Rev. Myron D. Hill, M. Div., Pastor

Bethel AME Church (Knoxville, TN)

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The Rev. Myron David Hill is the oldest of three sons of WMS Life Member Mrs. Mary W. Hill and the late Mr. David H. Hill and a native of Shulerville, SC, located in Berkeley County. At an early age, he accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior and became a member of the family church, Wesley AME Church, Shulerville, SC, where he still holds membership. It was at this church that he first played the organ, after listening to his father, who was the church’s organist, play. He would come home and play everything his father played that Sunday. So for 47 years, Myron Hill has been lover and practitioner of the keys.

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The importance of education was a mainstay in the Hill household as both of his parents were career educators. Rev. Hill is a 1988 graduate of Macedonia High School, Moncks Corner, SC. He has a BA degree from SC State University and was graduated in 1994 armed with a degree in History. Rev. Hill also earned a Masters of Divinity (M. Div.) Degree with a concentration in Church Administration and Leadership from the Turner Theological Seminary on the campus of the Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC) in 2002.

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Music is a God-given gift that Rev. Hill possesses. Rev. Hill has founded many choirs and directed and/played for them. Currently, Rev. Hill is the President and Director of the Greenwood Area Martin Luther King, Jr., Mass Choir, the Director of the Abbeville Greenwood District Choir of the AME Church and the Director of the Piedmont Annual Conference of the AME Church. His crowning achievement has been his June 2018 election as the Connectional (Worldwide) Associate Director of Music and Christian Arts for the entire AME Church, following an 8-year stint as MCAM’s Parliamentarian. He was re-elected to a second term July 2022. His gifts have made room for him from the rural to the urban settings, and now worldwide.

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A lifelong member of the AME Church, Rev. Hill has served at every level of the church in a leadership capacity. From 1989-1994, he was the President of the Young People’s and Children’s Division (YPD) of the AME for the more than 500 AME churches in SC/Seventh Episcopal District. This position afforded him the opportunity to serve on the Connectional YPD Executive Board as well. Rev. Hill was also the Connectional Editor of the Richard Allen Young Adult Council (RAYAC) for the AME Church. Rev. Hill is currently the Treasurer of the Turner Seminary Alumni Association.

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The love of Rev. Hill’s life is that of pastoring. After accepting his call to preach in 1995, was admitted to the Palmetto Annual Conference at Ebenezer AME Church, Charleston, SC by the late Bishop John Hurst Adams. Bishop Adams ordained him an Itinerant Deacon in the AME Church in 1998 at Greater St. Luke AME Church, Charleston, SC. As a deacon and while in seminary, he served as pastor of Mt. Sinai AME Church, Bradley, SC from 1999-2002. He was ordained an Itinerant Elder in 2000 at Moncks Corner (SC) AME Church by Bishop Henry A. Belin, Jr. He served for 11 months as pastor of Allen Chapel AME Church in Greenwood, SC from 2002-2003. On November 22, 2003, Rev. Hill was appointed pastor of Cypress Chapel AME Church in Abbeville, SC, the longest-serving pastor in the church’s history. He served this church for 2 weeks shy of 18 years.  Rev. Hill served as the registrar, Admissions Chair and First Year Chair of the Piedmont Annual Conference Board of Examiners, responsible for training new preachers entering ministry through the AME Church, a job Rev. Hill also takes seriously. Rev. Hill was also the Secretary for the Abbeville Greenwood District, AME Church as well as the Chair of the Committee on Ministerial Orders.

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On November 7, 2021, Bishop E. Anne Henning Byfield appointed Rev. Hill to Bethel AME Church, Knoxville, TN.  Since being appointed our pastor, great things have been happenings at our church.   A restroom was installed in the office area of the church and a ramp with wheelchair access to that restroom was erected between the sanctuary and in the office area.  A retained wall was installed and gutters reinforced to keep water from intruding in the basement of the church.  Walls which were former eye sores were restored to its beauty.  Cameras were installed on the Chestnut St side of the church for the safety of our office personel.  

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Rev. Hill is a member of the East Tennessee Annual Conference, the Tennessee Mountain Presiding Elder District and the 13th Episcopal District.  He is the Dean of the Board of Examiners, the Chair of the Conference Finance Committee and a member of the 13th District Finance Committee, a member of the Trustee Board and an elected delegate to the General Conference.  Rev. Hill is a member of the Knoxville Interdenominational Christian Ministers Alliance (KICMA).   

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The Church has seen his passion and hard work and has acknowledged from for the same. The Seventh Episcopal District Lay Organization honored Rev. Hill as the Pastor of the Year for 2019. In 2021, the Turner Theological Seminary inducted Rev. Hill into the Turner Seminary Hall of Fame.

 

He spends his free time traveling, reading, cooking, baking, eating, watching TV and movies and desktop publishing. He passionately loves the Lord and passionately serves the Lord’s people!