New pastor now in place at Imperial Methodist Church

    After 30 years in the business world, Imperial’s newest pastor began his track to church ministry 13 years ago.
    Rev. Brian Loy is the new pastor of Imperial Methodist Church, which is part of the Global Methodist Church ministry that launched in May 2022.
    Formation of Imperial’s new congregation started earlier this year.
    Pastor Loy’s first service in Imperial was June 18, and he’s happy with his move here, both with the local church and community.
    “I’m very excited about the church ministry here and its development. The congregation has been very welcoming, friendly and is outreach-minded,” he said.
    Others in the community have been warm and friendly, too.
    “I’ve enjoyed every conversation I’ve had so far a lot,” he said.
    When members of the congregation approached him about serving as pastor in Imperial, he said it answered a desire of his to be closer to family living in western Nebraska.    
    Pastor Loy is single and has two children.
    His son Brandon, wife Erika and two daughters live near Bushnell, where Brandon is a rancher. Daughter-in-law Erika works in the Pine Bluffs, Wyoming School System and is a homemaker.
    Pastor Loy’s daughter Lacey and husband Cardinal live in Gering with her two sons and a daughter and another daughter on the way. Lacey works as a school psychologist in the Gering Public School system where she graduated. Her husband is employed by the state of Nebraska.
    He moved to Imperial from Lakin, Kansas, a town of similar size to Imperial. He served there as pastor of the United Methodist Church.
    Before his move to Lakin, he was pastor of the Sandhills Parish serving the towns of O’Neill, Chambers, Atkinson and Amelia for four and  a half years, starting in 2017.
    For personal reasons, he said he stepped down from two of those churches and began pastoring in Elgin, from which his father was retiring as pastor.
    His first years as a pastor from 2014-17 was actually as a Wesleyan minister, he said, in Canton, South Dakota.
    He is now completing a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biblical Theologies from Southeastern University in Lakeland, Florida.

    Since high school, being a pastor has been something he always wanted to do.
    “I always admired the work that my father did with people in leading them to a changed life,” he said.
    So, he began his path to becoming a pastor in 1981, but it soon came to a halt once he started pursuing successful business ventures in construction and commercial real estate. He said he built commercial buildings for Aaron’s Rent-to-Own and Petco.
    Later, he started his own trucking business.
    “After 30 plus years of being successful, I still wasn’t at peace and happy,” he said.
    “And so, I found myself on a country road and pulled into a little church, recommitted my life to Christ and began the ministry track and haven’t looked back,” he said.
    His favorite part about being in the ministry has been “seeing people who are lost and hurting come to a saving grace with Jesus Christ.”
    However, there are also downsides, at times, to being in the ministry, he said.
    “Standing before a family that just lost a loved one, and who was killed in an alcohol-related accident and trying to explain and make sense of that is extremely hard,” he said.
    In his spare time, Loy said he enjoys golfing, working in ag-related businesses, farms and ranches, as well as traveling.
    He noted a licensed pastor requires an ongoing continuing education learning system, but he does have at least one bucket list item.
    “I hope to soon pursue my private pilot’s license,” he said.
    Pastor Loy noted the Global Methodist Church now has 6,186 individual churches organized since its founding 14 months ago.