RISE ABOVE: A Compensation of Compassion From the Church to the Community to Commerce The Ministry of New Mount Rose Missionary Baptist Church Since 2018.

 

A Compensation of Compassion

From the Church to the Community to Commerce

The Ministry of New Mount Rose Missionary Baptist Church Since 2018

James 1:27

In Fort Worth’s 76104, a church’s work can’t stop at the sanctuary door.

Since 2018, New Mount Rose Missionary Baptist Church has been building a ministry that reaches into the daily lives of its neighbors—helping families find food, students find opportunity, and residents connect with health care, legal resources, and the people working to preserve their community’s history. The work begins with faith. It moves through partnership. And increasingly, it reaches toward economic opportunity.

Pastor Kyev Tatum, Sr., has helped carry that vision beyond Fort Worth. In 2023, he agreed to quarterback the Texas Cohort of Faith, Community, and Small Business Leaders, an initiative of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. The cohort aimed to help marginalized Texans compete in the global economy by connecting businesses with faith-based and community organizations.

Working with Andres Chong-Qui Torres, then the office’s director, the cohort embraced a practical idea: churches and neighborhood groups are already trusted fixtures in people’s lives. Their relationships and local knowledge can help open doors to jobs, business connections, and broader economic opportunity.

That same approach can be seen in the Black, Brown & Tan Caucus, which has brought people together around civic engagement, partnership, and local leadership. At New Mount Rose, the larger vision is visible in the church’s growing network of ministries and partners.

The agriculture ministry works with the Texas Small Farmers and Ranchers Community-Based Organization, Prairie View A&M Extension, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, and Guns to Gardens. Midwest Food Bank, Horns of Hope, and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints support the nutrition ministry.

Education efforts are strengthened by God’s Army, UNT Dallas, and My Dreams Academy. Cook Children’s Health Plan and JPS Health Network support healthcare work, while the Economic Justice Initiative at Texas A&M University School of Law supports the church’s legal ministry. The Texas Buffalo Soldiers Association and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Buffalo Soldiers Heritage Program help advance preservation.

When neighbors face emergencies, the church’s work extends to response and recovery. Volunteers Organized to Assist in Disasters and the American Red Cross are among the partners strengthening those efforts. The Ministers Justice Coalition of Texas, which Tatum leads as president, supports the church’s work for justice and service.

The connections are deliberate. Agriculture and nutrition address daily needs. Education and healthcare help families build stronger futures. Legal access and preservation connect people to resources and history. And initiatives such as the Inner City Coffee Exchange link community service with commerce.

Tatum’s own path runs through several of those same commitments. He founded the Inner City Coffee Exchange and a tutor-mentor program at Trimble Tech High School to support young people facing significant barriers. He is a graduate of the University of North Texas School of Community Service, where he studied criminal justice, and served as a White House ally for the My Brother’s Keeper initiative. In 2023, he was selected to participate in the Racial Justice and Religion Collective, which works to strengthen organizations serving marginalized communities.

The work at New Mount Rose is not the effort of one pastor or one institution. It is a growing circle of partners, volunteers, and neighbors, each bringing something needed. The church provides a place to gather and a reason to serve; the partnerships help turn that service into programs and opportunity.

Everything is falling into place, Tatum says—not as a claim that the work is finished, but as gratitude for what God and a committed community are building together.

To learn more about New Mount Rose’s work, contact Pastor Kyev Tatum at 817-966-7625 or kptatum1@gmail.com.