Lest something that I have said or done might have been misunderstood, let me make a simple statement of my position with regard to my ministry:

I am a Christian, I am an American, I am a Mississipian, in that order.

My Father, a native of Mississippi, served his entire ministry in Mississippi. I am a child of the manse and know the tensions and fears of our time. I have served a church in Mississippi respectfully and acceptably for five years.

Essentially I am a Christian Pastor who wants to live through this time of stress and growth with my people, serving them to the best of my ability, not adding to the tension or compounding it.

I recognize that many good and devoted Christians have sharp differences of opinion, some segregationists and others integrationists -- adopting these labels by their choice. I prefer the label Christian rather than either, for I feel the Christian Gospel is committed to neither but is greater than both. However, I firmly respect and will defend the right of difference of opinion.

I will love all people and feel no malice in my heart toward anyone regardless of their beliefs or positions in life; and by God's grace I will be a pastor to all, praying with and for them that they may earnestly find God's will for them.

I am devoted to a free pulpit in which God will use me to proclaim his whole Gospel as he leads me through the Holy Spirit in my time. I will preach to please no one save Jesus Christ my Lord. I will never enter the pulpit without having first given my sermon to God, prayerfully seeking his will and standing under his judgement.

I am not a crusader for any certain cause or position other than the cause or position of Jesus Christ as it is revealed to me. I have not program for social change. But where God's word speaks to human need and human relations I will proclaim that word. I am committed to the orderly progress of the Church whereby people are reached for Jesus Christ.

I look to the Session of the Church as elected leaders to promote the peace and purity of the Church. I give myself to encouraging the Session to meet its responsibility of leading the Congregation in seeking and following the will of God for the Church.

"The perfect peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord; and the blessing of God Almighty, The Father, The Son and the Holy Spirit be upon you and remain with you always. Amen.