Rev. John Wesley Tatum Sr.

Was born January 11, 1941 in Mexia, TX to the parentage of the late Israelite and Josephine McGee Tatum. John graduated from Mexia High School in Central Texas where he received awards in: shorthand, agricultural & mathematics. He later attended Paul Quinn College which was located in Waco but subsequently relocated to Dallas. John was a member of the Student Council, Ministerial Club and voted “Most Likely to Succeed". He graduated Summa Cum Laude. He stated that during his college years "I acknowledged my call to ministry".

On January 31, 1961 he married Marian Washington and this union included 1 daughter and 2 sons: Renee, John Jr. & Ivan.

Pastor Tatum completed the requirements for becoming an Ordained Deacon in 1964. Since the AME Church did not have a seminary school he enrolled at Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University. While there, he served as a student pastor for the Bethlehem Center in Dallas, a church in Denison and lastly as Student Director of the Inner-City Parish Cooperative Ministry which was composed of Bethlehem Center, El Buen UMC & St. Luke Community UMC.

In the late 1960's while attending SMU, Pastor Tatum was preparing for ordination and under the guidance of Pastor Tatum, St. Luke operated Saturday Church School and a seasonal sports program for children. As a member of the Salvation Army League, the St. Luke Crusaders won city championships in baseball, football and basketball. He helped pastors Timothy Echols & Zan Holmes Jr. along with the North Texas Conference establish community outreach programs.

Pastor Tatum graduated from Perkins School of Theology in 1970 with a degree in Master of Theology. He was ordained Elder in Full Connection and his first student charge was to serve at Moody United Methodist Church in Gatesville, TX and then went on the serve as a minister at Bowman Chapel UMC, Long Branch UMC in Kossee, TX; St. Paul UMC in Calvert, TX & Haven Chapel UMC in Denison, TX.

Pastor Tatum became the pastor of two churches, Crest-Moore United Methodist Church & King United Methodist Church. He later merged these two churches to form Crest-Moore King United Methodist Church now known as Community United Methodist Church. He also served as Pastor of St. Paul United Methodist Church and Warren United Methodist Church.

In 1993 Pastor Tatum came to St. Luke as the Senior Associate Pastor and served there until his retirement in 2003. He served as Parish Director of the Inner-City Parrish and by December that year, he began to expand the Inner-City Parrish Program which allowed him to be the founding director of the Methodism Breadbasket. He also served as the first African-American staff person at the North Texas Conference. During his 40 years as founder and director of the Methodism Breadbasket Pastor Tatum would take a sack of emergency food supplies home from work just in case he received a call in the middle of the night from someone in need. Due to Pastor Tatum's vision, preparedness and personalized efforts to help others, St. Luke has been able to provide food, clothing and financial assistance to more than 4,500 men, women and children. "We never deny anybody" he would say. Pastor Tatum spent the later years of his retirement helping his wife in the yard & spending time with family.

Pastor Tatum's areas of service over the years: First African American Staff Person for the North Texas Conference, Director of Community Global Ministry, UMC Congregational Development Specialist, Boys Worker at the Dallas Bethlehem Center and the Director of Westerfeld Center.

Rev. John Wesley Tatum Sr. leaves to celebrate his life, a loving wife of 54 years, Marian Washington Tatum; 1 daughter, Renee (Benny) Johnson; 2 sons, John W. (Ursula) Tatum Jr. And Ivan K. Tatum. 3 granddaughters, Marcia (Brian) Nickerson, Ashley Robinson, Tiffany Robinson and 1 grandson, Ivan Lawrence Tatum. He also has 1 great-grandson, Chase Robinson and 1 great granddaughter, Sydney Roberts; 2 sisters, Elizabeth Crosby, Hattie Denley; 3 brothers, Alton Tatum, Wilbert O'Daniel (Santana) Tatum , Vernon (Maybell) Tatum. Special thanks to Dr. Sharon Larkin M.D. & caregiver Asiyah Shadid.

Pastor Tatum served in ministry faithfully for over 40 years. “A successful ministry requires understanding how the gospel works in the everyday lives of the people of the church and helping them through committed ministry and service.