Pastor Juan Ramos expects to strengthen family ties at First United Methodist Church of Callahan.
Congregants welcomed him and wife Gloria for his first Sunday as pastor July 3. Ramos assumes the pastoral role from the departing Sue Corley, who transferred to St. Mark’s United Methodist Church in Ocala.
He most recently led a congregation in Tampa.
“My way of thinking is, I’m very family-oriented,” Ramos said. “Since I was a kid, I grew up with my grandmother, Carmen Cerrera, and she gave me all of the family values. She’s the one that taught me that. I believe in the family. I believe in family unity and families working together, so that’s part of my concept. The same with the church, I believe we’re one big family because we’re brothers and sisters in Christ. In the same way, I believe the church together can solve any crisis that life can bring to the church.”
A former Roman Catholic, Ramos has served the United Methodist Church for more than 30 years. He graduated from Centro Universitario del Norte in Colotlan in Jalisa, Mexico with plans to become a laboratory pharmaceutical biologist. He grew up in Torreon in the state of Coahuila, Mexico.
But his life took a different turn. He studied at Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University in Dallas for nine years.
“I think it started when I was a youth,” Ramos recalled. “I accepted Christ in the Methodist church. I started attending and got involved with the youth group.”
His wife is Methodist, so he wanted to share the same religious practices with her.
One night Ramos was asked to deliver a sermon after a scheduled speaker canceled.
“That’s when God called me,” he said.
About a month later he was named president of the youth group and began teaching Sunday School with his wife.
“It’s amazing how God works,” Ramos said.
During his 10-year tenure at Tyler Street United Methodist Church, Ramos served a group of Latinos that grew from 12 to about 80 in number.
Continuing to answer God’s call, Ramos transferred to various churches in Texas before joining the Florida conference in 1999, where he also served in Miami, West Palm Beach and Cherry Lake.
“It’s nice,” Ramos said. “My wife and I like Florida. We enjoyed our time where we were in Madison County so much and in Tampa.”
He plans to establish himself within the Callahan congregation and in the community.
“I’m looking to see what God wants me to do, because in my life as a pastor, when I get to a new church, people ask me what plans I have for the church,” Ramos said. “I need to get to know the congregation and find out what God is telling us to do. It needs to be the vision of all.”
The couple already feels at home in the pastorage next door to the church.
“They welcomed us,” Ramos said. “They prepared the house. It was neat and clean. They received us with a big crew. They helped us so much.”
In his first official sermon as pastor, Ramos outlined his leadership goals.
“I want to let you know that I come in peace,” he said. “I am here to be your pastor to walk with you in all the times that life brings to us, because life brings good times and bad times. I can’t fix your problems, but I can walk with you through them to discover together God’s will in our ministry together at First United Methodist Church of Callahan and to be your pastor and friend and to be one of you.”
Ramos and his wife have two adult sons, Juan and Samuel, and three grandchildren.