Rev. Bryce Blank presides over Holy Communion at Watertown First UMC.

Intentionally haphazard. Those are the words Rev. Bryce Blank uses to describe the evolution of his call to ministry.

A Rapid City native, Bryce traveled across the state to attend Dakota Wesleyan University as a student-athlete with an undeclared major. It was there, through religion classes with Dakotas UMC elders Rev. Boyd Blumer and Rev. Dr. Joel Allen, that God began to open Bryce's heart and mind to possible new paths.

"Those two really introduced me to more of an academic side of my faith that I had never dived into as much," recalled Blank.

A conversation with another DWU professor, Dr. Alisha Vincent, about options for majors and careers led to a summer job at Lake Poinsett camp, and the spark was lit.

"I couldn't get enough of camp. I loved it, and I came back and said, 'Yep, I want to do this," said Blank. "So that's when I declared my majors – Nonprofit Administration and Christian Leadership."

With the academic framework set, the steps towards ministry discernment and active discipleship became more intentional, including active engagement in campus ministry.

"[Campus pastors] Eric and Denise [VanMeter] really mentored me so much and gave me so much insight into what it means to be in ministry and really built me up and brought me up," shared Blank.

God worked through seemingly haphazard conversations with other mentors to bring further clarity about seminary and vocational ministry.

"I remember a conversation with Steve Trefz – I don't remember where we were driving, but we had about five minutes in the car together – and he was asking me about cross country and stuff," recalled Blank. "He asked, 'What do you really enjoy with cross country?' I was telling him how I love being there for my friends. I love sharing life with them. And he said, 'That's kind of what ministry is with other people.'"

"It was all those small moments of encouragement and affirmation," he added.

Pastor Bryce helping lead music at confirmation camp.

Pastor Bryce's journey to becoming an ordained elder in the Dakotas Conference also included a shift in denominations. Having grown up as an active participant in his Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) congregation in Rapid City, it was Dakotas Conference events and connections, as well as the Wesleyan theology of grace that "strangely warmed" Blank's heart toward Methodism.

Blank first attended Annual Conference in 2017 when he was selected as an Elisha Intern.

"The feeling I got from the Conference was that, in The United Methodist Church, we can have a diversity of thought and opinion and belief and a little nuance around practice, and we can still be this body together of Christians who love and live in the world," shared Blank. "The rest of the world, at that time, felt like it was so divided, and so I thought, if there's a group of people who are trying to do this and be together and understand that we're different, I want to be a part of it."

"Once I discovered the grace theology, that also felt like something that I had thought about but never articulated. I felt like that fits me," added Blank.  

"It all feels haphazard – small steps here and there – and it really was, and is, an intentional call by God," said Blank.

After graduating from DWU, Blank attended Perkins School of Theology in Dallas, Texas. Upon completing seminary, Pastor Bryce was appointed as the associate pastor at First United Methodist Church in Watertown, S.D. This July, he and his wife, Meaghan, will move to Valley City, N.D., as Blank begins his appointment as the lead pastor at Epworth United Methodist Church.

As he begins this new chapter, Blank is grateful for the joys and challenges that come with vocational ministry and how God continues to work in "intentionally haphazard" ways.

"I think some of the most joyful moments for me are getting to share in the nuance that is life together and share how constant God's presence is in all of the ups and downs and in between," said Blank.

"I think a lot of times we put God in a box, and so our life can't interact with God because this part of my life is not for God. This is for something else," explained Blank. "I love those times when we can help bridge that with people and maybe open the box a little bit more and take down the walls of that box."

This passion for helping people expand their understanding of and experience with God is one of the things that motivates him to continue to be actively involved with camping, youth and young adult ministries. 

Blank also knows the reality of the divisive times we continue to live in and how that can impact the discipleship and witness of Christians. This impact is especially evident in situations where faith is wielded for political purposes.

Bryce and Thanael Certa-Werner, another 2025 ordinand, have been friends since college at DWU.

"It's difficult because something that is an important facet to our faith is either not received because it is viewed as political or it is misunderstood because it has been made political," lamented Blank.

The challenge, explained Blank, is giving people who have been hurt by religion or a church experience or the weaponization of faith a different picture of who faithful followers of Jesus are and are called to be. The roots of our faith tradition – grace, community, social holiness – are the very things that can help us do that.

"I firmly believe that John Wesley's model of discipleship in small groups and band meetings and the whole way that the Methodist movement started, in general, is effective because it is based around the idea of community," explained Blank. "I have hope for our United Methodist Church because we are founded in community. Our connectionalism is based on our ability to be connected and share resources and life and ministry with each other."

"I find hope in that because I feel like the way forward might not always be clear. But if we are connecting, relational, and communal with each other and God, then there is a way forward," he emphasized.

When asked how his Dakotas family could be praying for him, Pastor Bryce replied, "I would say continued prayers for strength and for God's presence being felt, especially as I transition to Valley City and become a lead pastor for the first time. Also, prayers of confidence and encouragement for Epworth and for Watertown First and myself that we are following where God is leading and that we can put our trust in God."