PEACE FROM A PALLET®: An Epiphany for Kyev Tatum. How God Used a Pallet and a Sunflower to Reveal a New Way of Seeing People, Communities, and Possibility.
PEACE FROM A PALLET®: An Epiphany for Kyev Tatum. How God Used a Pallet and a Sunflower to Reveal a New Way of Seeing People, Communities, and Possibility. CBS Story on the Peace From A Pallet Network: https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/video/fort-worth-church-building-garden-boxes-to-help-address-food-insecurity/
James 3:18
“And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”
By Angels in the Hood Media Network
FORT WORTH, Texas — God has a way of hiding profound truths in ordinary things.
Moses found God speaking through a burning bush.
David learned faith while tending sheep.
Jesus taught eternal truths through seeds, vineyards, fishermen, and fields.
For Pastor Kyev P. Tatum, Sr., God used a pallet and a sunflower.
What eventually became known as Peace From A Pallet® did not begin as a ministry program, a community initiative, or a strategic plan.
It began with a burden.
A question.
And ultimately, an epiphany.
The story begins during one of the most difficult seasons in modern American history.
When the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the nation, communities already struggling found themselves facing unprecedented challenges. Food insecurity increased. Unemployment rose. Families suffered. Schools closed. Isolation intensified. Fear spread.
Like many churches, New Mount Rose Missionary Baptist Church stepped forward to serve.
Under Pastor Tatum’s leadership, the church became a center of hope, compassion, and relief.
Truck after truck arrived.
Volunteers unloaded food.
Families lined up.
Neighbors helped neighbors.
Partnerships formed.
Resources flowed.
Over time, New Mount Rose, the Ministers Justice Coalition, and a growing network of community partners helped distribute more than $25 million in food, supplies, and assistance to families throughout the community.
The work mattered.
People were fed.
Families were supported.
Lives were touched.
Yet when the crisis began to subside, Pastor Tatum found himself wrestling with a troubling question.
Despite the tremendous investment of resources, many of the same conditions remained.
Poverty remained.
Food insecurity remained.
Educational disparities remained.
Health inequities remained.
Economic hardship remained.
Trauma remained.
In some cases, conditions had become even worse.
The question followed him everywhere:
“If we have distributed millions of dollars in resources, why are so many outcomes still the same?”
The question became impossible to ignore.
Then came another painful moment.
A young man from the community named Tre died.
His death deeply affected many who knew him and served as another reminder that the challenges facing the community were not merely economic or educational.
Many wounds were invisible.
The historic 76104 community carried burdens that statistics alone could never explain.
Behind every number was a name.
Behind every outcome was a family.
Behind every challenge was a story.
The neighborhood faced some of the lowest outcomes in Texas and, in several categories, among the lowest in the nation.
Residents lived with one of the lowest life expectancies in the state.
The needs were visible.
The trauma often remained hidden.
Years of disappointment.
Years of struggle.
Years of loss.
Years of simply trying to survive.
Pastor Tatum began searching for something deeper than assistance.
He was looking for healing.
Not merely relief.
Transformation.
Not merely distribution.
Restoration.
Not merely programs.
Renewal.
The answer initially seemed simple.
Start a garden.
A garden could provide food.
A garden could create beauty.
A garden could become a place where neighbors gathered, reflected, connected, and healed.
But God was preparing a lesson much larger than a garden.
One day, Tracy Welterlen stopped by the church and demonstrated how three discarded wooden pallets could be transformed into a simple garden box.
At first glance, it was an ordinary lesson.
Three pallets.
A few tools.
A little labor.
A garden box.
Most people would have seen a practical gardening project.
But the image stayed with Pastor Tatum.
The pallet lingered in his mind.
The more he reflected on it, the more he realized that the pallet represented much more than wood.
The pallet carried value long before anyone noticed it.
It bore weight.
Created opportunity.
Served others.
Supported growth.
Yet when its original assignment appeared complete, it was often discarded.
Overlooked.
Ignored.
Thrown away.
The pallet began to remind him of people.
