Interview and photography by Skip Rowland

Tim Kennell grew up in rural Illinois.  After five years of missionary work in Belarus, he accepted a call to pastor at the Powhatan Mennonite Church.  This is why he lives here.
(Editor’s note: The following is part of a continuing series in which we ask residents to describe their connection to Powhatan)

TK: Some people refer to me as pastor, but I would just rather people call me Tim.  I was Tim a lot longer than I was ever a pastor.  I met my wife, who was from Powhatan, at Ohio Bible college, [and have] been in and out of this community since ‘83; I was married here, in this church, in 1983. So, they knew me and [when] they called, we said yes.

Being a pastor doesn’t define who I am. I’m a person who just loves Jesus; I was a Christian a long, long time before was a pastor. So, that’s why I don’t push for people to call me pastor. Pastors and preachers and leaders in churches are supposed to be servants. I’m trying to let people know that I’m a servant.

Historically, the Mennonites have been quiet in the land, and we have often, in our past, isolated ourselves from the community a little bit. In our church today we don’t believe we should isolate ourselves from the community.  We should be part of the community.

First and foremost, some of the distinctives that make us Mennonite are our traditions, and sometimes traditions aren’t always biblical mandates. So, some of those traditions that get in the way of us becoming part of the community - we can remove some of those traditions. The other traditions that we feel are biblical, we will hold fast to those.  We feel that we can hold fast to our biblical understanding of Scripture and still be part of the community.

The more that we do that individually, the more that people get to know us. I am a member of the Lions Club, I am [on] the Fair Board. This past year we had an evening on the lawn with free Brewster’s ice cream and bluegrass music. Open to all. We’ll do it annually.

I am not so concerned about building up our individual church, but I am concerned about people who don’t know Jesus, and getting the message out. So, if I encounter someone and they want to attend another church, I will encourage them to do that - if it’s a good, solid Christian church.  There are many pastors in this community who are God-fearing men behind pulpits of good churches. So, it’s more about building the Kingdom of God than just our church.

I hope that when people move out here, rather than just spending the weekend being weekend warrior rural farmers [on the] weekend that they can plug into a church somewhere, to rekindle the spiritual desires and interests that can come from slowing down. We want to be a beacon of light that is a safe place where people can bring their families and can hear God’s Word. There can be some fellowship and connections,  relationships, but mostly rekindling of a spiritual desire to know who God is. I think that is happening.
It’s the people [that make Powhatan special]. On Tuesdays I go up to the county seat and I enjoy talking to this person and that person.  People are friendly.  They say, “How’s it going?” They make jokes about what’s on the sign here [at the church] sometimes. [They’ll say,] “Hey, preacher!” and they’ll have a question about God that nobody has an answer for. I enjoy the people.  I grew up in a small, rural town where I knew a huge percentage of the people and a huge percentage of the people knew me. I am enjoying getting that same feeling here.