Bill Barnes

Bill Barnes (1931 – August 21, 2017) was an American United Methodist minister. He was the pastor of Edgehill United Methodist Church in Nashville, Tennessee, from 1966 to 1996. Known as "the conscience of Nashville" for his civil rights, homelessness and LGBTQ advocacy, Barnes admitted in his 2007 book that he "grieve over its divisions and exclusions, its racism and classism and Nimbyism." His father was a barber, and Barnes grew up poor. He graduated from Vanderbilt University in 1953, served in the United States Army from 1953 to 1955, and graduated from the Yale Divinity School in 1959.

Career Barnes was an early supporter of civil rights in New York City's Harlem, where he worked alongside William Stringfellow. His sermons focused on the Book of Amos.

Personal life, death and legacy Barnes resided in Nashville with his wife Brenda and their three children.

Selected works