In the United Methodist Church’s itinerancy system, pastors commit to serve wherever their bishop assigns them, rather than being hired by a local congregation.
They come, they go. Many are remembered fondly, others barely at all.
Next Sunday, one pastor will be honored by the city’s oldest United Methodist congregation as he leaves, but his service will be remembered far beyond the downtown church he serves as an associate pastor.
The Rev. Barry Kidwell officially retired from the Holston Conference of the United Methodist Church earlier this month, but, to paraphrase one long-ago pastor, “he will never leave the church, because where he goes there the church is.”
That’s been the case for many years for this pastor. While he has led the evening worship service at First-Centenary United Methodist Church for a decade or so and taken part in other services, his main congregation has been the homeless.