The Indiana South District has elected Reverend Tony Bye as its next district superintendent. A pastor with deep roots in southern Indiana, Tony comes into his tenure with a vision for healthy pastors, revitalized congregations and new Wesleyan churches across the district.
Tony comes to the role after serving as lead pastor of Brookhaven Wesleyan Church in Marion, Indiana. Brookhaven is a sending church. During his time there, Tony developed a deep commitment to investing in pastors and ministry leaders, building teams and helping each congregation offer tangible expressions of Christ’s hope and grace in their communities and around the world.
For Tony, the election brings together several strands of his calling and ministry experience. He grew up in the Indiana South District and has roots in the communities that shape much of its identity. At the same time, more than two decades of ministry outside the district have given him experiences and perspective he hopes will help him serve its churches well.
“I hope I can merge both an understanding of the culture, the people and the DNA of the district with a fresh perspective from having been away,” Tony said. “There are a lot of amazing pastors and churches, and I’m excited about that.”
Tony earned an undergraduate degree in Christian Ministries from Indiana Wesleyan University in 1995, followed by a Master of Divinity in 2013. He is currently pursuing a Doctor of Ministry in Transformational Leadership from Wesley Seminary in Marion, Indiana. His education and experience leading Brookhaven have shaped his conviction that pastoral health requires purposeful investment in physical, spiritual, mental, emotional, financial and relational well-being.
Among his first priorities will be strengthening the health of pastors and their ministry teams. Tony’s doctoral research examines the relationship between Sabbath-keeping practices and healthy staff cultures, particularly when those practices are modeled and championed by lead pastors.
“One of the first questions I’ve been asking pastors when I meet them is, ‘What day is your Sabbath? What day do you take off?’” Tony said. “I’m passionate about helping the team get healthy and united.”
That emphasis builds upon work already underway in Indiana South during Reverend Doug Preston’s four-and-a-half years as district superintendent. Over this past season, the district rallied around a simple missional vision: “Go after the one.” Rather than making church growth itself the goal, Doug encouraged churches to remain healthy, missional and intentional, trusting that growth would follow as congregations faithfully pursued people.
That concern for mission became inseparable from a concern for the pastors carrying it out. Indiana South encouraged long-serving pastors to take sabbaticals and developed additional support for clergy and congregations, including access to Christian counseling. For Doug, healthy churches require both healthy leaders and congregations capable of receiving and sustaining good pastoral leadership.
Assistant District Superintendent Reverend Ray Austin said the district’s team approach has also allowed leaders to spend more time with pastors and know what is happening in their lives. Through gatherings, appreciation events and personal relationships, the district has worked to communicate that pastors are valued as people as well as leaders.
That culture of care accompanies a growing commitment to revitalization and multiplication. Doug said the district has intentionally invested in congregations with healthy leadership and potential for growth with the expectation that strengthened churches will eventually invest in others.
“Our goal was to generate a culture of multiplication with revitalization,” Doug said. “We’re going to help you revitalize. We’re going to help you be stronger, but you’re committing as a pastor and a congregation that you’re going to pay it forward once we get you there.”
Tony enters leadership as congregations across Indiana South continue finding ways to serve communities affected by poverty, engage a changing culture and share the gospel with their neighbors. “There is a new sense of chasing after people for Jesus,” Tony said. “Churches are seeing that the world is changing and that we can change our approach and our methods while remaining faithful to the gospel. There are remarkable Celebrate Recovery ministries in many congregations in southern Indiana, which is a real need.”
Tony also recognizes the pressures faced by many smaller congregations. Limited financial resources, leadership shortages and geographic distance can leave pastors feeling isolated. He hopes the district can help churches share resources, cultivate new leaders and see themselves as partners with neighboring congregations rather than carrying ministry alone.
This support will accompany an emphasis on church revitalization and multiplication. Indiana South includes many rural and small-town congregations with long histories of ministry in their communities. Tony wants to help those churches discern their next faithful steps and reach new generations.
Tony also sees opportunities to establish Wesleyan churches in growing population centers where the denomination currently has little presence. Bloomington, Greenwood, the southern edge of Indianapolis and communities across the Ohio River from Louisville are among the areas he believes could benefit from intentional church-planting partnerships.
“There are amazing rural churches and small-town churches. I want those to keep getting healthy. I have a passion for helping Indiana South lean into some of the urban areas that are there,” Tony said. “I want to help plant churches and also help revitalize churches in rural areas because there is a lot of need there as well.”
For Doug and Ray, Tony’s election represents an opportunity for that work to continue while a new leader brings fresh energy and ideas. Doug said he entered district leadership determined that when he reached the limit of what he could offer in a particular season, he would be willing to pass the torch. He believes that moment has come, and he hopes to be one of Tony’s strongest supporters.
“I think God’s put the mantle on him,” Doug said. “I believe we have the right individual to take it to the next level.”
The transition also marks a significant season for Tony and his wife, Amy. The two have been married since 1991 and have two adult sons, Seth and Spencer. As Tony considered the years of vocational ministry ahead of him, he sensed an invitation to invest his experience as a pastor in listening to and empowering fellow pastors across the district.
“I probably have 15 to 20 years of vocational ministry left, and I want to optimize it for the kingdom as best as I can. I want to leave things better than I find them,” said Tony.
That desire echoes the prayers of the leaders handing the work to him: Doug and Ray both expressed hopes that Indiana South will remain united and kingdom-focused, with churches seeing themselves as participants in a shared mission rather than isolated ministries.
Tony asks those praying for the district during the transition to pray for joy, unity and missional imagination, “so our churches can be a gospel presence, loving their neighbors.”
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Rev. Ethan Linder is the pastor of discipleship at College Wesleyan Church in Marion, Indiana.
