Preaching Circuit

Mitchell’s head was hard as steel.  Legend has it; he killed the mountain goat in his office by ramming it. An asset that rivaled his will was his ability to place events in chronological, cause-effect relationships.  As an ardent dissident of every official of the United Methodist Church (UMC), everyone who would listen heard him call it a “Preacher’s Union.”  UMC brought changes to the local church, and he decided long ago those changes were lacking.

“You know why we have a fifth Sunday night singing?”  Standing outside the church after we’d sung hymns from the red book, Mitchell asked a rhetorical question and didn’t expect anyone to answer.

“Before this church was United Methodist, we had a preacher that would travel on a circuit of four churches.  We couldn’t afford a full time pastor, so we split one.  On Sunday morning he would have services from nine in the morning to one in the afternoon.  Sunday nights, he would rotate between churches.  First Sunday night he would be at Iron City; second Sunday night he would be over the mountain; third Sunday night he’d be here.  When the fifth Sunday night rolled around he would be off, and the churches would join together to sing.”