We relocated in Pickens County at the end of 1997 from Atlanta, Georgia. I had lost my position with the Home Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention that summer when it was reorganized. My wife was a registered nurse working for a state agency in downtown Atlanta.

Both of us love small towns. We like to know our neighbors and have direct relationships with political officials, merchants, and tradesmen. We enjoy fellowship with small groups of persons with similar interests.

We have found Carrollton and the whole of the county to be welcoming. I work part-time for the association of Baptist Churches (36 of them) in the county. We get to worship across the county. We have developed many friendships with good and Godly folk.

We enjoy southern gospel music. It is all around us here, and several well-known groups visit and sing in our churches every year.

My wife Jackie has launched a support group for people with diabetes. She has connected with some quilters and enjoys working with and learning from them. And she does blood pressure checks as a public service each month at the Baptist Center Thrift Store. I am offering Bible classes for pastors and church leaders through Beeson Seminary Extension.

Our seven-year-old granddaughter, a veteran of several pilgrimages to Disneyworld, tells her parents that she prefers visits to the Eatman’s farm in the Sapps community, pancakes at the Town Square Diner, and a tea party with her grandparents and friends in Pickens County.