Hello!

Some quick facts about me:

• I love Star Trek. All of it. Even Enterprise.

• I own far too many books.

• I invest way too much money into game consoles.

• I will eat just about anything in the world except beans.

I am thankful to serve as the Director of Discipleship here at FUMC Clifton! I was raised in the thriving metropolis of Moshiem, TX.

Through my home church’s student ministry I came to faith and found my own calling to serve in ministry. I attended the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor and earned my Bachelor’s of Christian Ministry degree. While I was at UMHB I met my awesome wife Emily and our daughter was born in 2023.

Growing up I always found myself wrestling with faith and when I did become a follower of Jesus I still had this tension between faith and reason, certainty and doubt, After graduating from UMHB with my Christian Ministry degree I still found myself wrestling with faith; even more than I did before. I knew that in order to come to terms with the questions, doubts, etc. that I had I needed freedom to pursue Jesus outside of the tradition I was raised in. I chose to leave my position as a youth pastor in Temple and believed at the time that this would be a permanent career change.

Now, I don’t quite believe in “predestination” in the same way that many Christians do, but through what I like to call a “suspiciously random series of events,” I met our pastor, Don Moore. After several long conversations together, I realized that God might very well be calling me to serve at First United Methodist Church of Clifton and here I am!

If you are someone who has doubts, questions, or generally just has a hard time with this whole “faith” thing then I would love to meet with you and get some coffee, lunch, or have you over to play board games with Emily and I. I don’t pretend to have all of the answers to the deepest mysteries of God figured out, however I do believe that through sharing in community we can explore these questions and wrestle with them together.

Live long and prosper,

Alex Balch