First Baptist Woodstock's Linda Holland Answers the Calls On a Daily Basis

Holland, who is the church's receptionist, enjoys being the first voice callers hear when they phone the church.

First Baptist Woodstock has approximately 16,000 members, with 6,000 to 15,000 attending Sunday services depending on the season. During the week, thousands of volunteers come through the doors, staffing special events and attending classes or workshops.  It takes a staff of more than 160 people to manage the church’s operations. Yet there’s one very patient lady who answers the phone each day. Linda Holland faithfully answers every ringing phone: "Thank you for calling First Baptist Church Woodstock. How may I direct your call?" Sometimes juggling up to six lines at a time, she navigates a network of 188 extensions (not including the weekday preschool offices) directing the callers to their proper destinations. Holland, a 17-year church …

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Woodstock Man Arrested On Child Molestation Charges

Shogut Hussien is currently being held without bond at the Cherokee County Adult Detention Center.

UPDATE (5:04 p.m.): Pastor Craig Ormsby of First Baptist Church of Woodstock said Hussien had no role as a volunteer at the church.  A Woodstock man remains behind bars after he was arrested on charges he molested a 13-year-old child.  Shogut Hussien, 64, is being held without bond at the Cherokee County Adult Detention Center on one count of child molestation and two counts of sexual battery. He was arrested on Tuesday after a week-long investigation by the Cherokee Sheriff's Office. Public Information Officer Lt. Jay Baker said the incident was reported to the department by the child's family. Baker said Hussien transported the child to activities at First Baptist Church of Woodstock. "He has been involved with the family for …

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Group Renews Call for Cherokee Schools to End Graduations at Church

Monday, a federal appeals court ruled that two Wisconsin high schools violated the U.S. Constitution when they held graduations in a church.

Now that a federal appeals court has ruled that two Wisconsin high schools violated the U.S. Constitution when they held graduations in a church, a group that threatened to sue the Cherokee County School District for doing the same thing said local officials "must stop this anti-liberty and repressive practice." Jeffrey Selman, the president of the North Metro Atlanta Chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said Wednesday that he, along with the leaders of Georgia's two other AU affiliates, "unequivocally renew the call to stop the inappropriate use of religious venues for public school graduations. "We live in a faith diverse and free nation. No student of a public institution, and of any belief or non-belief, or …

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Urly

4:16 pm on Monday, August 6, 2012

Thank you Terry Tucker. I don't know why this fact is so ignored by many people. Separation is law.   more ›

The Cherokee Vine

Helping the Homeless

Canton shelter, Woodstock ministry work to make a difference.

On the surface, the 1,000-square-foot, one-story building at Highway 140 and Marietta Road in Canton looks like just one more aging strip center, not a place for helping the homeless to survive freezing temperatures. For Connie Roberts Miller, the Cherokee County Emergency Shelter is a bricks-and-mortar legacy to her family’s history of helping people in need. “I remember back in my childhood, there would have never been a Christmas when we didn’t have someone we didn’t know with us,” recalled Miller, who said her grandmother lived near a railroad and would have hobos come for a meal before hopping on the next train. Miller’s family owns the nine-acre site, which houses the shelter and other buildings that will be renovated to include a 5,…

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The Cherokee Vine

Brothers Share Love for Ministry

Norman Hunt, senior pastor of Hopewell Baptist Church in Canton, credits his brother with introducing him to Christ.

Norman Hunt is pastor of Hopewell Baptist, a church with 600 regular worshippers. His younger brother Johnny leads a congregation about 10 miles southeast of Hopewell: First Baptist Church of Woodstock, a mega-church with more than 10,000 members.         There's no rivalry, no jealousy. The two have nothing but respect and love for one another. "We've used everything from their buses to their buildings," Norman said. "There are advantages to your brother being pastor of the biggest church in the county." In fact, Norman said his younger brother was instrumental in introducing him to God. At age 25, Norman was happy in his job at Carolina Power & Light. Johnny had become a Christian three years earlier. Norman said he noticed a difference …

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Barbershop-Beautyshop Buzz

Video: Residents Discuss Graduations at Church Vote

After Thursday's vote, residents weigh in on the school board's decision.

Despite the threat of a lawsuit from a Washington organization, the Cherokee County Board of Education voted Thursday to keep high school graduations at a local church. Do you think board members made the right decision by voting to keep graduations at First Baptist Church of Woodstock? That's the topic of this week's Barbershop-Beautyshop Buzz. Videographer Zachary Toth visited Salon Papillon on Sixes Road to gather opinions.

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Graduation to Stay at First Baptist Woodstock

In a unanimous vote, the school board decided to keep the graduation at First Baptist Church of Woodstock.

After an hour-long meeting and more than a dozen speakers, the Cherokee County School Board members voted unanimously to keep graduation at First Baptist Church of Woodstock, although they may face a lawsuit by a group for the separation of church and state.  In one of the closing remarks, School System Attorney, Tom Roach, said, "If this was a matter of church, it would be illegal to build a school next to a church because you would see a cross on your way to school."  Creekview, Etowah, Cherokee, and Woodstock High Schools all sent student representatives to the meeting to ask the board members to keep the graduation at the church. Also, members from the Cherokee Parents Against Moving Graduation and HUSH, groups who want to fight the …

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