Letter from Rick Branch

It’s not that often that I get to say, literally, that one of my dreams has come true. But this August, one of my dreams will literally come true: Dr. Reginald Mallett is our Percy Institute speaker this year.

I heard Dr. Mallett preach a series of sermons at Lake Junaluska back in the summer of 2001. I thoroughly enjoyed his first sermon, and each one thereafter was even better. Anyone can preach one or two great sermons, but to do six in a row? That’s quite an accomplishment. Now, lest any of you think I just committed a faux pas, I readily acknowledge that we are blessed here at FUMC with ministers who can regularly deliver outstanding sermons! Believe me, not all congregations are as fortunate as FUMC, Pensacola.

Now back to the summer of 2001: Dr. Mallett preached his series of sermons at the Music and Worship Arts Conference that our youth choir attended along with 1200 other United Methodists. Our youth choir enjoyed Dr. Mallett so much that they invited him and his wife, Brenda, to our luau dinner. We had one graduated senior with us who was going through a particularly difficult time in his personal and family life. He was fortunate enough to have an opportunity to share some of his faith journey with Dr. Mallett that evening, and a few more times during the week. A couple weeks after we returned home from Choir Tour, I received an email from Dr. Mallett thanking me for the hospitality our youth choir had shown him while at Lake Junaluska. Dr. Mallett then asked if he could have the email address of the senior he befriended. He wanted to check in with our senior to see how he was getting along. That’s when I knew that Dr. Mallett was not just a great preacher, but also a great person.

On the front page of The Witness you will find the schedule for this year’s Percy Institute. I hope you will take advantage of the opportunities to hear an outstanding speaker and get to know a great man. We are especially pleased that Brenda will be accompanying her husband to Pensacola.