News

Visitation, services set for McKinnish

The Rev. Harold L. McKinnish

By Bill Moss, Published: August 22, 2013

The Rev. Harold Lloyd McKinnish, a beloved Baptist minister who mentored dozens of young ministers, shepherded thousands of church-goers and praised Christ through bluegrass and gospel music over six decades, died Wednesday after a period of declining health. He was 80.

McKinnish pastored nine Baptist churches fulltime and 12 to 15 on an interim basis, preached 2,200 funerals and sweated to save souls at numerous revivals. McKinnish's influence was so great, his coverage of the flock so thorough and his preaching so powerful that some knew him as "the Baptist Bishop of Henderson County." Aside from preaching, McKinnish was a devoted gospel and bluegrass musician who sang and played the mandolin. He kept meticulous records of his thousands of sermons, writing down the title, Scripture and spiritual temperature — cold, warm "or on fire for God," his daughter said.

Visitation will be noon to 4 and 6 to 8:30 p.m. Saturday at East Flat Rock First Baptist Church. A funeral service has been set for 2 p.m. Sunday at the church.

Born in 1933 in Henderson County, McKinnish grew up in the Clear Creek community. He was the son of Lloyd McKinley McKinnish, a post office employee in Asheville, and Margaret Pace McKinnish, a homemaker who grew and canned vegetables, made clothes and helped look after the 20-acre family farm.
The McKinnishes traced their roots in the N.C. mountains to 1830, when their ancestors settled in a community in Leicester known as McKinnish Cove. Harold McKinnish's grandmother bought land in Henderson County in 1920, and the family had been here ever since.

A 1951 graduate of Edneyville High School, McKinnish earned a degree at the Fruitland Baptist Bible Institute in1956 and studied at the North Greenville Junior College.

After pastoring Baptist churches in Fletcher and Tuxedo, the young minister led flocks in Chesnee and Greer, S.C. Returning home to Henderson County, he answered calls to the pulpits of Fruitland, Liberty, East Flat Rock and Ebenezer Baptist churches. Congregants of Tuxedo Baptist especially loved him; they called him three times.

McKinnish is survived by his wife of 61 years, Lois Griffin McKinnish; his daughter, Linda McKinnish Bridges and her husband, Tilden Bridges; his son, Jim and his wife, Kim; grandchildren Kyle McKinnish Bridges, Josh McKinnish and Amber McKinnish McCall; and three great-grandchildren. Preceding him in death was his sister, Virginia M. McCrary, and  nephews Billy and Benny McCrary, the Hendersonville men who began gaining weight at age 4 after German measles damaged their pituitary glands, won fame as the world's largest twins and traveled the carnival and wrestling circuit as the McGuire Twins.

'On fire for God'

McKinnish was dedicated to his sermons and careful about record-keeping, said daughter Linda, a professor of the New Testament and Greek at Wake Forest University's divinity school and an associate dean for international admissions.
"He preached 17,000 sermons. Each of those sermons has been documented," Bridges said. "He documented the text, the title, the Scripture text, the temperature of the service — was it a cold service, where the spirit was not moving, or was it warm or was it on fire for God. He dated it, so he has this tremendous chronicle of his sermons — who was saved, who went to the altar, who rededicated."
At the family's brick home in East Flat Rock, Bridges described an upbringing where faith and education were important, and music was, too. Her dad was the same person on Monday evening at supper that he was on Sunday morning in the pulpit, she said. He welcomed visits from those in need of help and guidance.
"You're sitting in a room where many people came of various sorts — couples thinking about divorce not getting along, crying in these chairs; there would be the young minister needing advice from the sage minister," she said. "So, his ministry was certainly preaching because he so much loved words, but he was also a counselor. People came to him, they could trust him and they gravitated to him. He was unpretentious, local boy, fourth generation."

A brick mason on the side, McKinnish taught masonry for many years at Edneyville High School. As his daughter followed him into the ministry and study of the Bible, his son followed the father's parttime trade. Jimmy McKinnish is a masonry contractor and a bluegrass singer.

Asked recently about his life, preacher McKinnish said, "I didn't aim for position. I didn't aim for prestige or salary. I really did this life work as minister of the gospel because I really do love people. I have always been interested in people. I have wanted to know people—to be a part of their lives and to be an encouragement to them along life's journey."

Urged flock to 'Pass it on'
Despite declining health, McKinnish continued to preach steadily, accepting guest assignments and funeral services. In his last sermon, on July 7 of this year at Hickory Grove Baptist Church in Rutherfordton, McKinnish issued what would turn out to be his parting advice.
"The topic of that sermon was 'Pass it On,' so his sense was I think he knew that this could possibly be his final sermon," Bridges said. "It's like that idea that if you gave your last lecture, if you gave your last sermon, if you gave your last presentation, what would you say?
"Most likely it's going to distill what you want people to remember about you. So we have this wonderful DVD that the church recorded of his sermon. We've extracted some portions of it for his funeral on Sunday.
"He starts out the sermon saying, 'Who has influenced you?' and he goes on to describe a lineage of people who shared faith, with one who shared faith with another who shared faith. They were the ones who led my mother to Christ, who led my father to Christ, the idea that we live within the context of very spiritual ancestors who have gone before us."
"But he also had the keen awareness that he was living into the future, much like the native Americans who settled this land before we did, who said that life is best lived if you lived it thinking about seven generations going forward."
After his Christian faith and family, music was a strong love of the preacher, who who took up music at age 14.
"If he didn't have a sermon to preach he was singing and playing," Bridges said. "Bluegrass music was always his love, and mandolin was his instrument."

Big crowd expected
Because he was so well-known and touched so many parishioners over the years, Jackson Funeral Home has scheduled 6½ hours of visitation — noon to 4 and 6 to 8:30 p.m. Saturday at East Flat Rock First Baptist Church.

The funeral service at 2 p.m. Sunday at the church by the Rev. Dr. Linda McKinnish Bridges, the Rev. Brent Thomas, the Rev. Sandy Beck, the Rev. Tilden Bridges. Jim McKinnish and the grandchildren will provide special music. Burial will follow at Forest Lawn Memorial Park.

Jackson Funeral Home officials told the family they thought the minister's service might be the biggest funeral they've ever held.

"The legacy that he leaves is a tremendous one but it's not one that stops with him," his daughter said. "That last sermon said, 'Don't just look at me, look at what you need to think about moving forward, investing in the future.'"
In lieu of flowers, the family asked that donations be made to the newly created Lois Griffin and Harold McKinnish Scholarship Fund at Fruitland Baptist Bible Institute. The special fund will honor the ministry of Harold and Lois McKinnish by providing financial support for a young student planning to serve churches in North Carolina or South Carolina. Donations may be sent to Fruitland Baptist Bible Institute, 1455 Gilliam Road, Hendersonville, N.C., 28792.
Donations may also be sent to:
The Gideons
P.O. Box 6284
Hendersonville, N.C. 28793

Carolina Baptist Association
601 Hebron Road
Hendersonville, NC 28739