Rev. Moss leads at First Methodist Church

The Rev. Steve Moss says American society is not as biblically literate as it once was and he wishes people would delve back into the Bible and reacquaint themselves with God’s word.

“Unfortunately, the Bible gathers dust on many bookshelves,” said the Rev Moss, pastor of the First Methodist Church at 415 N. Lee Ave. “We need to take it off the bookshelf and read it.”

The pastor said he, like many people, grew up reading the traditional King James Version, but translations like the New International Version and New Revised Standard Edition “are more easily understood in today’s society.

“There are many good translations out there,” he said.

Moss is a native East Texan who graduated from St. Augustine High School and studied at Stephen F. Austin University in Nacogdoches before working as a commercial printer for 15 years in the Metroplex and becoming a Realtor. He took degrees at Northwood University in Cedar Hill and Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

Moss was a pastor in Corsicana, China Springs and Granbury till arriving three months ago at the First Methodist Church, which averages 100 people at its 9 a.m. Sunday services. Moss’s wife Cynthia is also a pastor. They have a daughter.

Having been preaching from the Book of Acts, Moss said, “We should learn how to apply the Word of God to our daily lives by understanding that there is a loving God out there who desires us to know him and love him and love our neighbors.

“We’re all children of the God who created us, redeemed us and sustains us and we should remember who we are and whose we are. Christ calls us into this relationship so that others might know this great love.”

The First Methodist Church of Odessa is part of the Lubbock-based West Plains Conference of the Global Methodist Church.

“There is such a need for us to grow in God’s word,” Moss said. “We are called to be out there sharing the love of God with all those in our community and beyond — the least, the last and the lost.”

Patrick Butts, an Arlington paralegal who is a lifelong friend of Moss’s, said the pastor “is very loyal and very passionate.

“Steve is a gifted man of God and leader who has found his sweet spot as a pastor,” Butts said. “I love him like a brother and I have nothing but good things to say about him.”