By Mark Ambrogi
Pastor Gina Kirkland had a way of putting Zionsville’s Salem United Methodist Church members at ease right away.
“My first sermon I told them I realized I did not look like them,” Kirkland said. “They said they thought, ‘She was going to go to the race card.’ I said, ‘No, I’m really short.’”
The 4-foot-10 Kirkland, who prefers to be called Pastor Gina, joined Salem UMC as an interim pastor in March and accepted the role full-time in July.
“As an African-American woman landing in a small traditional country church, in an area that is 94 percent white, one might expect a little less than 100 percent acceptance, but not so with this woman,” said Tim Ottinger, a lifelong member of Salem UMC. “Once you meet Pastor Gina, you can’t help but embrace the love and compassion she has in her work and for humanity, without an ounce of bias. To us, she is the living epitome of Matthew 22:38, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
Kirkland, 60, said of her 22 years of pastoral experience, 20 have been with predominantly white congregations.
“God has given my husband and I this chameleon-like gift so people don’t see us as black or African-American. They just see us as Gina and Reggie,” she said.
Kirkland said the church lives up to its moniker as “The Friendly Country Church.”
“They are a loving people,” Kirkland said.
The congregation has grown from 60 in March to approximately 90 for its single Sunday service at 9:15 a.m.
If it keeps growing, the church will likely add an 11 a.m. service. The capacity is 155 for the church, which was founded in 1834. The church moved to its current building at S. 775 E., in 1914.
Kirkland said the congregation is very laity-driven.
“They’re so organized and get the job done,” Kirkland said.
After being laid off as a critical care nurse, Kirkland pursued other careers. She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1993. She could move her upper body but had great difficulty putting weight on her legs before attending a youth church service after returning home to visit family in November 1995.
“It was divine healing,” Kirkland said. “A pastor told me that I needed to lean on Jesus and accept the call to the ministry, and I did. At this point, I got my legs back because I was in a wheelchair for three years.”
When she returned to Atlanta, her neurologist found no evidence of MS. She then began her path to becoming a pastor and became ordained in 1999.
Kirkland took a break from pastoral duties for several months to help her husband, Reggie, 72, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s three years ago.
“For a while, he got really bad,” Kirkland said. “In order to get assistance with care, you have to show you are the only one doing it. It doesn’t make sense to me, but I needed to step away from my ministry for a while to take care of him. Now we have a lot of things in place. I’m going to keep him at home as long as I’m able to handle him. When things get too much and I can’t physically handle him, we’ve already picked out a memory center.”
Kirkland said some days are better than others for Reggie.
“It fluctuates between his physical ability and his cognitive ability,” she said.
Kirkland, a 1975 Anderson High School salutatorian, was previously a pastor at New Horizons UMC in Anderson and two other Methodist churches after moving back to Anderson eight years ago.
Kirkland, who commutes to Zionsville two to three days a week, said Salem had been used to having part-time pastors.
“I wanted to continue with my ministry, because I was like a duck out of water,” she said. “God fixed it so we merged together, and it’s a seriously win-win situation. They’re awesome folks.”
Longtime foster parents
Kirkland cared for 39 foster children during a 20-year period. That doesn’t include the three children the Kirklands adopted.
“For someone who grew up saying I wasn’t going to have kids, that’s something,” she said. “I figured I was going to be a career girl. My sister was the one who did the babysitting and loved kids. As I grew up, I loved kids and saw a lot of kids not getting what they need to get.”
Kirkland is raising her granddaughter, Khamiya, who was born to her adopted daughter at age 17.
“Our granddaughter, Khamiya Johnson, has been with us since minute one,” Kirkland said. “You think you are in your 50s and 60s and you think you are ready to travel, and then you have a baby (to raise). She’s a marvelous kid. She is 7 years old going on 45.”
Along with her granddaughter, Kirkland now has her great-nieces Richla, 19, and Nakyan, 15, living with her after her niece, Malisa Grayson, died in April at age 37 from a cerebral hemorrhage earlier this year.
Meet Gina Kirkland
Personal: The 1980 Ball State University graduate worked as a nurse in critical care at Ball Memorial Hospital for several years. Husband Reginald, who has a doctorate, is a retired Veterans Affairs hospital administrator in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. They married nearly 17 years ago. Has two birth children, Cory Clemmons, 39, and Danny Clemmons, 35. Cory and his family live in Noblesville, and Danny is in a band in Florida. Her adopted children are daughter Ashley Johnson and sons Dexter Johnson and Randi Kirkland. She has a stepson, Mark Kirkland, and stepdaughter, Marquay Toney. Kirkland saw her weight shrink from 240 pounds to 130 after having gastric bypass surgery in 2012. “I have no more high blood pressure, no more diabetes, no more high cholesterol and no more hip and knee pain that I was having because of the weight,” Kirkland said.
