The Passing of Kerry Kind

It's been a few weeks now since the passing of Kerry Kind, but I wanted to quickly jot down some of my fond memories of him before too much time slipped away.

1. I think I first met Kerry when I was a student at Asbury Seminary. He led the Wesleyan Foundation at the time, the organization that supported Wesleyan students at the seminary. He also attended Stonewall Wesleyan Church, where I attended. By that time he had already returned from the mission field in Sierra Leone and was working on his doctorate at UK in Communication if I remember correctly.

Everyone will recall his booming voice. He always sang in a kind of operatic style. He typically led the singing at Stonewall. What was more curious is the fact that he did not come down from the platform after leading the singing. He would sit on the platform while Larry Freels preached and apparently would fall asleep. It was quite funny to me.

I had heard that at that time Kerry prided himself in some way on having studied at Purdue, a secular school, rather than going to a Christian college. He had been in the world, and he had been able to hack it. Of course, I don't think, if I remember correctly, that he was a Christian at the time, so that would have been a normal path for him to take.

2. But imagine the irony then of him eventually becoming the General Secretary of Education and the Ministry! His job then was to urge Wesleyan students to go to Wesleyan colleges! I believe he followed Ken Heer in that role, who followed Lee Haines. Then my friend Russ Gunsalus followed Kerry after Wayne Schmidt was elected General Superintendent. And now Johanna Rugh is in her first year.

When I was teaching undergraduate at IWU, Kerry tried to dissuade Wesleyan students from going to places like Princeton or Duke. He told them it would make it more difficult for them to advance in the Wesleyan Church later since those schools were so liberal. He was of course a strong champion of Asbury Seminary in those days.

3. But I am getting ahead of myself. Kerry left Wilmore and his doctoral studies at the University of Kentucky in order to become General Secretary of World Missions, I believe. He never did finish the doctorate. He just didn't have the margin thereafter, as I understand it. It was a sacrifice he made in service to the church. As far as I know, he never regretted it.

My next encounter with him was in fact while I was working on my doctorate in England. In my third and final year, he was trying to find someone to follow David Wright as the Wesleyan representative in the education consortium we had going with some other denominations in the environs of Birmingham. He paid for me to travel down from Durham to consider relocating there and taking over the leadership.

I obliged, although I wasn't really interested. I probably was a little too sure of myself at the time, thinking I would get a teaching job at a major university. To be frank, I wasn't sure I would even stay Wesleyan at that time. In any case, the idea of commuting from Birmingham to Durham that next year to finish when I had such a sweet setup in Durham wasn't ever something I seriously wanted to do. I was just being polite.

4. A little over a year later I was eating humble pie. Doctorate in hand, no one would even give me an interview. I was substitute teaching in south Florida, something I was horrible at because of how out of control the students were--and that was in the 90s. It's MUCH worse now.

Kerry had always thought I might be called to the mission field one day. That didn't really happen, but he did get me to Sierra Leone in the middle of a civil war. That was two months in the winter of 1997. Initially, they were going to send me to Liberia. The civil war there had calmed down considerably but there hadn't been a missionary presence there since the war began. However, in the end, the structural conditions (e.g., water systems) weren't restored or adequate. So they sent me to Sierra Leone instead.

As history would prove, Sierra Leone was only at the beginning. There was some serious rebel activity up country, but it had not reached Freetown. I spent those two months in January and February quite nervous that one of those many lights coming down the road from up country would be the rebels to infiltrate Freetown. Jui was right on the way, on the outskirts of Freetown, not far from Waterloo, the real gateway to the rest of the country.

My fond memory of Kerry is the stories he told me in preparation. It was mainly about snakes and rabid dogs. He talked about how when they would hear a certain howl at night, he and some others would get bats and go to find the rabid dogs to put them down. 

Then there were the snake stories. He recounted finding a cobra once behind the refrigerator. Then there were the black mambas in the trees. When I arrived, they had burned off the ground behind where I was going to stay. I heard it was to discourage snakes.

