On October 15, Dr. Trisha Senterfitt will begin her work as Executive Director of The Craddock Center.  She comes to the Center after serving as Associate Pastor of Care Ministry at First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta for fourteen years.  During this time Trisha created multiple ministries including Senior Adults, Parish Nursing, Labyrinth, and many support groups.  She also started the Samaritan Counseling Center at the church, which, under her leadership, has grown into a program staffed by a director and eleven counselors, including psychiatrists, psychologists, pastoral counselors, social workers and addiction therapists. 

Having grown up in the home of a Presbyterian pastor in which education and social mission were highly valued, she sensed a call to ministry while working with Peachtree Hospice in 1988.  Her education has included studying German at the University of Freiburg, earning a B.A. in German from Eckerd College and earning her Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry degrees from Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur.  She enjoys retreat leadership, spiritual direction, and leading labyrinth workshops, and she is a certified Grief Recovery Specialist. 

Trisha and her husband, Jack, have three grown children, Shelley, Todd, and Jeremy, a daughter-in-law, Karen, and a three year old grandson, John.  After living thirty-three years in Atlanta, they will be moving to Cherry Log in September.  Trisha and Jack have owned a cabin in Morganton since 2004, where they have enjoyed Sabbath time most Fridays and Saturdays before returning to Atlanta for church on Sunday.

Trisha is looking forward to returning to the Appalachian Mountains, for she grew up in rural East Tennessee.  She feels she is "coming home" in many ways.  Since her first career was as a high school teacher, she is excited about the educational components of The Craddock Center.  As a public school advocate all the years she has lived in Atlanta and as a pastor, she has a keen interest in literacy for children and adults as well as English as a second language.  Having grown up valuing stories, bluegrass, folk, gospel and Celtic music, mountain crafts, and Cherokee heritage, she heartily embraces the Center's mission to preserve and share the Southern Appalachian region's rich heritage.  She looks forward to working with the Center’s excellent board and staff, and getting to know all those who benefit from and support the Center. 
And we certainly look forward to her arrival.—TRS
 

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY

In prior newsletters I’ve made reference to the Georgia Literary Festival, which is a traveling event that takes place in a different city in Georgia every year. It just so happens that Blue Ridge will host the event in 2007, on the same weekend that we used to host Appalachian Weekend. Since they are larger, we decided to let them have that weekend all to themselves, and we will host Appalachian Weekend at the end of October. The Literary Festival will be a fine event, honoring the late Byron Herbert Reece and featuring several Georgia authors.

We will be participating in the Literary Festival… or at least the Story Express will be. What a great chance this will be for people in the community – and visitors from throughout the state – to see the Story Express and learn about the work we do.

Oh, the volunteer opportunity… we don’t want Tammy to be the only person that gets the joy of meeting children and showing off our fantastic program. She might need to run an errand or two, or perhaps grab some lunch. We will need volunteers to man the van throughout the weekend of September 28-30. It should be quite an event! Call or email us if you are interested. Thank you! –TRS


PICKIN’ AND GRINNIN’ AT CLCC

We are quite grateful to Cherry Log Christian Church. Often, folks think we are a part of the church. We are not – we’re a separate organization, but we have many close ties with the church. By design, at least half of our Board of Directors consists of members of Cherry Log Christian Church. The church owns the building where our offices are located…and lets us occupy it rent-free. We host our preaching workshops at the church. As you can see, the church is a generous supporter.

So, we want to make you aware of an event the church is hosting. On Saturday, November 10, from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm, they will host a music fest and barbeque. The music is free, but to cover the cost of food they will charge a small fee if you eat the barbeque. The festival will be held at the new church facility, 1149 Cherry Log Street. If you are a musician and would like to perform, please call the church for details: 706-632-1048. We’ll see you there! -TRS

THE NOTES HEARD ‘ROUND THE WORLD

What a wonderful adventure I experienced thanks to many of you.  Our HopeHouse International mission group traveled over 15,000 miles in ten days on our trip to the Ukraine.  We visited a different city each day and spent time at two orphanages in each location.  We carried fifty-pound duffle bags full of gifts for the children, but the human touch and love we offered seemed to be what was most cherished by the children.
However, one particular little boy about five years old lay in a hospital bed with his leg in traction.  The attendants wheeled the beds out into the dirt yard for us to visit the children since we were not permitted to go inside the orphanages.  Of all the children we saw, this one rejected all our gifts - stickers, toys, everything. When we approached him he would shrug his shoulders, give a quick negative nod and grimace.  I was sad to see how hard his heart had become at such a tender age.  This tugged at my heart the whole visit. In a final attempt to reach him before we left, I stood by his bed and played the guitar and sang to him.  I offered for him to strum the guitar as I played the chords.  Without a change in expression he took one small finger and strummed and strummed until a blister began to form. When I gave him a plastic spoon to use to continue strumming, I saw a faint little smile come upon his face.  For me, that moment with that child will always be etched in my heart.

Our group learned to sing the song "Please remember God loves you", in Russian. We taught it to all the children each day before we left. When I got back home I looked at the video of the trip. I saw the children singing and signing "God loves you".

I hope when the toys, socks and other gifts are worn out or lost, that the children will still have the song, and the message, in their hearts.-PTL


IT’S BEEN A YEAR!

It’s hard to believe, but July of 2006 was our first publication of the E-Milk & Honey. We’ve had many folks sign up to receive the newsletter electronically; in fact, almost all of our new subscribers are e-mail based recipients. It’s really a win-win: you receive the newsletter before the paper-based recipients do, so you’re the first to know what’s going on; we don’t have to pay for printing or postage, which helps us keep you informed while allowing us to direct as many funds as possible to our programs. If you’d like to sign up, you may do so by visiting our website, www.craddockcenter.org, and clicking on the button which reads “subscribe to our mailing list”. –TRS


WELL, I GUESS YOU HEARD

That the community of Cherry Log almost disappeared. No, not by wind, fire, or flood, but by a person or persons unknown who probably have never worshiped in Cherry Log, never eaten at the Pink Pig, never attended the free Thursday night music at our community center, probably have no kin buried in our beautiful cemetery.

This person or these persons have the responsibility of preparing from time to time the official map of Georgia. They hold the power of life or death over every village, hamlet, town or city in the state. One stroke of the pen, one click on the computer, and swoosh, you are gone. This person, or these persons (there must be a group of them, one person could not be so demonic) decided that small communities like Cherry Log are so numerous that they clutter the map, making it difficult for travelers to and through our state to read their maps. So, eliminate Cherry Log and its kind from the map and tourists can more easily find the roads to Atlanta, Savannah, and Augusta.

The camel’s nose is in the tent; where will this folly stop? Will the next map have no Valdosta, no Macon, no Marietta? And then the next: will it have no Jasper, no Ellijay, no Blue Ridge, no Blairsville? I see where this is going: finally no Georgia. General Sherman with all his army was not as successful. I urge you to be alert. This mischief is so silent, so creeping, so oozing that it raises no alarm until it is too late. You wake up one morning and where are you? Nowhere. There is no fate so terrible as this, wiped out by the map maker.
But cheer up, my friends; I have good news! We have stopped their cold hand. And how? With our documents which prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that rather than Cherry Log confusing the map, it gives purpose and clarity and focus to the map. All those tourists and travelers – they are coming to Cherry Log.

According to our documents, without Cherry Log there would be no tourists or travelers to Georgia. So we have not only saved Cherry Log, we have saved Georgia.

We deserve a tax break. – FBC
 

REMEMBER!

October 1—Fall Preaching Workshop

October 26,27—Appalachian Weekend