John Huseman was preaching to thousands at The Ark Church in Houston when he decided to return to Salina, where he was raised, to start his own church with his wife and kids. John Huseman is the BANK VI Hero of the Week.

Huseman is a Salina Central graduate who helped lead the Mustangs to a state football championship. After attending Kansas State University for two years, he decided that his calling was to lead a congregation; Huseman then transferred to Oral Roberts University in the hopes of becoming a pastor.

It was at Oral Roberts that Huseman met Lindsay. He said it took him a year, but John said he finally convinced her to go out with him. They have been married for 14 years and have four children.

John was a pastor at The Ark Church in Houston, a church with a congregation that exceeds the population of Abilene, for nine years.

“About two years ago I began praying about being the senior pastor at a church,” Huseman said. “My senior pastor (at The Ark) told me that when I found out where I needed to go, he was going to support me.”

Huseman returned to Salina last summer to officiate his sister’s wedding. Two days after the wedding, John’s mother unexpectedly died. John said those events helped him and his wife to make the decision to plant their church in Salina.

“In the middle of that, God really began to speak to me and my wife about Salina,” Huseman said. “My wife is from Pittsburgh so we had never lived close to family. Being close to family wasn’t exactly our motivation, we just wanted to go where we felt like God needed us to be.”

John and his family moved to Salina in June and began laying the groundwork for a new church.

Like The Ark in Houston, the Salina Ark Church will start as a portable church. John said the Ark Salina will hold their first sermon on Jan. 14, 2018 at the Salina Community Theatre.

Even though they don’t yet have a permanent location, The Ark Church Salina has already had a positive impact on the community. John said that he and several future members of the church gave out 200 gift bags to teachers and school staff as they prepared to head back to school. He said they have also reached out to the Mayor and Police Chief.

“I have already received a lot of great feedback,” Huseman said. “And I want this to be a church that is active in the community.”

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