It is still Fort Bragg.

At the risk of making the Crossroads Christian girls soccer team’s state championship win on Saturday about me… I’m going to do exactly that in an attempt to relay the magnitude of tension and range of emotions on display in these high-stakes spectacles.

In the book of Ecclesiastes the Bible says that there is a time for everything in our lives including a time for death. And, as we approach that time for death, we think of how to say goodbye and we begin, some of us, to write our obituaries or to have others know the accomplishments that we…

One of my favorite bits of wisdom involves Edgar Mitchell explaining how traveling to outer space changed his perspective of earth.

Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, “Athenians, I see how extremely spiritual you are in every way.” — Acts 17:22

When last we met, my 18-year-old car, The Station Master was in the shop. Just to get him home that day would cost me $700.

Every year I buy the new edition of the World Almanac and Book of Facts. I like to check to see what the book is telling the rest of the world about North Carolina.

On Thursday, I met the 2022-23 cast of Vance County Schools Student Spotlight recipients in Raleigh as they toured the state history and science museums, Legislative Building, and Executive Mansion.

Growing up as a pastor’s kid in India, I remember watching the expansion of our church building. It was a long and tedious process throughout, but by far, the longest work was the digging of the deep concrete pylon foundation that would ensure no storm or monsoon would ever impact the buildi…

It happened to me back in 1991 when Clarence Thomas was nominated for a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. Thomas, although African American and coming from a poor background, was known to be very conservative. He grew up in a Gullah community near Savannah, Georgia, raised by his grandfather a…

On Saturday, I attended a pair of local anniversary celebrations — one featuring a bunch of guys close in age to me, and the other group — not as close in number of birthdays.

Dear Gentle Reader, today I have a tale that is true, yet open to interpretation. You, my cherished friends and confidants, get to make the call.

Have you seen Jonathan Lawson on television as he praises Colonial Penn Life Insurance Company? Recently, he has been on air constantly repeating that the most important things about the three P’s of life insurance are “price, price, price.”

The room had multiple screens in front of comfortable recliners. Each one with a different purpose, only one for entertainment. The room was cold and sitting around three, old 8-foot tables and chairs that have seen many years and many bodies were men and women brought together to plan a revival.

What do the late Mildred “Mama Dip” Council and Vivian Howard have in common?

Horseshoe theory, meet Bud Light critics. Bud Light critics, meet the horseshoe theory.

“For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 4:14

North Carolina has its own Old Testament prophet.

One night I was trapped at a football soiree, where there was a double feature. That’s right folks, six uninterrupted hours of genetic lottery winners wearing tight pants (both players and corresponding cheerleaders), interspersed with ads for alcoholic beverages, bedroom medicines, and expe…

Is North Carolina an important state for the arts?

Last week, three senators in the North Carolina legislature sponsored a bill that would ban participation trophies, a term that refers to the presentation of awards to youth athletes just for being members of a team rather than being honored for performance.

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” — John 11:25-26

Phillip Gerard’s latest book, “North Carolina in the 1950s: the decade in motion,” came out in early March.

My dad turned 85 last week.

One of the most enjoyable aspects of covering high school sports as a reporter is observing the progress and maturation of student-athletes throughout their playing careers.

No, I’m not referring to taking a nap. I’m referring to understanding and reaching the generation born between 2000-2015, otherwise known as Z. They are often mislabeled, misunderstood, and mocked. Parents want to know how to motivate them. Educators want to know how to engage them. Youth le…

Was it all in vain?

The NCAA men’s basketball tournament, better known now by CBS’s “March Madness” moniker, rarely disappoints.

Alzheimer’s.

Like every little kid, I wanted to be a million different things. I wanted to be a veterinarian, a nurse, a ballerina, and the bride of Donny Osmond.

The designated month of awareness isn’t until May, but I’m thinking March is as good of a month as any to be thinking about mental health.

One of the prayers I am using this Lenten season is that there be less of me and more of Christ in my words and my actions, that my life be a reflection of Christ.

Whenever I find myself in conversations with locals about the general well-being and socioeconomic prospects of Henderson and Vance County, the two most prevalent analyses or conclusions I encounter are: “Things aren’t the way they used to be and now we’re doomed,” OR, “Henderson’s got a lot…

When Terry Holland died at 80 on Feb. 26, national news reports set out his distinguished record in glowing detail: successful coaching records at Davidson and the University of Virginia and admirable service as athletic director at both those schools and East Carolina University.

“And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,”

I spend a fair amount of time in this space pondering the darker sides of humanity, but I’d like to give a major shoutout to the Dabney Elementary School students who witnessed their classmate Amiyah Durham win the Student Spotlight award, and provided a bright ray of light last week for thi…

When a drive-by shooting occurred on Walnut Street in October of 2021, I chose then only to cover the incident from a news perspective and not to disclose my personal involvement publicly.

For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. — Matthew 5:20

Ever since my dog Crowley screwed his courage to the sticking place and crossed a creek the very first time, he’s become a true-blue creek-crossing convert. He used to be nervous to walk through a ditch after a rain.

No fun and games can be found here. Just Marjorie Taylor Greene testing the boundaries of democracy.

“To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die…A time to love.” Ecclesiastes 3

I’m writing this on Sunday morning after coming across an unpublished photo of the December 2021 check presentation from the Henderson Fire Department to Maria Parham Health for its Angel Fund. Now an annually-celebrated affair, the fire department donates its boot drive collections to the h…

It’s Friday evening now and as I sit at my Dispatch desk on South Garnett Street, two Henderson fire trucks have just rolled by. A little while ago, at least one of them passed by here, sirens wailing, on their way to a call.