Bethany United Methodist Welcomes New Minister

Kim Strong isn’t your average Methodist minister.

James Island residents are likely to see him and his wife, Margo, cruising Folly Road on his 2003 Harley Fatboy when he isn’t preaching from the pulpit at Bethany United Methodist Church.

“I always say that I am a minister who happens to ride a bike,” he said. “But I think it is the other way around. I am a biker that happens to be a minister.”

Strong arrived on James Island on June 18, Fathers Day. About a year ago, he requested to move from his church in Knightsville, where he had served for five years. He said the bishop felt that James Island would be a good place for “my gifts and graces.”

Strong succeeds Colin E. Simmons in the pulpit.

Originally from Spartanburg, S.C., Strong attended Wofford College, Emory University; and then Erskine Theological Seminary in Due West, S.C.

He has been a Methodist Minister since 1976.

In 1979 he married Margo, and they have two sons and a grandson who all live in the Charleston area.

He continues to enjoy the Lowcountry and hopes to be here for some time. "We love the Lowcountry,” he said. "Hopefully, I can spend the rest of my ministry in the Lowcountry.”

Strong isn’t the only fresh face at Bethany, though. The 56-year-old church on Maybank Highway has welcomed an all-new staff in the last six months.

“We are all in this together,” laughed Strong.

He said that the prevailing goal for the church is to “reach out to the young and to the old.”

Bethany is in the process of installing technology that will allow members of the congregation with hearing aids to tap into the sermon. When installed, it will be the first church in the Charleston area using the t-coil technology.

To the other end, the church maintains three employees to work with their children and youth.

In the near future, Strong looks toward to holding a pet blessing in the fall and a bike blessing in the spring for other bikers in the congregation.

Long term plans, he said include the construction of some sort of family life center.

And, in the, meantime, Strong said he hopes to draw new people to the church.

Bethany United Methodist Church is located at 1853 Maybank Highway.

Sunday service begins at 10 a.m. with Sunday School, followed by a worship service at 11:15 (summer hours are normally an hour earlier for Sunday School and Church). For more information, call the church at (843) 795-3527, or email.