Mr Pope, the senior pastor at Invercargill’s Crossover Church, will lead the service for Sir Tim Shadbolt at the Civic Theatre.
Mr Pope said he had not expected to take the service but was honoured to do so.
"I just want it to be an honour to Tim and to celebrate his life.
"If I can help facilitate that, that’d be great.
"It is a wee bit nerve-wracking."
Sir Tim had been a long-standing servant of the community, he said.
"He’s served the city for nearly 30 years and done so with a lot of grace and dignity and a lot of laughter and unique ideas.
" I think that endears him to a lot of people, you know, I think that’s why people love him so much because he’s such a people person and has served so faithfully and well."
Sir Tim had been a regular member of the church’s congregation for the past 12 years.
"He was very supportive of the church and loved coming along, loved the music, which is a bit upbeat in our church, and the messages.
"He’s very community-focused, and as a church, we’re very community-focused, so we probably flow quite well with him."
Sir Tim was very people-oriented.
"He’s just had a real knack of being able to connect with people where they’re at."
Sir Tim was keen to be involved and one Christmas when the Southland disAbility Enterprises staff were on holiday, he offered to help church members sort the recycling bin items.
Mr Pope told him he did not need to come.
"It’s actually quite disgusting but no, we couldn’t stop him.
"He was there with his gloves on and mask on."
He and his wife Bernie had also been friends with Sir Tim.
"It was a real privilege to know him and have him in our church."
Ask former Invercargill City councillor Peter Kett about Sir Tim and he has many stories to share.
He first met Sir Tim in the leadup to the by-election after mayor Eve Poole died in office in 1992.
Invercargill woman Mary Ward who had contacted Sir Tim about running for mayor was his campaign manager.
At the time Mr Kett was a shop manager in the Cambridge Place Arcade.
He suggested they use the arcade as a gathering place to hear Sir Tim speak. After the arcade closed at 9pm a big group of people gathered for the ‘bring your own refreshments’ event.
Someone found a beer crate for Sir Tim to stand on and he spoke to the crowd.
"It was unreal and the whole arcade was rocking."
He recalled the time councillors voted to take the mayoral credit card away from Sir Tim.
Mr Kett thought a credit card was a good way to keep tabs on Sir Tim because there was a paper trail of his spending but no-one else agreed.
About a year later Mr Kett invited Sir Tim to a Southland Stags after-match function.
Sir Tim spoke to the 200-strong crowd and offered to shout them a drink which was met with enthusiasm.
He went on to say unfortunately he could not do that because his credit card had been taken away from him.
"People said, ‘don’t worry, Tim, we’ll shout for you’ and the table in front of him, all of a sudden, was lined up with gins and beers."
In 2022, Sir Tim’s reign as mayor finished but Mr Kett regularly visited him.
While Sir Tim’s health had been deteriorating for the past six months, he still recognised Mr Kett.
"We had a hell of a lot of laughs."
In many ways Sir Tim was more than just the mayor of Invercargill.
"He worked for everyone.
"He was the mayor of Southland."
