1970 - 1995
Wichita, Kansas
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Dr. Forrest Robinson was appointed to First United Methodist Church in 1968, following the tragic death of Dr. and Mrs. Lawrence Landrum. He and his wife, Betty Jean, and their two children, Jim and Robin, moved to Wichita from Winfield where he had served the Methodist Church for four years.
Dr. Robinson was born in Winfield, Kansas, where he received his primary education and attended Southwestern College. Following serving in the Army (Europe) in World War II, he received a degree in Business Administration at Oklahoma State University in 1948.
He and Betty Jean operated a gift and jewelry business in Stillwater, Oklahoma, for seven years, and following a year at Boeing Airplane Company, he entered the ministry of the United Methodist Church, serving three churches in the Catskill Mountains of New York. He received his Master of Divinity degree from Drew University in Madison, New Jersey, in 1959.
In 1959, he was appointed Associate Pastor of First United Methodist Church Wichita when Dr. Meredith was the senior pastor. He became the senior pastor of the Woodlawn UMC, Derby, Kansas, in 1960, and in 1964 was appointed to FUMC, Winfield, Kansas.
After corning to First Church Wichita in 1968, he worked in numerous capacities in race relations during the volatile days of the 1960's, particularly in fair housing, jobs, education and housing for the black community.
He was instrumental in working to retire the $600,000 building debt, helped to plan and participate in the church's Centennial celebration, and helped to launch the Developmentally Disabled program (Religious Nurture Center) and the Young Adult program.
Dr. Robinson served as senior pastor of FUMC Wichita from 1968 until 1974, when he resigned to run for office of governor in the Republican primary. Subsequently, in 1975, he was appointed by Governor Robert Bennett to be the Liaison Officer to the Ozarks Regional Commission working in the areas of economic development, alternative sources for energy, material and energy conservation and water projects.
In 1977, he was appointed by Governor Bennett to be the Secretary to the newly established Kansas Department on Aging, and to serve as a member of the Governor's Cabinet. He resigned that position in 1978 to pursue personal interests.
In July 1980, he was appointed as Interim President of Southwestern College in Winfield, Kansas. He held that position until the arrival of the new president in January 1981. At that time he became Vice-President for Development and Public Relations at the school.
He served the United Methodist Church in Johnson, Kansas from June 1983 to June 1985. He was then appointed Executive Director of the Kansas Area United Methodist Foundation, Inc.
He and his wife have hosted several tour groups to the Holy Land and Europe since 1971. Dr. Robinson retired from active ministry in 1990 and lives in Winfield, Kansas.
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After Forrest Robinson announced that he was leaving FUMC on December 23, 1973, the Pastor-Parish Committee and Advisory Council interviewed three ministers. On December 2, 1973, Bishop Dixon announced the appointment of Rev. Richard B. Wilke as senior minister of FUMC Wichita. We were continuing the trend to recruit new ministers from our own conference. Rev. Wilke and his family proved to be the right choice at the right time for our church.
Pastor Wilke assumed his duties as senior minister on January 1, 1974. He had served as District Superintendent of the Winfield District for two and one-half years when he received this appointment. His family - wife, Julia; sons, Steve and Paul; and daughters, Susan and Sarah - moved to Wichita June 1, and began a ministry at FUMC which would last ten years.
Before coming to First Church, Pastor Wilke had written a book, Tell Me Again, I'm Listening, a discussion of husband/wife dialogue. In May, 1974, his second book, The Pastor and Marriage Group Counseling was released. The Festival of the Christian Home was celebrated in May with Pastor Wilke preaching sermons about the home and the family.
During Pastor Wilke's time in the pulpit, many new programs were started:
In 1976, Southwestern College honored Pastor Wilke by conferring the Doctor of Humana Letters on May 16. Later that year he was a delegate to the World Methodist Conference which was held in Dublin, Ireland.
Pastor Wilke was not only an inspiring preacher, he was also a good administrator sitting in on many committee meetings and always having constructive ideas to contribute.
He was also an avid sports fan who attended many basketball and football games, occasionally making him late to meetings!
In 1984, Pastor Dick and Julia Wilke attended the General Conference. Over 1,000 delegates gathered in Baltimore - as our forefathers did in 1784 - to discuss and vote on issues that concerned our United Methodist churches all over the world.
A highlight in First Church's history was Pastor Richard Wilke's election as Bishop of the United Methodist Church at the Jurisdictional Conference held at Lubbock, Texas, in July 1984. Bishop Wilke's last Sunday was July 19, 1984, ending ten years of service as senior pastor at FUMC. He was assigned as the Episcopal leader of Arkansas.
The Wilkes have four children and eight grandchildren. Their son, Steve, is Dean of Students at Southwestern College in Winfield, Kansas. Paul is pastor at Church of the Cross United Methodist Church in Salina, Kansas. Susan, an occupational therapist and Youth Director, is married to the Reverend Rob Fuquay, a United Methodist pastor in North Carolina. Sarah is director of the Wesley Rankin Center in Dallas, Texas.
Bishop and Mrs. Wilke resided in Little Rock, Arkansas until his retirement in 1996. Following retirement, they moved to a home in Winfield, Kansas.
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Bishop Ben Oliphint announced that Dr. Edward A. Rowley had been appointed to First United Methodist Church Wichita as Senior Pastor effective September 9, 1984. At the time of his appointment, Dr. Rowley was serving as District Superintendent of the Hays District. Ha and his wife, Lue Ann, moved to Wichita and joined our church family. Their son, Corey, was a student at Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington, D.C., and their daughter, Laurie, was a senior at American University, Washington, D.C.
