Tara Krantz heeds the calling: Former teacher becomes pastor of Rockville United Methodist Church

Aug. 6—Most people get inspired to be a pastor early in life, but for Tara Krantz, she got the call to the cloth after 25 years of being a teacher.

On July 1, the Enfield resident took up her first full-time pastorship at Rockville United Methodist Church at 142 Grove St. in Vernon.

"As a young girl, I always played teacher," Krantz said. "That was my favorite thing to be. I was going to be a teacher when I grew up and that's exactly what I became, prior to my calling of being a pastor.

"I wanted to have my own chalkboard and I wanted to teach children," she said. "I used to help my brother with school. I loved anything that had to do with teaching."

After graduating from high school, she attended Holyoke Community College and then Westfield State University, where she earned her Bachelor's Degree in elementary education.

TARA KRANTZ

OCCUPATION: Pastor of Rockville United Methodist Church. Preached her first sermon at the Vernon United Methodist Church, was a part-time lay pulpit supply pastor at Portland United Methodist Church.

HOMETOWN: Enfield.

PREVIOUSLY: Was a pre-school teacher, co-owned Stepping Stones Early Learning Center in Enfield; taught at Montessori Children's School in Springfield.

EDUCATION: Currently attending the Boston School of Theology. Earned her Bachelor's Degree in elementary education from Westfield State University.

In 1992 she started teaching preschool and ended up co-owning Stepping Stones Early Learning Center with Linda Normand in Enfield.

She said she then went to Montessori Children's School in Springfield, where she taught preschool, kindergarten, first, and second grade until 2017.

Something that stayed with her through her entire life, though, was her faith.

"I fell in love with Jesus at Calvary Presbyterian (in Enfield) at a really early age," she said. "I went to Sunday school there and youth group and I was a Pioneer Girl. I wanted everybody to know who Jesus was. I wanted everybody to know Jesus, Jesus loves everyone, and that desire never really went away."

Being a pastor, though, was not on her radar, she said.

"I knew my original calling was to be a teacher and I loved that," she said.

Sixteen years ago, Krantz started attending the United Methodist Church of Enfield where her pastor encouraged her to take a lay course on sermon writing.

"That was the start of it," she said. "Pastor John would tell me that I should have my own church one day.

"I remember one of my students at Montessori brought in a Bible for show and tell. I got so excited about the conversation that happened, that when I put the Bible away in his cubby, I thought, all right, Lord, I'll go check out what this is about."

Krantz said she started taking courses, becoming a church lay leader and preached her first sermon at the Vernon United Methodist Church.

She was first assigned to Portland United Methodist Church as a part-time lay pulpit supply pastor and got her official pastoral license in January of 2018.

"I had a coordinating pastor that was above me to check into and be mentored by," she said.

After receiving her license, she was given multiple part-time positions, pastoring at the Portland church and Community United Methodist Church at Crystal Lake.

She said she served both churches from 2018 to 2022, when she was appointed to Rockville United Methodist Church in a full-time position.

"It's considered itinerary," she said of moving to a new church. "That is so that we can use our gifts that God has given us to other churches that can use them. So we're connectional and global and itinerary."

Though she has a pastoral license, she is not an ordained minister yet, Krantz said.

"I am in seminary right now," she said, attending the Boston School of Theology, where she is on track to graduate in two and a half years.

"It's been quite the adventure," she said. "I have four children. They're almost all grown up, but there's three still in the house, so it was a very full plate. It's nice to have one office now in one church."

Krantz said she is blessed to serve others.

"You never know where God's going to lead you when you go with it," she said. "I get to live out what I wanted as a little kid, that desire for everybody to know who God is and that Jesus loves them. It's been really rewarding, even during the bumpy rough times."

She said she attributes her career as an educator to her abilities as a pastor.

"I think that it helped my leadership skills and my people skills," she said. "It's really not much different. It's a different subject area and it's a wider range of ages. I love that it's all ages on an important subject matter.

"I feel that I've been given the gift of joy," she said. "I think I bring a lot of joy into the church. This church has an amazing music ministry and the people have been just absolutely wonderful. I feel it is my job to shepherd and equip and love on them, to help discern where God has taken us."

As the new pastor, Krantz said, she is building her relationship with her congregation.

"I know that they have a really strong music ministry," she said. "I love our music. I know we have a couple AA groups.

"I'm just getting to know everybody. I want to visit everybody that would like to visit. With the pandemic they've been away for a while and they're back now.

"I would like to see some rebuilding, reconnecting. One of the great things, when you start at a new church, one of the fun things is, is that you get to listen to the history and things that took place.

"The question becomes, is that something we bring back to life or has this time off been able to open up new avenues and new ways of being in community with one another."

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