My first church while I was a student pastor was The First Baptist Church, Alvaton, Ga.

If you know where Alvaton is, you are a well traveled individual. Alvaton is due south on Ga. Highway 85. You go south from Fayetteville, go through Senoia, then Haralson, and then cross White Oak Creek and then stay alert or you will miss Alvaton. If you end up in Gay, Ga. you have gone too far. Turn around and go six miles North and this time you will be at the blinking light of down town Alvaton.

These days as a student pastor were some of my fondest memories. I can remember “dinner on the grounds.” Now this was an experience that only pastors who have ministered in rural Southern churches have experienced. I can remember ladies in our church who on “dinner on the grounds” days would walk along the long line of food with their hands behind their backs inspecting all the food. They would either nod or shake their heads as their gaze fell on the dishes, but on occasion they would completely stop and say “Store-bought.” This was truly the “kiss of death” to the dessert and to the individual who would dare go to the store and buy a “store-bought” dessert. It was like calling someone a communist.

Another one of my fondest memories was the time we decided to have a country church barbecue. When I said these words to the congregation, you could feel the electricity in the sanctuary. Lists started to fill up as to who was going to do what and when. Someone said that a man named James Herndon was the best in the Southeast for barbecue. I called James and we got started.

I had never seen this particular style of cooking before. The men dug a small pit and started a fire. Then they found a large wire screen and brought in some cinder blocks and elevated the screen off the ground and started laying large quarters of Pork on the screen. We then all stood around the fire and had the best time imaginable. The men would take the hot coals off our fire and shovel them under the wire screen to cook the meat. You can learn a lot about a person if you stand around a fire all night. We laughed and told stories of our families our church and the old South.

I had secured a sign that had detachable letters which read “Church Bar-B-Q.” It was amazing how those words attracted a crowd. There were truck drivers headed south flying through this little town and when seeing the “Church Bar-B-Q” sign would lock down on their brakes and come in to buy barbecue at all hours of the night and day.

As you read this, our church would have stayed up all Friday night Nov. 12 on Charlie Mask's farm cooking two pigs that he donated for our church barbecue. We will then sell barbecue plates to you as a church building fund raiser this Saturday, Nov. 13. We will be set up in the vacant lot near the new Kroger store between the new Blockbuster video and the new Kauffman Tire Store.

Come by between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. and experience a Southern church barbecue. We will leave the fire on for you.

[The Rev. Dr. Knox Herndon is the pastor of His House Community Church (SBC) and a substitute school teacher in the Fayette County school system, and a former Army chaplain. The church is currently meeting in the American Legion Log Cabin across from the fountain on the Square in Fayetteville. Prayer line 770-719-2365; e-mail Khern2365@aol.com]

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