Let's just say I didn't find Kerry's stories particularly encouraging at the time. I was paranoid the whole time I was there, although I never saw a snake.

5. I suspect Kerry may have had a hand in recommending me to Bud Bence and IWU. On my flight back from Brussels, I made a stop in Indianapolis to meet with Dr. Bence at a Richards in Elwood. They had a New Testament position. Bud was concerned I was too liberal for IWU. He had a bad experience at Houghton with a Dunn graduate. In fact, Dunn said he would never write a reference for me to teach at Houghton as a result. Bud had been charged by the then president with getting rid of a faculty member and it didn't go well.

I digress. The interview was the beginning of a series of events that resulted in me teaching for IWU that fall. Kerry may then have played an instrumental role in all that happening, for which I am eternally grateful. Otherwise I might still be substitute teaching in south Florida.

6. Kerry was always a selfless promoter of others, myself included. When they were looking for a resource on women in ministry that could be produced quickly. Kerry tapped a piece I had, perhaps providentially, blogged about that time. It became the go-to resource for women in ministry in the church for the next two decades and had an incredibly wide distribution and impact. It is still being used in an upgraded form.

Kerry used to tell about an exchange when they felt like a certain chapter was missing from a book on a biblical topic. I don't even remember what it was now. He contacted me. I told him if I didn't have it done in the next 24 hours I wouldn't be able to do it. But I was able to get it done.

7. I played a minor role in the presidential scandal at Asbury in the early 2000s. The faculty and the then president were in a major fight with the board. A key Asbury person was feeding me internal information that I published on my blog. It was a real turning point in the Wesleyan Church's relationship with the seminary and, to be frank, was a key moment toward the founding of Wesley Seminary. If that conflict had not occurred, there would not have been a Wesley Seminary.

Kerry was also there in that mix, faithfully representing the denomination on the Asbury board. Although the final outcome probably was as it needed to be, as a member of the broader board, Kerry I believe also had reservations about how the executive leadership of the board had gone about things. He remained an ever insightful and faithful member of those college and seminary boards.

8. I remember interacting with him at Houghton at one of the every two-year gatherings of professors. That was my first time ever to visit the campus. I asked him why the Wesleyan headquarters couldn't serve as the HQ for a Wesleyan seminary with the various colleges as branch campuses. Encyclopedic in his knowledge and insight, he pointed out that the WC was not an accredited academic institution, so couldn't serve in that way. I think we could have found a way in theory, but the colleges have never wanted to work together on that deep a level. Barnes never would have, in my opinion.

Kerry became a great supporter of Wesley Seminary. He quickly allotted EIF money to Wesleyan students going there. A diehard Asbury fan, he faithfully supported this entrepreneurial venture of the church. It had so much momentum in those days.

9. I remember another occasion where he thought quickly on his feet in conversation. I was expressing to him my doubts that the New Testament would restrict administering communion to the clergy. He paused very briefly and then suggested that the Wesleyan Church didn't so much restrict serving the sacraments for theological reasons but for practical ones.

Keith Drury was good friends with Kerry. I occasionally would hear the spill-over of their conversations. Kerry was clearly a soundly conservative thinker. Meanwhile, one of Keith's tasks in life has always been to broaden everyone's thinking--wherever you start out, liberal or conservative, Keith is sure to expand your horizon. Although I don't remember all the topics, I remember Keith relaying a number of such broadening conversations with Kerry. 

10. I was sad to hear of Kerry's physical struggles in recent years. I was so thankful when his lung transplant was successful. So happy he had those last six months, although it would have been grand for him to have twenty more years. In the recent series of Wesleyan presidential searches, I got a message from Kerry suggesting I throw my hat in the ring. To the very end, he remained such a great supporter and advocate. It was always fun to see him engaged on the Wesleyan Pastor's Facebook pages. He was sure to know the answer to any question.

I don't know if the Lord allows those who have passed on to interact with us. It seems doubtful, given the Parable of the Rich Fool. But if he is allowed, I have full expectation that he will continue his ministry to those of us who are still behind.