Retired pastor answers call to lead Spencer United Methodist Church

After nearly two years without a pastor to guide them, the Spencer United Methodist Church now has a part-time pastor who will be serving the church for the next couple years. Retired pastor Rev. Kerry Wilson began his duties at the church on Nov. 1.

A pastor of 40 years, Rev. Wilson has many years of experience working with small rural community churches. He was first ordained a deacon in 1979 after attending seminary school at the Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS) in Deerfield, Ill. A few years later, he was ordained as an elder and sent to his first assignment in Turtle Lake.

“I was ordained in 1979 as a deacon in the United Methodist Church,” he said. “I was ordained as an elder in 1981, and I started pastoring and took my first church in 1980 in Turtle Lake. After Turtle Lake, I was at two country churches near Prairie Du Sac, Honey Creek and Denzer.”

After his time in those churches, Rev. Wilson said he was then moved to the Zion United Methodist Church in Marshfield, where he spent a majority of his time as a pastor. While there, he said he became very familiar with the area, joined the Civil Air Patrol as a chaplain, and oversaw several important events for the Zion United Methodist Church.

“We came to Marshfield in 1989 and we lived in Marshfi eld for 15 years, from 1989 to 2004,” he said. “I was the pastor of Zion United Methodist Church in Marshfield and was around when they built their new church on Highway E across from Aldi’s. I was also a part of the civil air patrol for 14 years as a chaplain, and was able to be a part of air and ground teams.” Following his time in Marshfield, Rev. Wilson served three more parishes before making the decision to retire this year. He officially retired on July 1 and returned to the Marshfield area to be with his family. “After Marshfield I was at Fountain Park in Sheboygan, Lomira and finally Pardeeville,” he said. “I retired on July 1. We came back to Marshfield because we have grandkids there.” With his retirement, Rev. Wilson said he initially did not expect to return to the role of pastor for another parish, despite having received a few calls about coming to Spencer in the months leading up to his retirement. As time went on however, he said it seemed it was God’s will to continue to serve and he obeyed the call.

“I wasn’t planning on it (serving another parish),” he said. “I was called by someone in the (Spencer) church who I had known for years and they had called me up way back in May. I then received a call in August from one of their council members and finally at the end of September I got a call from our district superintendent. In the United Methodist Church, you are appointed to a church by the bishop and district administrator. They make the decision. It sounded like good opportunity to continue serving God.”

Since his start at the Spencer United Methodist Church on Nov. 1, Rev. Wilson said he has been adjusting to working at the parish and finding ways to serve its members best. After two years without a pastor, he said there are some things that the parish has done to cover for that absence, which speaks for the strength of its community, but he will now be able to help with things that the parish has been without for a long time.

“It’s been very good,” he said on his experience so far. “It seems like a great church and they’ve done very well for about two years without a pastor, that’s a credit to them to be able to do that. I am looking forward to getting to know people, even if I’m not able to see them … There’s a lot of potential. I am working one quarter of the time, so I will be preaching one or two times per month. They have had speakers that have come in for services and we will still have that. I will also be doing visitations via telephone because of COVID and possibly helping with Bible studies and youth activities.”

Rev. Kerry Wilson