Serving in church was part of Rev. Karen Tyler’s life and faith throughout her childhood in Southeast Texas, where she lived most of her life.

“Growing up, you went to church, you were in a small group, you studied your Bible, and you did missions work,” she says. “That’s what it meant to follow Jesus — to love God and love others by doing all those things.”

But that focus on serving Jesus and helping others didn’t stop in childhood, and it didn’t happen just in the church building.

“I have had an active faith my entire life,” she continues. “My dad was an interim music minister and volunteer Bible teacher, and we were always in church. We lived out our faith not only in church but at home and in our lives. We were ‘Jesus people’ all week long. We loved Jesus and served Him with our whole heart, and that’s the way we all grew up.”

When Karen was 16 years old, she realized God was calling her into the ministry. However, because she wasn’t sure exactly what God was calling her to do, she didn’t answer the call. Instead, she decided to pursue a degree in pharmacy from the University of Houston to help people.

After working in hospitals as a pharmacist, she began her journey to ministry in 2005 when she planted At the Water’s Edge, a missional community-based, non-denominational church with Wesleyan theology. From there, she served in multiple ministry positions before joining the pastoral staff at Cedar Bayou Grace Church in Baytown, Texas, where she served for eight years before coming to The Woodlands Methodist Church.

To advance her ministry, Karen completed courses of study from Perkins School of Theology at SMU, Candler School of Theology at Emory, and Duke Divinity School.

As Pastor of Worship and Evangelism at The Woodlands Methodist Church, Karen’s greatest desire is to equip all TWMC worship venues so that every person who gathers to worship has a transformative encounter with God.

“God has placed within me a deep longing to help grow worshipping communities both numerically and in deeper commitment to passionate and Spirit-led worship,” she says. “For many people, a worship gathering will be their entry point into the church, and I deeply desire for others to know that God’s love and grace are being offered to them.”

Karen resides in The Woodlands and has five children and four grandchildren.