SHIRLEY — Rick Hutson has worn a lot of titles during his life. Heavy-equipment operator. Construction worker. Dog trainer.
He was at rock bottom nearly 30 years ago when he wore a different label: Inmate. But after writing those bad checks caught up with him and he was imprisoned, a steadfast minister kept visiting him. And these days Hutson is a minister himself.
Hutson, who pastors Shirley-Wilkinson Community United Methodist Church, is part of a group of United Methodist ministers who recently started new assignments at Hancock County churches.
The denomination moves ministers every three years or so, though some clergy end up with longer tenures for various reasons. The state denomination points to potential benefits of its pastoral appointment process, such as the ability to match a pastor’s gifts with the right congregation, and giving a pastor freedom to preach the Gospel “without fear of being ‘fired.’”
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“All too often, the process can look complex, arbitrary, or even mysterious when left to speculation. But in fact, there is a specific pattern and method in Indiana…” Larry K. Whitehead, dean of the Appointive Cabinet, wrote in a 2017 post on the state denomination’s website, inumc.org.
“We believe … in attempts to match the characteristics of the congregation and community with the gifts and strengths of the pastor to maximize our fruitfulness in the transforming work of reaching people with the Gospel …”
The pastors new to Hancock County churches tell of listening and learning about their new churches from the congregations, and of together forging a strategy for moving forward in ministry.
‘The more I fell in love’
Kerry O’Brien was a certified lay speaker in his local United Methodist Church. That means he could preach the sermon at an area church if a pastor was on vacation, sick or otherwise unable to deliver the sermon.
A church in the region needed someone to fill in until its next pastor was found. O’Brien drove 45 minutes to speak at the church. It went well — really well.
“The longer I did it … the more I fell in love with Jesus, and the more I knew he was right and I was wrong,” O’Brien said. “God kept reeling me in a little at a time.”
Eventually he left a more than 20-year career in sales and purchasing and became an ordained minister. More than 20 years after embarking on that second career, he has come to Mohawk United Methodist Church as its pastor.
He said the congregation is friendly and welcoming, and it’s been a great start.
“This is a little church that can,” he said. “It’s a very healthy church. I’m looking forward to the exciting possibilities God has for us here.”
He’s been impressed with what’s already going on at Mohawk, including the Vacation Bible School that took place this summer, and wants Sunday morning to be a time that gives people something to think about and apply to their lives through the week.
“Our job is to live into the kind of life Jesus calls us to,” O’Brien said. “What is it that can help you be the kind of person Jesus sees you can be?”
Little church, big heart
Two years ago, the Rev. Brad Miller was on a cross-state bike ride from Terre Haute to Richmond along U.S. 40, but by mid-afternoon he was cramping up. He knew he was going to have to cut the ride short, but he wanted to at least last to the 100-mile mark.
He pulled in at Philadelphia west of Greenfield, finding refreshment in the parking lot and playground area behind Philadelphia United Methodist Church.
“I knew then this was a special place,” Miller said. When he became pastor of the church in July, it seemed fitting, he said.
There are a lot of good things already going on at the church, Miller said. The church supports about 10 missions and other activities in the community.
It’s gathering items for hygiene kits to give to AWOL (All Worthy of Love), a group that ministers to women caught in human trafficking in Indianapolis. Members of the church were there hanging drywall and spreading spackle, said longtime member Jane Metcalfe, in the early days of the Hope House homeless shelter.
The church gathers donations to supply troops with audio Bibles on memory stick, organizes game days and crafts at Springhurst Health Campus, and partners with Royal Neighbors Chapter 1397 on a Trunk or Treat for children in October.
The church “is small compared to some but we have a BIG HEART for missions,” the church said in a publication about mission efforts.
Miller, son of late Bradley United Methodist Church pastor the Rev. Robert Miller, said he wants to see the close-knit church build on its mission legacy and become even more engaged in the community.
“I believe the local church is the hope of the world,” he said. “Every church has an opportunity to serve…
“I would like to see a lot more of the community people here. I’d like to see us be a place where people can experience worship that is vital and uplifting. I’d like us to really be known for radical hospitality.”
‘Live out their faith’
When he was a junior at Lapel High School, Anthony Stone was hoping to earn an appointment to West Point.
But then he went to church camp that summer.
“I felt something — some call to ministry,” he said.
That changed his path from West Point to the University of Indianapolis and later Christian Theological Seminary. He served as a youth pastor during college and began pastoring his first church in 2008. After stops in Summitville and Lebanon, he’s landed at New Palestine United Methodist Church.
“It’s a great, friendly small town,” he said of his surroundings. “We’re situated in such an amazing location for all the growth that’s coming. What we need to figure out is how do we continue to add value to people’s lives?”
Stone and his wife, Amy — his high school sweetheart — have five children. He thinks about how to best minister intergenerationally, how to add value into the busy lifestyle of a younger family and also offer hope to people in their 70s and 80s, he said.
He wants to see the church continue partnerships with organizations such as Kenneth Butler Memorial Soup Kitchen and Habitat for Humanity and have a “missional” mindset, be that on a mission trip overseas or by volunteering locally.
“I like people to live out their faith,” he said. “I see a great sense of people wanting to care for others.”
‘Part of their family’
Hutson remembers a pastor cared for him when he was incarcerated. His parents’ pastor, the Rev. Darren Cushman Wood, kept visiting him and encouraging him, telling him that God loved him and his parents loved him. Wood became pivotal in his journey. Eventually Hutson made a new start in life.
“God finally took that and turned me around,” Hutson said. “The church was always there for us … I decided to turn my life over to Christ once and for all.”
In fact, in the later years of the time he served, he helped a prison chaplain and led a Bible study.
“I got a firsthand look at what ministry was really supposed to look like,” he said.
From his experience, he feels a particular passion for prison ministry. But as he’s gotten to know the Shirley-Wilkinson church — which is not so unfamiliar, as he grew up not far away and his mother was a substitute teacher in nearby Kennard — he has been impressed by all the ways the church is already pitching in and reaching out to its community.
There’s a church food pantry open from 7 to 8 p.m. the third Thursday of the month — and at other times by phone, Hutson said. The congregation is gathering winter clothes for a new clothing pantry. And a group of committed volunteers rose early and cooked long hours during Shirley’s Founder’s Days.
At the church, festivalgoers could find scrambled eggs, sausage, biscuits and gravy for breakfast, and hotdogs, sloppy Joes and desserts for lunch. Those who couldn’t afford a free-will donation were told to “come eat anyway,” Hutson said.
He said it’s been great to take in the long history of the church, which includes the merging of two churches each begun in the 1890s, and to begin to build relationships.
“I know that will take time,” he said. “I’m real thankful they’re allowing me that opportunity to be part of their family.”
