Today we’d like to introduce you to Hannah Buchanan.
Hannah, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I am a pastor. If you had told me this ten years ago, I would have balked. “Seriously?! A pastor? Can women even do that?” Looking backwards, I suppose it all makes sense. But living into my story, one step at a time, felt more like following crumbs on a cookie trail that led me right here, where I am today.
I grew up in Richardson with my parents, my older sister, and a random assortment of pets. My dad was a Family & Marriage Psychologist, and my mom worked for ABC News as the nation’s only religion correspondent. That meant I watched my mom interview Presidents on TV while my dad cooked dinner, a rare experience, especially in the South.
My parents, both extremely present at home, worked hard to co-parent and compromise so that each one could fully participate in God’s calling on their lives. I did my rounds at a few different schools: Trinity Christian Academy, Hockaday, and finally, JJ Pearce High School. (Go Mustangs.)
In each of these environments, I felt out of place, but for different reasons:
-At TCA, mine was the only dad who drove carpool. To have a “working mother” evoked sympathy from those who could more readily chaperone field trips and bring cupcakes to class parties.
-At Hockaday, my family’s convictions about what movies we were allowed to see or whether I was allowed to slow dance in the sixth grade (yea, that was a thing!) made me feel insecure at Bat Mitzvahs and weekend slumber parties.
And at Pearce, well… doesn’t everyone feel a little out of place in high school? It wasn’t until I left for college that I finally came into my own.
As a high school senior, I applied to a dozen schools and made a commitment to The University of Texas. I was headed to business school, had submitted all my sorority recommendations, and even had burnt orange monogrammed towels. And then something changed.
It was Memorial Day weekend of 2006, the weekend I was set to graduate. In the backseat of my mom’s Toyota Highlander, zooming down Central, I heard a strange, unsettling question in my mind: “Why did you say no to Wheaton?”
“Wheaton?” I thought. “I didn’t even apply seriously there! I didn’t visit. I didn’t want to go to a Christian school.” I had applied because their cafeteria was #1 in US News & World Report – and I guess because my dad went there – but I wasn’t actually serious.
Nevertheless, the thought was strange enough that I had to pay attention. Could this be God? Is this how God speaks? I told God I’d pray about it over the long weekend and call on Tuesday morning. If they’d take me back, I’d go.
Here’s how the call went: “Hannah! The Texas girl that broke my heart! Tell me you’ve changed your mind because you want to go to Wheaton!” So – I went.
Wheaton was a safe place to wrestle dangerously with my faith. My friends and professors were deeply committed to asking the hard questions and living into the answers. I chose to study Economics & Theology, not knowing how (if at all) the two intersected. Then my world fell apart.
Two Memorial Day Weekends later, in 2008, I got the call that my dad had committed suicide. My dad, the counselor, the one who was supposed to help other people navigate depression, had taken his own life in an irreversible act of despair.
During the years that followed, I did all that I could to make sense of this and to grieve well. I learned that healing is hard work – and it hurts. And, silver lining – I fell in love with Ryan, the guy who would later become my husband.
After college, I joined Teach For America, where I taught Middle School Special Education on the South Side of Chicago. It was here that I discovered that the Bible has a LOT to say about Economics – that God has a heart for people on the margins, people pushed down, and people are struggling to rise up.
With that insight, I applied to grad school for a Masters in Social Work, and Ryan and I (now married) packed our bags to move back to my hometown: Dallas.
While in grad school, I took a day job as the Executive Assistant at Munger Place Church, HPUMC’s East Dallas Campus. Munger was about four years old when I joined the team, and we all acted as utility players! I got to do everything from develop volunteer leaders to create a Christmas Store. I even got to preach!
During this season, I interned at CitySquare, a major Dallas nonprofit that had recently launched a more official partnership with HPUMC. Because of my connection to CitySquare and the church, I was asked to lead the partnership and step into a pastoral role in Cornerstone, HPUMC’s contemporary worshiping community. So I made the trek from East Dallas to Highland Park to lead the charge.
Now, a few years, one graduate degree, and one baby girl later, I work full time in Cornerstone. I am a pastor. I point people to Jesus through coffee and conversation, preaching and prayer. This is my passion.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I didn’t see a woman preach until I was 25 years old, living in Chicago. In the Christian community that raised me in Dallas, women led in administrative capacities – or in children’s ministry. It never even crossed my mind that I could be a pastor – or a preacher!
Ryan and I stumbled into a church in Chicago called Soul City Church. It was pastored by a husband and wife. AND wife! She was a co-pastor. An equal. She led. She preached. And when I watched her preach for the first time, a light went on. “Oh my gosh! There’s room for me in the Church!”
I had been struggling at Teach For America to put my finger on where I should use my passion and gifts. I valued education as a means by which we could change the world, but I felt like something was lacking. Education didn’t speak to the soul – at least the schools I worked in didn’t.
When I caught the vision of Soul City: a church that transformed the soul, the city and the world, I was hooked! I met with Jeanne Stevens, the woman of the pair, and she invited me into a small group of women leaders in the church. It was there, in the quiet of my own mind, that I prayed, “Okay God if you REALLY want me to be a pastor, tell Jeanne and have her tell me because she’s tuned into you in ways that I’m not.”
As crazy as it sounds, one month later, Jeanne and I met for coffee, and she said, “I’ve been praying about it, and I feel a prompting to tell you that you should consider being a pastor.” White flag, raised. Jeanne is my model for what it means to lead in the fullness of our gifts and our calling, not in spite of our gender, but in light of it!
We’d love to hear more about your work.
Cornerstone is the contemporary worship environment at Highland Park United Methodist Church. Contemporary!? In that Gothic-looking church on the corner of SMU?! Yep!
Sure, we have traditional worship. Head to the Sanctuary for liturgy and robes, choirs and an organ. (By the way, the choir and the organ are AMAZING!)
But if you are looking to come to church in jeans and you prefer drums to handbells, join us! We have three worship services: 5:00 on Saturdays, and 9:30 & 11 on Sundays. Come as you are. Check it out!
What were you like growing up?
I was extremely sensitive and introverted. My sister was a force of passion and vitality, and it wasn’t until she left for college that I really came out of my shell.
My favorite things to do were to romp in the creek in our backyard with the neighbors, to listen to music in my room and put on concerts for my dolls & stuffed animals, and to go for walks with my family on the golf course across the street, at sunset.
Contact Info:
- Address: 3300 Mockingbird Ln., Dallas, TX 75205
- Website: hpumc.org
- Phone: 2145213111
- Instagram: @hpumcdallas
Image Credit:
Goldenlight Creative
Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
