People

Payton Ruddock

Pastor Payton has been proudly serving at New Hope Methodist Church since January 2023 when New Hope joined the Global Methodist Church. Prior to his time with New Hope, Payton served for 5 years as the Director of Student Ministries at Covenant Methodist Church in The Woodlands, TX.

Payton is currently in seminary earning his Master of Divinity from the Wesley House at the George W. Truett Theological Seminary at Baylor University. He first felt a calling to ministry when he was in high school in his hometown of Marshalltown, IA. After some indecision, Payton attended Texas A&M University to follow a separate calling towards medicine with a degree in Biomedical Engineering. After graduating and working in sales for 8 year, Payton quit his job to pursue a career that began as a hobby: photography. During his time as a photographer, Payton served as the Youth Pastor at Covenant Methodist where he felt his calling all over again. After a few years in Youth Ministry, Payton was called out to Waller County to join New Hope Methodist Church and it’s sister church, Macedonia Methodist Church.

Payton is joined at New Hope by his family: his beautiful wife, Samantha, his oldest son, Cullen, and his youngest, Shane. Sam works in the oil and gas industry in Houston and the Ruddocks love to spend their time outdoors fishing, hunting, hiking, riding, climbing, and skiing. When they’re not doing all of that, they’re typically chasing around their two German Shorthaired Pointer pups, Buster and Rocky.