He might look like a garden variety Christmas shepherd, but there's a lot more to this young man than a robe and a shepherd's staff. That's a seven-year-old evangelist you're looking at. Ezra McCard was on the Live Nativity float our church, Fort Valley Methodist, entered in our town's Christmas Parade last Saturday, December 9. We had Mary and Joseph, a couple of fantabulous young angels, and Ezra and his cousin, Kayden, were oustanding shepherds. I donned a robe and joined the shepherd section for the ride down one of Fort Valley's main thoroughfares. Folks lined the sidewalks to wave, shou ..read more

Even the best of parents sometimes do foolish things. My own parents included. It was a good 50 or so years ago. As such, my brother was around 12 and I was about 10. We were typical siblings, playing together one minute and squabbling the next. My parents came up with the genius idea of giving us boxing gloves for Christmas. What negative repercussions could ever come from providing two boys with equipment designed to facilitate the bludgeoning of one another? Can you imagine how that decision came to be made? It's somewhere between 1972 and 1974. It's a month or so before Christmas, probably ..read more

Professional sports are a tough enterprise based on cut-throat competition with the goal of defeating the opponent. Players compete with even their teammates for playing time and for the opportunity to showcase their talents and hopefully score a lucrative contract. That’s why I love the story of Tommy Pham. He’s a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks who played in this year’s World Series. On Saturday, October 28, his team was winning 7-1 in the ninth inning, in no small part due to his strong hitting. Four times he’d come up to bat, and all four times he’d gotten a hit. Going 4-for-4 in the Wo ..read more

Miss Hazel, our three and a half year old granddaughter, now attends Preschool on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings at a Presbyterian Church in Augusta, Georgia. She's making friends, enjoying parties and snacks, getting practice at sharing and standing in line, doing crafts and art projects, learning numbers and colors, and even getting an introduction to Spanish. "Hola, Hub and NeeNee!" she said the other day, having already mastered, in a month, about as much of the language as I did in four quarters of it in college. Each week, they focus on a single letter of the alphabet. A is fo ..read more

Some of you will disagree with this article. Some will hate it. A few of you will possibly never read another word I write. For all these reasons, and more, I thought long and hard about publishing it. In the end, I believe you deserve an explanation for my decision to leave a church that for the last 35+ years I've encouraged people to be a part of. It was never my desire to leave. In fact, I really wanted a brass Circuit Rider clergy grave marker on my tombstone one day. Not any time soon, mind you, but some day. And I tried my best to be faithful to my vows as both a member of The United Me ..read more

On the evening of Tuesday June 14, 1988, Bishop Earnest A. Fitzgerald ordained me as a Deacon in The United Methodist Church. Three years later, on June 12, I again knelt as he ordained me an Elder in The United Methodist Church. Thus, I've rolled out of bed every morning for 35 years to serve as a pastor in that great denomination. But today will be my last. Today, June 30, 2023, I end my ministry as a United Methodist pastor. Tomorrow, I begin my new service as an Elder in the Global Methodist Church. A wonderful chapter in my life is ending, and now I look forward to a new adventure in mini ..read more

My friend Allie Stoelting, a member of our church here at Fort Valley Methodist, recently snapped this picture of a Peach County, Georgia sunrise. Not a bad way to start your day out on the back porch, is it? I love the fingers. It looks like someone's waving "hello" to the world. Someone, it appears, is reaching out and reminding us of His presence. The Bible, especially in the Old Testament, speaks often of God being revealed through nature. Rumbling thunder, rolling seas, snowcapped mountains, birds, flowers, and baby lambs all reminded the ancients of God. They saw His handiwork everywher ..read more

But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil. I Thessalonians 5:22, NIV This time last year, Regina and I moved from Fayetteville, Georgia about an hour and half south to Fort Valley, Georgia. That 80 miles may not seem like much, but it is, really, and in some tangible ways. We're now very much in the heart of a rural, agricultural community. Most of Georgia's peaches, and a bunch of our pecans, are grown within a twenty mile radius of our home. I'm looking out my back window at a large corn field, and this spring we were surrounded by bea ..read more

One in this picture looks slightly terrified and the other looks absolutely thrilled. Miss Hazel is rightly happy, and all her family with her. Alden Miles Flanders has arrived and is thriving! The phrase "blessings upon blessings" has been running through my mind ever since Alden was born on May 11. I find myself thinking, "What's better than one grandchild?" Well, two, of course, because love grows exponentially. I can't wait to see the little man's personality as it develops. Will he be rough and tumble or a bit more calm and reflective? Will he love sports or music? Maybe both? Will he wa ..read more

In 1932, Luther Herschel Story was born in Buena Vista, a tiny hamlet in rural Middle Georgia. His parents, Mark and Florence Story, were sharecroppers who fought hard to stay a step ahead of growling hunger and dismal poverty. Luther attended Americus High School, played a little baseball there, but never graduated. Instead, he persuaded his mother to sign the papers to allow him to enlist in the United States Army at the ripe old age of 16. Late summer of 1950 found him in Korea, facing off against Communist forces from the north. His commanding general, Walton Walker, issued dire orders to ..read more