Some people minister from the pulpit. Some can minister with a paintbrush. Deborah Hanes-Nelson is a person who can do both.
Today we’ll meet this talented woman who has been both a preacher and a painter in rural Kansas.
Deb Hanes-Nelson is a watercolorist. She was born in Florence but her family moved around Kansas because her father was a relief foreman for the Santa Fe Railroad. “When you’re out somewhere and you don’t know anybody, you can pick up a pad of paper and draw,” Hanes-Nelson said. “I’ve always enjoyed drawing and painting.”
Her high school didn’t offer art classes, but Hanes-Nelson took lessons from a local woman. After high school, she moved to Topeka, where she felt called to the ministry. She attended Washburn University and then St. Paul Theology School in Kansas City, launching a 35-year career serving as a pastor in the United Methodist Church.
She also met and married her husband, Doug, who is a finish carpenter and custom woodworker. They had one son.
