August 04, 2026
WBS Student Kristy Wilson steps into church planting and church revitalization
Kristy Wilson’s plan was to preach part-time while continuing her decades-long career as the manager of a dental office. When that employment was unexpectedly and suddenly terminated, she found herself with half the family income. With two children in college, the bills kept coming, and she found herself crying out to the Lord. Despite her years of experience, she couldn’t seem to find a new job in the dental field. But she was soon to learn that God had different plans.
Kristy grew up attending church through the influence of her grandmother Ruby, providing her with a strong spiritual foundation. Ruby passed away when Kristy was sixteen, however, and Kristy got away from the church for a time. In her twenties, though, she recognized that the “something missing” in her life was her relationship with God, and she returned to practicing her faith, becoming actively involved in her local church’s children’s ministry and student ministry.
Although she became an active church member, a negative experience working in Christian education led Kristi to put aside the thought of working for the church. Yet she continued to develop character and skills through her work managing a dental office. “You have to have thick skin to work in dentistry,” she explains. “People come in with a lot of anxiety and project it on you, but you have to focus on caring for them.” Her grandmother had worked as a nurse, so Kristy naturally followed in her footsteps into the medical field.
Then, in 2023, while chaperoning at a youth worship event for her daughter, Kristi felt a tug from the Holy Spirit to preach. She dismissed it at first, but supportive mentors helped her to discern a genuine calling, leading her to a preaching class at WBS that further equipped her.
That step into occasional preaching was accelerated when Kristy was asked to pastor Spartanburg Global Methodist, a new church plant in South Carolina that launched in August of 2025.
Not long after, she was also asked to take on a church revitalization across town at Roebuck Methodist. “I went to the interview in blue jeans,” she admits. “I didn’t think they wanted a female pastor and I didn’t think they would ever choose me.” To her surprise, her district leader called shortly after to affirm, “You’re the one they want.” She says she is the only person she knows of in her conference taking on both a church plant and a church revitalization project.
That second appointment not only expanded her ministry, it also demonstrated to her that God would meet the financial needs of her family even as she lost her job in the dental field. “I’ve learned you just have to pour all your trust on God,” she says. “When the human side wants to stress over the numbers, just talk to God, listen, and wait for Him to move.”
Kristy says that WBS classes have perfectly met her needs as she has grown in leadership. “Staying in school with everything else going on in life is hard,” she admits, “but it’s changing my life; I’m a totally different person than I was even six months ago. WBS is helping me change the way I think. It may seem weird to others my age, but I love being in school as I want to absorb all that I can learn to better serve the Church.”
The churches Kristy serves are beginning to thrive. “They are getting out beyond the walls of the church, serving the community, and inviting people in to encounter Christ,” she says.
No doubt Kristy was “bringing smiles” through her work at a dental office, but through God’s unexpected ways, today her joyful spirit is helping to lead two churches to new expressions of life in their community, and the smiles are multiplying.