Edward Alexander Rowley was born November 23, 1935, in London, England. He served as altar boy in the Church of England and lived through World War II in London and the surrounding area. He became a Christian while in the United States Marine Corps and received a call to the ministry.
Dr. Rowley received his B.A. Degree from Bethany College in Bethany, Oklahoma. He earned his Master's Degree in Speech & Communications from the University of Kansas in 1960. He attended the Nazarene Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri and earned a Master of Divinity Degree from Garrett Theological Seminary in 1966. He was awarded a Doctor of Ministry from the Institute of Advanced Pastoral Studies in 1966.
He began his ministry in the Central Illinois Conference. He became a Probationary Member in 1965 and received Elders Orders in 1967. In 1972, he transferred to the Kansas West Conference where he served churches at Sterling and Hutchinson before his appointment as D.S. of the Hays District.
Dr. Rowley was a gifted preacher and administrator. During his ministry in Wichita, he was actively involved in civic and religious organizations.
On April 29, 1986, Dr. Rowley underwent surgery for a malignant brain tumor. He returned to his office and preached a few times during the next few months. He preached his last sermon on Sunday, September 29, 1986. He died on February 17, 1987, after a lengthy illness.
Once again the First Church family suffered the difficulty of losing their senior pastor.
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Dr. Dan Bonner, Brownsville, Texas, was appointed Senior Pastor of First Church Wichita, effective February 1, 1987. His wife, Jeanne, also a United Methodist pastor, remained in Brownsville with daughters Naomi, age 7, and Angela, age 4, until the end of the conference year. This "mid-year" appointment was due to the untimely death of Dr. Edward Rowley.
Dr. Dan Bonner was born March 26, 1950, in Sulphur Springs, Texas. He received his education at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. He graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. Degree. While at Yale, he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and captain of the Yale football team in 1971.
He received his M.Div. Degree from the Yale Divinity School in 1976 and was the recipient of the Charles S. Mersick Prize as the outstanding preaching student. In 1982, he received his D.Min. Degree from the Boston University School of Theology.
Dr. Bonner was ordained a Deacon in the Southwest Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church in 1975, and received Elder's orders from the conference in 1978.
Before becoming senior pastor of FUMC Wichita, he served as Associate Pastor for Evangelism and Mission at Travis Park UMC in San Antonio, Texas from June 1977 to June 1982. His next appointment was that of Senior Pastor of FUMC Brownsville, Texas, from June 1982 to February 1987.
Dr. Bonner was always interested in working with African Americans and Anglo Americans, with people who were homeless, and with the poor. This fitted him very well for an urban church such as FUMC Wichita. He developed programs to minister to the poor of the downtown area, and worked for social justice. He was a very popular preacher and during his ministry, the church increased in membership and attendance.
He left First Church in June, 1992, to become Executive Director of LINC (Living in New Community) in Kansas City, Missouri. At this writing, September 1997, he is Executive/Elder Pastor of St. James UMC in Kansas City, Missouri.
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In August of 1992, Dr. Kelly Bender became Senior Pastor at First United Methodist Church. A native Kansan, he had previously served churches only in the Kansas East Conference. Dr. Bender had several degrees. He had a BA from Southwestern College and a Mdiv. from the Saint Paul School of Theology, as well as an MS and a Ph.D. from Kansas State University. He also had been awarded an Honorary Doctor of Divinity from Baker University.
When Pastor Bender arrived, he came to a sorely wounded congregation. He quickly joined in embracing its mission, a journey toward wholeness. In the Fall of 2000, just before Bender was appointed Senior Pastor of Paradise Valley United Methodist Church in the Phoenix, Arizona area, the congregation at First underwent a major consultation with a national consultant and was pronounced healthy and vital. Several strategic initiatives for the future were then identified.
Pastor Bender described two of the struggles of First Church from 1992-2001 as location in a deteriorating downtown and lack of stewardship, encouraged by a culture that incites us to consume, not give. He tackled both these difficulties with characteristic concern.
During his tenure, First Church emerged as a leading congregation in second-mile giving, above and beyond apportionment. The congregation contributed the lead gift to Camp Horizon, a dining hall. An endowment fund was instituted, thanks to Olive Ann Beech. Bender encouraged the congregation to tithe the endowment interest income.
Bender was the president and founding pastor of C.O.R.E., Centercity Organized Revitalization Effort. The purpose of this innovative, congregation-based initiative was to revitalize the inner city. He encouraged the establishment of a drop-in center for the homeless and an after-school program for at risk kids. For these efforts he received the Sedgwick County Enrichment Award from the County Commissioners office for going "above and beyond" to help those in the community.
Missions appeared as a strength during this time. Pastor Bender participated in four work teams-two to Poland and two to Mexico. He established covenant relationships with two congregations, one in Warsaw, Poland and one with El Mesias in Wichita.
Also during his tenure, he preached to a television audience of 30,000 to 40,000 on Sunday mornings, reaching the western two-thirds of Kansas. Pastor Bender created Families & Faith. He did radio spots on three radio stations during morning rush hour, educating the community about family situations.
Kelly and Vickie Bender shared a team ministry, blessing children and youth. They led an annual Marriage Growth Event. Kelly Bender joined the youth on nine tours with the Free. Vickie Bender was especially active in teaching the children and youth. She began an Early Christian Awareness Class and spent time as the Director of the FUMC Pre-School and Kindergarten.
Both of the Benders' daughters, Sundee Pickering and Brianna Vogt were married in First Church. Grandson Kellen Pickering was baptized by Dr. Bender at First and grandson Jonathan Vogt participated as a member of the Free.
In 2001 Kelly and Vickie Bender were both delegates to the World Methodist Conference in Brighton, England. Kelly served as a jurisdictional conference delegate in 1996 and again in 2000.
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