About Me

My name is Ryan Jantz and I am the minister of Students and Worship at Central Baptist Church in Winfield, KS. I have been at Central since March of 2005 and I love the students that I get to work with and lead into a deeper relationship with Christ. My passion in youth ministry is building relationships with students. I love getting into their world and building relational equity that pays spiritual dividends down the road. I also lead the worship along with our praise team. I am increasingly enjoying the worship leading part of my ministry, including all the media and tech stuff creation that is done for our services.

I have a beautiful wife, Ashley, whom I’ve been married to since 2004. We have three incredible children, Aubrey, Caleb, and Taylor, whom we will be welcoming into the world towards the end of April. Ashley is absolutely everything I love about this world and I love spending every day with her. Watching our family grow together is the most fun I could ever imagine. Aubrey lights up my life. The best part of my day is when she runs into my arms after I get home from work. Caleb is so much fun and all boy. He is a lot like me. I can’t wait to meet Taylor who will change our house in a number ways as our families grows to five!

I am clinically obsessed with Colorado Avalanche hockey.  That’s why I may have seemed noticably depressed this season. But hey, second to last place in the league means second pick in the draft.

I am a movie snob. I love rare old and foreign movies that actually require thinking and contemplation. Nearly all of the films that come out of Hollywood make me cringe. My 25 favorite films are as follows…

1. Magnolia (1999) Paul Thomas Anderson
2. Passion (1928) Carl Theodor Dreyer
3. Ordet (1955) Carl Theodor Dreyer
4. Aguirre (1973) Werner Herzog
5. Decalogue (1987) Krzysztof Kieslowski
6. Ikiru (1952) Akira Kurosawa
7. Raging Bull (1980) Martin Scorsese
8. Scenes from a marriage (1973) Ingmar Bergman
9. Fanny and Alexander (1982) Ingmar Bergman
10. The Godfather Trilogy (1972, 1974, 1990) Francis Ford Coppola
11. Rashomon (1950) Akira Kurosawa
12. Casablanca (1942) Micael Curtiz
13. Sansho the Bailiff (1954) Kenji Mizoguchi
14. Cries and Whispers (1972) Ingmar Bergman
15. Three Colors Trilogy (1993, 1994) Krzysztof Kieslowski
16. Seven Samurai (1954) Akira Kurosawa
17. Goodfellas (1990) Martin Scorsese
18. Metropolis (1927) Fritz Lang
19. 2001 (1968) Stanley Kubrick
20. Citizen Kane (1941) Orsen Welles
21. George Washington (2000) David Gordon Green
22. Last Year at Marienbad (1961) Alain Resnais
23. Ran (1985) Akira Kurosawa
24. Battle of Algiers (1965) Gillo Pontecorvo
25. Psycho (1960) Alfred Hitchcock

I occasionaly get into Tv shows such as Friday Night Lights, The Office, 24, 30 Rock, Damages, and Breaking Bad.

I am frequently found with my face in a book. Some of my favorite books that I’ve read recently are…

☼ Snow Angels – O’Nan
☼ The Road – McCarthy
☼ The Namesake – Lahiri
☼ The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo – Larsson
☼ No Country For Old Men – McCarthy
☼ Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World – Murakami
☼ The Stranger – Camus

So summing up myself with a few words: Jesus, Ashley, Aubrey, Caleb, hockey, , worship, playing guitar, foreign films, youth ministry, driving the church van, the F Minus Comic, web design, working on the house, gobstoppers, frisbee golf, ultimate frisbee, Haruki Murakami books, Dr. Pepper, homemade pizza, and a nice green lawn.