Church of the Servant's new pastor talks about his new OKC post

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 Church of the Servant , 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.

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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 celebrated the births of their two children, son Kaden, 9, and daughter Rowan, 4, with the congregation. They had also navigated the complexities of the COVID-19 pandemic together.

Then, Anderson said the Lord shared a message with him as he stood in the pulpit on Palm Sunday at Stillwater-First. He said God told him that "they (Stillwater congregation) are going to be all right."

Once he told the congregation he had accepted another pastoral post, one member's understanding response touched the minister's heart.

"He said, 'What's good for the kingdom (of God) is good for Stillwater-First,'" Anderson said, his voice filled with emotion.

Focus on servant leadership

Anderson said he knew about Church of the Servant long before he was asked to be its newest leader. He said the church that was founded by the Rev. Norman Neaves in 1968 has been well known for years. Perhaps one of the Oklahoma City metro area's first megachurches, the church is generally known for its community outreach and its sprawling building on property in the far northwest metro area.

As part of a disaffiliation trend in the international United Methodist Church, Church of the Servant and First United Methodist Church of Oklahoma City (known as First Church) separately took the Oklahoma United Methodist Conference to civil court over matters related to ending affiliation with the denomination. Church of the Servant's vote to disaffiliate in September 2022 was unsuccessful. The bid to disaffiliate fell short by less than a handful of votes, indicating that there were many people on both sides of the issue. The church's trustee board subsequently took the Oklahoma conference to district court when conference leaders denied the church another vote on the issue.

The cases ultimately went to the Oklahoma Supreme Court, which ruled in the conference's favor, saying that the court lacked jurisdiction in the matter because it involved ecclesiastical issues reserved for church entities. Due to the ruling, Church of the Servant did not get a second vote to consider severing denominational ties, and it remains a part of the United Methodist denomination, along with First Church.

Anderson said he felt honored when he was asked to lead the church, regardless of disaffiliation issues.

"It has such a storied history," he said.

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Anderson said 402 people people attended weekend worship at Church of the Servant on his first Sunday. He said the church's attendance may not be at the level it was years ago, but it "continues to have amazing faithfulness and fruitfulness."

"And there's an excitement here for continuing and expanding upon that," the minister said.

His first sermon series has focused on servanthood, with Christ as a model of servant leadership.

He said the series is fitting because its focus is at the heart of Church of the Servant's foundation. And there is a statue of Jesus that is featured in the church's sanctuary. It depicts Jesus kneeling in front of a basin of water preparing to wash someone's feet, as he did during the Last Supper for his disciples, as described in the Gospel.

Leaning in on the concept of servant leadership, Anderson said is looking forward to the future with his Church of the Servant congregation. The move from Stillwater to the Oklahoma City metro area gave him a chance to be a servant for the Lord, for the church, his family, his previous congregation and the new one.

"The beautiful side for me on that is the church doesn't belong to the pastor," he said.

Anderson said that knowledge doesn't negate the pain and sorrow of saying farewell to a congregation, but he currently hopes to walk alongside his Church of the Servant congregation in similar fashion.

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"It was very important to me that the church have a voice," he said. "There's times where you have to really step in and really kind of help take the reins, and other times it's 'Y'all got the reins,' and I'm kind of helping out and guiding, directing and giving wisdom. I see that's a positive."

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Church of the Servant's new pastor talks about his new OKC post