People whose value had been overlooked.
Churches that had been underestimated.
Neighborhoods that had been forgotten.
Communities that had been written off.
The pallet became a symbol.
Not of waste.
But of possibility.
Not of limitation.
But of redemption.
God was teaching him through a pallet.
But the lesson was not yet complete.
Months later, another lesson emerged.
As New Mount Rose expanded its gardening efforts, agricultural mentors Ken Ross and P. Wade Ross began teaching principles of growing food, stewardship, and cultivation.
Among their recommendations was a simple suggestion:
Plant sunflowers.
The advice seemed practical.
But as Pastor Tatum watched them grow, another spiritual lesson began to unfold.
Sunflowers naturally follow the sun.
They orient themselves toward the light.
They grow toward the light.
They thrive because they remain connected to the source of light.
The lesson struck him immediately.
Just as the sunflower follows the sun, believers are called to follow the Son.
The sunflower became a living picture of discipleship.
Direction.
Faithfulness.
Growth.
Purpose.
The pallet and the sunflower entered the story at different moments.
They were separate lessons.
Separate revelations.
Separate teachers.
But God was preparing to bring them together.
Over time, Pastor Tatum began to see the connection.
The pallet represented redemption.
The sunflower represented direction.
The pallet represented potential.
The sunflower represented purpose.
The pallet represented what God redeems.
The sunflower represented who God calls us to follow.
Then came the epiphany.
The realization arrived with remarkable clarity:
Transformation occurs when redeemed potential is aligned with divine direction.
Suddenly everything made sense.
The pallet was not the point.
The sunflower was not the point.
The garden was not the point.
The point was transformation.
The point was helping people discover their God-given value and align their lives with God’s purpose.
The point was helping communities move from dependency to opportunity.
From consumption to production.
From survival to flourishing.
What began as a garden project became a theological framework.
What began as three discarded pallets became a new way of seeing people.
What began as a sunflower became a lesson in discipleship.
Peace From A Pallet® was born.
The epiphany changed everything.
It changed how Pastor Tatum viewed ministry.
It changed how he viewed leadership.
It changed how he viewed community development.
It changed how he viewed churches.
It changed how he viewed neighborhoods.
It changed how he viewed people.
The garden boxes became expressions of the vision.
The Food Forest became an expression.
The Community Food Bowl became an expression.
The Citizenship Academy became an expression.
The CommuniVersity Center became an expression.
The workforce initiatives became expressions.
But they were never the vision itself.
The vision was always transformation.
The true product was never a garden box.
The true product was a transformed person.
A transformed church.
A transformed neighborhood.
A transformed community.
God specializes in redeeming what others overlook.
He sees value where others see waste.
Purpose where others see problems.
Potential where others see limitations.
Hope where others see hopelessness.
The pallet remains the platform.
The sunflower remains the guide.
The epiphany remains the foundation.
And the transformation remains the harvest.
Join the Peace From A Pallet® Network
Peace From A Pallet® is more than a story.
More than a garden.
More than a ministry.
More than a community initiative.
It is a growing network of churches, community leaders, educators, entrepreneurs, gardeners, mentors, volunteers, and everyday people committed to helping transform overlooked people, overlooked places, and overlooked possibilities into producers of peace, purpose, opportunity, and hope.
Whether you want to start a community garden, launch a Food Forest, build raised beds from pallets, develop workforce pathways, create educational opportunities, mentor youth, strengthen neighborhoods, or simply learn the Peace From A Pallet® mindset, there is a place for you in the network.
Together, we are growing more than food.
We are growing people.
We are growing leaders.
We are growing communities.
We are growing hope.
Become Part of the Peace From A Pallet® Network
Peace From A Pallet®
The Pallet is the Platform.
The Sunflower is the Guide.
The Epiphany is the Foundation.
The Transformation is the Harvest.
One Pallet.
One Block.
One Community.
Growing Global Gospel Growers.
Growing Consumers Into Producers.
Following the Son.
Producing Peace.
“And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”
James 3:18
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