The new leader of an Oklahoma City church remembered moving multiple times during his childhood due to his father's job in the oil industry. The Rev. Kyle Anderson, new senior pastor of , said that he became familiar with the cycle of moving from place to place well before he became an ordained minister with the United Methodist Church, known for its clergy deployment system based on itineracy.
"My father works for Halliburton, so I'd say I was itinerant before I became a pastor," Anderson said with a chuckle. Still, when Oklahoma United Methodist Bishop Jimmy Nunn asked him to consider taking the helm of Church of the Servant, 14343 N MacArthur, Anderson wondered if he could leave First United Methodist Church of Stillwater, where he was serving as senior pastor. Anderson, 39, said he knew Church of the Servant had experienced difficulties during a high-profile season of disaffiliations from the United Methodist Church.
Ultimately, he committed to leading and guiding the congregation forward so he arrived in June ready to serve. He preached his first Sunday as Church of the Servant senior pastor on June 30. It wasn't the idea of going to Church of the Servant that initially gave him pause when the bishop asked him to consider the move.
Anderson said it was the idea that he would have to walk away from Stillwater-First, where he had been a minister for 13 years. He said he and his wife, Heather, had come to know and love the Stillwater congregation over the years. The couple .