NEWS FEATURE: Moving the Methodists

c. 2000 Religion News Service HUNTSVILLE, Ala. _ When Mayflower sales representative Derrick Agnew got a call several weeks ago from a Methodist minister inquiring about a moving price, he wasted little time in putting his marketing degree to work. Agnew, who had been with the local Mayflower company for just a few months, learned […]

c. 2000 Religion News Service

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. _ When Mayflower sales representative Derrick Agnew got a call several weeks ago from a Methodist minister inquiring about a moving price, he wasted little time in putting his marketing degree to work.

Agnew, who had been with the local Mayflower company for just a few months, learned that the second week in June was “Methodist Moving Week” in the North Alabama Conference. He quickly reached for the telephone book, found the listing for churches in the Yellow Pages, and began calling Methodist ministers to see if they were on the moving list this year.


One call he made proved to be the jackpot.

The Rev. Dalton “Butch” Styes of Holmes Street Methodist Church was one of 17 ministers in the Huntsville district assigned to a new church or another position by Bishop Robert Fannin. The 17 are among 180 new appointments in the North Alabama Conference, which has 864 churches. Of the 17 in the Huntsville district, only 13 families will actually be moving, said the district superintendent, the Rev. Gary Formby.

Styes had been trying to find a mover and told Agnew to sign him up.

“June is the busiest time of the year for moving companies,” said Agnew. “Our owner, Roger Welch, told me we usually get a few Methodist ministers each year, but this year we only had two. It’s a very competitive business and a real bidding war out there.”

Mayflower administrative assistant Sheila Guffey said although Mayflower doesn’t depend on the Methodists for much of their business, they are “good for the moving industry. The Methodists don’t usually have much furniture to move because their houses are furnished, so many of them use Ryder or U-Haul. However, more have been using us in the last five or six years.”

One year, the Methodists were able to pack three ministers’ belongings on one moving van, said Formby. Unfortunately the minister’s personal items, which were loaded first, ended up being the last to be delivered.

“The Bible says, `The last shall be first and the first shall be last,”’ said Formby with a laugh.

The Methodist churches in the North Alabama Conference are requested to allow the new minister a $2,000 moving expense. If the minister opts to use a moving company, he or she pays the difference if it exceeds the limit, or if the church is able to afford it, then it often pays the full amount, according to Formby.


“We used to use U-Hauls more, but the older we get, the more stuff we have and the more we need a moving company,” said the Rev. Gary Ward, outgoing pastor at Latham Methodist. “We try to be good stewards of the allotment we’ve been given.”

“But it really isn’t near enough,” said his wife, Betty.

In addition to the expense of a moving company for its new ministers, a Methodist church often has to make quick renovations or repairs to the parsonage after one minister moves out and before the other moves in. In the case of Styes, the Holmes Street trustees were able to make some repairs while he was still in the house.

“Butch was with us for nine years, so we had several things we needed to do such as replace some flooring in the bathroom,” said trustee Merry Greenwood, overseer of the parsonage.

It was tough for the Holmes Street congregation to give up Styes.

“We’ve just cried and cried over him leaving,” said Greenwood. “He was wonderful and it was difficult to say goodbye.”

DEA END BETOWT

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