with any questions at 660-727-3531.
“Please come and join us on Sunday morning!” Pastor Denise said.
