What Grace is About

What Grace is About

May 8, 2018 | Blog

What Grace Is About This year marks my thirtieth year of fulltime pastoral ministry. In 1988 I served my first year of fulltime ministry with Dr. Hugh Kirby as the Minister of Youth at First Baptist Church in Hartwell, Georgia. However, my ministry started long before...
The Lessons The Broccoli Tree Have for Easter

The Lessons The Broccoli Tree Have for Easter

Apr 1, 2018 | Blog, Sermons

Easter Sunrise Service One spring day a photographer living near the Southern shore of Lake Vattern, Sweden took a picture of a tree and posted it on Instagram because he thought it looked like a stalk of broccoli sticking up out of the ground.   Forty-three people...
This Is How People Know You Are a Disciple

This Is How People Know You Are a Disciple

Mar 29, 2018 | Blog, Sermons

For most of us, the thought of washing someone’s feet is repulsive unless it is someone we know really, really well and even then we are not very willing. A few years ago, I served as the camp pastor at a youth camp at Ricks Institute, which is sixteen miles outside...
The Mystery of Quieting the Babies

The Mystery of Quieting the Babies

Jan 7, 2018 | Blog

One of the favorite services of the year for most of our members is the candlelight Christmas Eve service.   It’s amazing how much musical talent we have in our church and some of this talent is always on display at this service. Latecomers missed Hannah Safley...
Finding Life After Loss and Grief

Finding Life After Loss and Grief

Dec 2, 2017 | Blog

Almost every day my life crosses with someone who is living with some form of loss. One day I am standing in a driveway talking to a man who is slowly watching Alzheimer’s claim his wife one memory at a time. Another day I am visiting a woman in a nursing home with...