A PASTOR WITH A HEART FOR 76104. Pastor Kyev P. Tatum, Sr.
A PASTOR WITH A HEART FOR 76104. Pastor Kyev P. Tatum, Sr. |
Forty Years of Civil Rights. Nearly Thirty Years of Gospel Ministry. A Lifetime Fighting for Life.
For Pastor Kyev P. Tatum, Sr., Fort Worth’s 76104 is more than a ZIP code. It is personal.
Born at Peter Smith Hospital, reared in the Hillside community of Morningside, and a graduate of Trimble Technical High School—all in 76104—Pastor Tatum has come full circle to serve as Pastor of New Mount Rose Missionary Baptist Church in the community that raised him.
Born here. Reared here. Educated here. Now serving here.
A graduate of the University of North Texas, Tatum spent sixteen years, from 1988 to 2004, as a university administrator at UNT, Texas Woman’s University, and Texas State University. His career in higher education helped shape his lifelong commitment to education, youth development, leadership, and opportunity.
But his commitment to 76104 goes much deeper. Pastor Tatum has lost eight of eleven family members, including his beloved mother, Carol Tatum—all before reaching age 65. Link: https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/north-texas-zip-code-76104-has-lowest-life-expectancy-in-state/
For him, premature death and disparities in life expectancy are not statistics. They have names. They have faces. They are his family.
Those losses have fueled a personal mission to improve life expectancy and quality of life in 76104 and beyond. He believes where people live should never determine how long they have the opportunity to live.
Tatum began his civil rights journey in 1986 and has spent forty years working at the intersection of faith, justice, and community development. His work has addressed education, hunger, health disparities, economic opportunity, youth development, violence prevention, and neighborhood revitalization. His philosophy is simple: civil rights is not only about protesting what is wrong—it is about building what is right.
In October 1997, while attending the Texas NAACP Convention, Tatum accepted his call to preach as Bishop John Richard Bryant preached from Nehemiah 4 the message “Fight By Family.” He later joined Grant AME Church and helped develop the John Richard Bryant Training and Development Center in Austin.
Today, as Pastor of New Mount Rose Missionary Baptist Church and President of the Ministers Justice Coalition of Texas, Tatum continues connecting faith with action. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he helped lead a church-based distribution hub that moved more than $25 million in donated goods and resources, serving hundreds of churches and community organizations across the country.
His ministry now extends beyond the pulpit into food access, health, education, agriculture, economic empowerment, emergency response, violence prevention, and neighborhood revitalization—all connected to one mission: helping people live longer, healthier, and better lives. Link: https://youtu.be/A0Pc2YF59JU
Pastor Tatum is married to Sister Tonya Tatum, and together their family includes seven children and fifteen grandchildren. He is fighting because of the generations he has lost, for the generations still here, and for those yet to come.
Born in 76104. Reared in 76104. Educated in 76104. Pastoring in 76104. Fighting for longer life in 76104—and beyond.
For Pastor Tatum, coming home was never the end of the journey. It was the beginning of the assignment.
It’s more than ministry. It’s more than civil rights. It’s personal.
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