Submitted
An installation ceremony for the Rev. Chris Prater is scheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 30, at First Baptist Church of Hays, 12th and Fort. The public is invited.
The executive minister of the American Baptist Churches of the Central Region, the Rev. Dr. Gregg Hemmen, will conduct the installation ceremony.
“I feel blessed to have had opportunities to grow in my faith and in my abilities, and to have been called to serve First Baptist of Hays as its pastor,” Prater said. “My ministry to the church body also includes ministry to the broader community in which the church lives and ministry within the ABC denomination, both regionally and nationally.”
Prater, a native of Rensselear, Ind., has been involved in pastoral duties for American Baptist Churches USA since 2002.
“I first felt a call to ministry at the age of 16, soon after accepting Christ, but like many people who become pastors, my first response was to run,” Prater said.
His first refuge was the U.S. Marine Corps. He enlisted for four years after graduating high school in 1992. He spent the bulk of his enlistment with the Marine Security Detachment at the Kings Bay, Georgia, Naval Submarine Base.
His hitch as a Marine was cut short by a medical discharge following an automobile accident, so he next ran to business school, earning a bachelor’s degree in business management, with an accounting specialty, in 1999 from International Business College, Fort Wayne, Ind.
It was, he said, a field he discovered held absolutely no interest for him and, three years later, he gave up running.
“I realized that God was still calling me to the ministry, and this time I obeyed,” he said.
His pastoral education began with a certificate of pastoral studies from the Christian Leadership Institute, a program of the American Baptist Churches of Indiana/Kentucky for lay members who feel a calling to ministry. He went on from there to complete, in 2009, a master’s degree in divinity from Christian Theological Seminary, Indianapolis.
His service as a pastor began even before his formal ordination in 2009, when he became an associate pastor at First Baptist Church, Bluffton, Ind., in 2007. After ordination, he took up his post as pastor of First Baptist in Ipswich, South Dakota. In 2014, he moved to Charleston, Ill., to become pastor of First Baptist Church there. He comes to Hays from Charleston.
Prater and his wife, Stephanie, have four children: Michaela, Allison, Nikolas and Emily. Nikolas and Emily still live in the home.
Social distancing protocols are observed by FBC Hays during worship services and will be also at the installation ceremony. Face masks will be available.
First Baptist Church, Hays, was founded in 1885. Sunday School begins at 9 a.m., worship service at 10:30 a.m.