Dr. Stew Grant has been a United Methodist since he was 10 years old. He was called into ministry in his teens after attending a revival led by Ed Robb’s father at First United Methodist Church in Humble, Texas. He remembers seeing Ed at the revival as a young man with his family, and realizing that a young pastor could do this job even with children in tow.

A calling into ministry was always in the back of his mind, but he didn’t pursue it until after he finished a degree in Marketing Research. It was then that he went to Asbury Theological Seminary, and he began his first course of study in the area of pastoral care and counseling. He served for a short time at First UMC in Wharton when Dr. Robb graciously sought his appointment here at The Woodlands Methodist Church in 2000 as the Pastor of Caring Ministries.

He served The Woodlands Methodist Church for nine years before he took a position at the Center for Healthy Relationships at John Brown University to work on federal grants and finish his doctoral studies. He taught graduate counseling and was able to work with some great minds in the relationship sciences.

After many years of research and study, he found that this idea holds true - “Relationship sciences overwhelmingly affirm scriptural truth. Relationships are why we live. And it is clear in Scriptures that our relationship with Christ is what defines all others.”

Dr. Gary Oliver, a Professor of Psychology and Practical Theology, believes that as go marriages, so go families, and as go families so go communities, churches, states and nations. Marriage is the building block of society.

Stew remembers hearing this statement for the first time and thinking, “Yes! This is why I was called into ministry.”

So when Dr. Robb ran into Stew at Texas Annual Conference in August of 2017 and asked him if he would ever consider coming back to The Woodlands Methodist Church, his answer was a definitive “Yes.” Stew knew that bringing a marriage and family pastor onto the staff of the church was an opportunity to impact marriages, not only for this church, but also in this community and beyond.

This ministry is not one Stew chooses to do alone. He and his wife Shelli have been married since 1990 and are partners in marriage ministry. They have traveled all over the country teaching about healthy marriages on college campuses.

Stew and his wife Shelli are the parents of Ashley, Zach, Jonathan and Stephen.