local preacher

noun

(in early Methodism) a layperson appointed to supervise the congregation and conduct services between visits of a circuit rider.
(in the southern U.S.) a lay preacher.

Origin of local preacher

First recorded in 1765–75

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Geordie Armstrong, after a somewhat stormy past, had become a steady hewer, and a local preacher of some repute.
Tales of Northumbria | Howard Pease
Then my memory once more told me what manner of man I was talking to—he was a prominent local preacher.
Punch, Or the London Charivari Volume 107, November 17, 1894 | Various
The first time old Deacon Gibson, a local preacher, had been hiving a swarm of bees when Nicodemus arrived on the scene.
Red Dynamite | Roy J. Snell
At the age of seventeen he was made a Methodist exhorter, or local preacher.
The Life of John Taylor | B. H. Roberts
"So Mr. So-and-So is dead," in reference to a local preacher.
A Book of the West. Volume I Devon | S. Baring-Gould

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