Blog

Today is All Saints Day.  The day after many people dressed up as ghosts, goblins, visited haunted houses, and the like, comes a day when the church reminds us that death is real, but we do not have to fear it. While death saddens us, we do not have to be frightened...

I'm not a golfer.   I still have some clubs but I stopped playing.  It was difficult for me to relax. It was too much stress and with not enough balls going straight.  Still, I keep up with the sport and enjoy watching the major championships.  This year, I followed...

Like all Baby Boomers, I grew up with television.  I cut my teeth on "Captain Kangaroo" and "Sesame Street."  I graduated to sitcoms:  "The Andy Griffith Show," "Bewitched," "Gilligan's Island," "Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.," "Happy Days," "All in the Family," "The...

Johnnette Jallah, a teenager from Lofa County, said her favorite thing about Passport Camp Liberia was making new friends.  Approximately one-hundred and fifty campers from across Liberia had such an opportunity when they traveled to Ricks Institute, a boarding school...

A pastor friend of mine recently died after living to age 85.  He pastored the same church for nearly 30 years.  Well, there was that two-week stint that he pastored another church in Florida.  Yes, two weeks. This large-steeple church lured this pastor to their...

As a pastor, I make calls on members in various kinds of care home facilities because these people are cut off from their church community. It is important for the church community to continue to minister to these people, including those who will not remember our...

If the Baptist churches had Cardinals, Dr. Ches Smith would have been one.  He might have gotten a few votes for Pope, if Baptists had one of those, but that's one of the great differences between us and our Catholic friends.  We don't need a Pope but we still need...

Brad Yoman has been navigating the swamps around the Altamaha River for over 30 years.  He captains a 12-foot aluminum Jon boat with a 15hp two-stroke engine.  It's a small boat with a small motor but small is what you need when you are moving through the swamp.  Many...

I've been a Rotarian now since 1996.  Rotary is an international service organization.  Our motto is a "Service Above Self."  In most cities around the world, you can find Rotarians meeting once a week, all seeking to make the world a better place to live.  We strive...

In August 1956, Judge Julian Bennett, in his first case as a judge, handed down this sentence in the Jackson County Courthouse to James Foster for the murder of Jefferson businessman Charlie Drake, one of the town's most popular citizens: "You will be put to death...

We had an interesting visitor to our church office not long ago.  A man fresh out of jail because of a DUI arrest stopped to ask for help.  His truck was impounded and he needed a ride to his home, which was in a nearby city. Later that afternoon, I drove him to his...

According to UNICEF, as of 2009, there were a total of 340,000 Liberian orphans; this out of a total child population of some 1,878,000 and a country of just three and a half million people.  If you do the math, that's about one orphan out of every nine people in...