Reginald Hildebrand - On church leadership transitions (clip)

Rachel Broun: I know you’ve been at St. Paul through several pastors, what are the transitions like and how has that defined your relationship with the church throughout so many different leaders?

Reginald Hildebrand: Again this is one of the strengths and weaknesses of the Methodist Tradition. Pastors are appointed one year at a time and every year their appointment is renewed or is not. Some stay for a long time, and others not so much. One of the things I found when I first came to St. Paul was how often I would hear the name of Reverend Thomas Duhart. He was long gone by the time I came, but people talked about him like he just left the day before. And so I get the impression that in terms of the lives of people who grew up in the church when he was pastor, which I think was in the late 50s or early 60s—something like that. The impact that he had and the atmosphere that he created affirmed the kind of atmosphere that had attracted me to St. Paul. There are ministers like that who stand out. John Burton: very energetic, very community oriented. He was well known throughout Chapel Hill and very active. We had a drug rehab program that met [at St. Paul]. It was during his time that a Spanish speaking congregation began to use the church. There was something going on at St. Paul all the time. Other pastors like Pastor Horton, who I also respected and admired grew up in this community. He was well known here. His major emphasis, I believe, was on strengthening the position of St. Paul within the denomination of which he was a leader and well known. Thomas Nixon, who I think came after Burton. It was Burton then Horton then Nixon, I think. Young man was just overflowing with energy [laughter]. Which was reflected in his style of sermons as well as other kinds of things. It would be interesting to see your take on that. But, also he had this vision of a new church that would have the facilities that would allow it to serve the community, serve elders, to provide preschool, to provide health care—those kinds of things. The mission of the church writ large, having a physical space to carry out that mission in a way that we cannot in the space that we have, as historic and strategic as it is. It is a small space. The church looks pretty much like it did in 1956.