The Rev. Ronnie Kidd had a good church going till the pandemic robbed him of his wife Kathy and most of his congregation.
Having moved the House of Prayer Worship Center from the Days Inn in 2018 to his home at 11006 W. Hoffman Dr. in West Odessa, he convenes church at 10 a.m. each Sunday and hopes that some of the 20 people who belonged before the pandemic come back or that newcomers will attend.
“I preach about whatever the Lord lays on my heart, mainly the Cross and staying focused on the Lord and what he is speaking about,” the Rev. Kidd said. “We need to stay in tune with him these days and depend on him for everything instead of relying on ourselves.
“Don’t listen to other people or what’s going on in the news because you will lose your focus on God if you set your mind on the things of the world.”
Kidd is a native of Olton on the western South Plains who grew up working on the family farm and he worked in Odessa for Broncho Chevrolet, a pipe service and a janitorial service before joining Warren Petroleum as a maintenance man and then he became a field operator before Warren was bought by Gulf Oil, which merged with Chevron, where he retired in 1996. He has two children, eight grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
“The Lord called me into the ministry eight or nine years ago and I argued with him for a year till he won out,” Kidd said. “I said, ‘Lord, this is an old country boy. You don’t want me.’
“And he said, ‘I do, too.’”
“What happened in 2020 with the pandemic was that the media got people scared and they wouldn’t get out of the house because they were told that if you get out, you’re going to catch it,” Kidd said. “Fear is the worst thing a person can get into because fear is nothing but Satan.”
Kidd’s favorite Scripture is Jeremiah 33:3, which says, “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things that you do not know.”
Church member Tommy Dedrick said Kidd “is a fine man who has a heart of love and giving.
“Ronnie didn’t know my mother, but he volunteered and bought her a brand-new stove for her kitchen,” Dedrick said. “When he does things like that and helps people, he is doing it unto God. He is wonderful. He will give you his last dollar. Even if he has to take the clothes off his back, he will give it to you.
“He is a tremendous role model not just for ministry but even out of ministry. He is a great non-denominational preacher.”
