If you're of the Methodist

faith, you know that the third Thursday in June of each year is fruit

basket turnover time.

If the church conference you

are located decides to move a minister to another church, that is the

day it happens.

Generally speaking, the plan

is for those moving out to do so by that Thursday at noon, and those moving

in do so in the afternoon. Of course, there are exceptions, but that's

the general plan.

The Methodist church was an

outgrowth of the circuit ministry in the early 1730s organized by John

Wesley. He and his brother Charles came to Savannah with James Oglethorpe.

Wesley was a preacher with

the Church of England and he and his brother were ridiculed both in England

and in Georgia as "Bible bigots" and "methodists"

because they spent so much time in methodical prayer and Bible reading.

John Wesley believed in circuit

preachers and when he returned to England just a couple of years after

arriving in Savannah, he had trained several men here in the United States

to carry on this tradition. Back in England, he would have preachers meet

him at a church on Sunday morning and then assign them various churches

at which to preach.

States, instead of circuit riders being out "on the road" for

two and three months at a time, they were assigned just four churches.

One of these would provide the parsonage for the preacher to live in as

its contribution.

There are three such churches

in Fayette County. Merrill Chapel United Methodist, New Hope United Methodist

and Hartford United Methodist are all under the tutelage of the Rev. Earl

Dabney, who has served here for 10 years. "I may not have a horse

to get around," he said, "but a car does just as well."

The Methodist churches in Fayette

County are all in the LaGrange District. "The Weslyan Advocate,"

a weekly publication in Georgia, indicates that all 11 preachers have

been returned for another year.

Adding up their total years

of service here, we find that they have been preaching in Fayette County

for 60 years.

The Rev. Mark Outlaw of Bethany

United Methodist is the son of a preacher, the Rev. Herb Outlaw, who served

in Fayetteville in the early 1990s. The son has served here for two years.

The Rev. Dr. Sam Matthews serves

at Fayetteville United Methodist, one of five churches in the county that

all began in the 1820s. The others are Baptist churches. Matthews has

served here for five years.

Inman United Methodist, currently

served by the Rev. Doug Burrell, has produced three ministers from its

congregation the Rev. Dan Overstreet, the Rev. Don Harp and the Rev. Gary

Parish. Burrell has served here for three years.

Hopewell United Methodist in

Tyrone derived its name from a community name in the mid-1800s. The Rev.

Dr. Richard C. Long has served for 15 years and is married to a native

of the county, the former Bonnie Ingram.

Providence United Methodist,

near Peachtree City, is served by a native of Fayette County, the Rev.

James F. Ellison. He was reared in Tyrone and is descended from ancestors

inventing the Ellison Cotton Gin. He is married to Beth, a daughter of

the Rev. Gary Parish, and has served here for seven years.

Others serving Fayette County

are the Rev. Stephen C. Schofield, two years at Brooks, the Rev. Charles

Grovenstein, Ebenezer, five years, the Rev. Betty Lou Flood, Friendship,

two years, the Rev. Franklin Long Jr., three years, and the Rev. Charles

Edward Hodges, Peachtree City, six years.

That all adds up to 60 years

of serving our county, and not a one of them has a horse.

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