Wednesday proved to be a very interesting day as we head down the home stretch of the 🏡🏠🏡 Stretch. I believe that I finally have the names of the 120 people that are on the Guest List and I’ve completed the 31st version of the  15 Table seating chart.

  Now comes the question that I was asked the most in the past 24 hours – when should I arrive at the Olde Mill Event Center ?

Here’s the schedule for the day and I hope 🙏 that it will answer that question for as many people as possible.

At 9:00 am I will head across the street and start the final set-up. Shortly after that I expect Mr Kris Richardson to arrive because not only does he moonlight as the Basketball Whisperer, he’s the one person who gets how much needs to get done ahead of the program.

At this point, anyone who wants to hang out with Kris and I, please stop ✋ by. Who knows, maybe we could get Anthony Barnes to swing by before he leaves for the Region meeting up in Roanoke.

  At this time I will walk through the part that will take place starting at 3pm. To do so I will revert back to my initial meeting with Dr Oliver McBride. Just a few minutes after meeting him we sat down and talked for over an hour. We talked about Education, Passion, Ministry and serving others. To call it enlightening would be an understatement so that’s where the planning began.

Dr McBride and I sitting in front of the Fireplace discussing these same topics led to the next step. Who else might enjoy and / or benefit from participating ?

Ethan Edwards is an impressive young Man with many talents and I consider myself a fan of his. We first met through Coach Shawn Montgomery and I ended up sitting down and recording a podcast with him later.

I reached out to ask if he would be interested in not only participating but making a Podcast out of the conversation. Trying to applaud his efforts 👏 and increase his visibility at the same time.

Next up is the Teacher that I interact with the most, Mrs Shannon Dalton. I find myself motivated by the level of the fire 🔥 that burns inside of her, so its exciting to think that I could gain more insight into her thought process is something that I am looking forward to.

Getting the fifth member of our group was an absolute bonus. While Dr McBride was the Superintendent, Dr Mark Burnette is the current one. I have the utmost respect for the position that both of the Men held and getting to learn more from our retiring leader is also exciting to me.

  This portion of the day is not something that is designed to be Must Watch TV and most people wouldn’t share my level of excitement in it. So if you are interested, please arrive by 3pm, if not, the answer is 3:45.

Ethan is welcome to stay and we hope he does but afterwards he will have the opportunity to head out.

While this is going on, Kris Richardson, Donna Nester and Linda Carter will be greeting guests at the door 🚪 and helping them to their tables. Kris will be the life of the party 🥳 until we wrap up the Town Hall conversation.

We have to start at 4:00 sharp because the greatest challenge will be wrapping things up by 8:00.

Pastor Stephen Puckett will Bless the Meal right at 5pm and we will start sending the tables up, two at a time to pickup their dinner 🍽.

  There are five people that we are honoring and 18 segments to get through. The final piece of business will be to Celebrate Mr Paul Nester of Laurel Fork. The reason why I mention this is that we will be creating an opportunity for folks to exit prior to starting up the final of the five. Everything on the Agenda 📋, all 23 items are equally important to us so we will not be skipping anything on the list.

  Some of the 18 will have to take place during the 5pm – 6pm dinner window and Stephen will have to leave for his evening service by 6:15. This is relevant because he is the lead speaker 🔊 for Mrs. Tammy Quesenberry. This triggered bumping Tammy up and Casey Burcham back.

  The order of the five will be Dr. Burnette,  Vickey Ritchie, Tammy Quesenberry, Casey Burcham and then Paul Nester.

The order of the 18 is a bit trickier because of needing to stop ✋ at 5pm to get started with dinner.

Anyone who is interested in stopping by early is welcome to do so. This entire process is about showing Appreciation so any quality time is a bonus.

Marion Harris will be working on providing a live feed through his Facebook page and will get started once he returns from Blacksburg, where the travel Volleyball 🏐 program is playing in a weekend tournament.

We are hoping that our Athletic Director, Kevin DeHaven will make it back from VT in time to participate in the Casey Burcham tribute. If not, he will be sending in his thoughts.

The list of Speakers 🔊 are as follows :

Vickey Ritchie will hear Marion Harris, Dr Samantha Reed, Brandi Cochran Mitchell and Dr Mark Burnette speak about her.

Dr Burnette will listen to Darren Mathews, Chuck Thompson, Oliver McBride and Jennifer Sowers.

Tammy Quesenberry will hear myself, Stephen Puckett, Chuck Thompson and Dr McBride.

Casey Burcham will participate in a live Press conference alongside Steve Combs, Rick Nester and Chuck Thompson. Afterwards he will listen to Chuck Thompson, Kevin DeHaven, Jamie Bunn and Kris Richardson.

Paul Nester will enjoy listening to his grandson Ethan Richardson, Son- in- law Kris Richardson, Chuck Thompson and his three daughters teaming up together.

The segments include Kevin Burress, Tammy Tobler, Macie Adkins, Chris Carter, Marion Harris, Maleah Neely, Eddie and Dakota Walls, Martin McKenzie, Velvet Leonard,  Bill Gallimore, Beth Bouldin, Ron Cochran, Shannon Dalton, Jason Stockner and a handful of others that won’t be able to attend.

If you have made it to this point, you should have an understanding of when to come and when to go.

Once again, while we will not be turning anyone away, we are encouraging folks to dress up and enjoy the day.

Have a Blessed Thursday !!