The Daily Citizen Sunday, October 23, 2011 • Page 3A

LOCAL

Jacob Brower/jbrower@thedailycitizen.com

‘The principal is a little tied up right now’Bode Teague, Harding Academy elementary school principal, watches the first half of the Wildcats' home game against Riverview Friday night from high above the playing field on a lift. Teague allowed students to duct tape him to a lift as a reward for their raising over $33,000 in magazine sales. The money is going toward facility improvements, Teague said.

Former Searcy First United Methodist min-ister Alvin C. Murray left his mark on the lives of many Searcy residents.

Now, some of the in-spirational words he once told his congrega-tion can be found in a new book, “Re-Digging Wells,” compiled by his son Stephen M. Mur-ray, who now resides in Hughes.

Stephen said he and his dad had discussed the book for a while and could never get the book together. When his father passed away in 1998, Murray knew he had to continue with his father’s idea.

“After I retired [from teaching], I had to do something on the book,” Murray said. “A lot of the sermons he actu-ally gave at First United Methodist in Searcy.”

Alvin was the minis-ter at FUMC from 1953 to 1959. He also served as the Batesville District Superintendent of the state Methodist Church conference for one year, and ministered in Marked Tree, Jonesboro and Batesville. Overall, he was a pastor for 50 years in various Meth-odist churches in Arkan-sas.

From those 50 years of sermons, Stephen published 31 of his fa-ther’s best in the book.

“These sermons con-tain a wealth of help in fi nding solutions to problems in everyday life,” Murray said. “My daughter read the book and she said, ‘I thought he was talking about me.’”

After reading the ser-mons, Murray knew he had to publish the book.

“It would be a shame for me not to share them with the world,” he said, “I almost feel guilty for not doing this earlier. I sincerely think it will change a lot of lives for the better.”

The title of the book is taken from one of the sermons in the book, titled “Digging the Wells Again." The sermon re-fers to the book of Gen-esis when Isaac inherits the responsibilities of Abraham after his fa-ther’s death.

In this sermon, a mes-sage is left for readers that they can use in their lives, and sets the tone for all of the sermons in the book.

“There are two ‘in-heritance’ sermons in the book,” Murray said, “and they really kind of alter your viewpoint about what we should be thinking about when we think of what we are going to leave for future generations.”

Murray said his father was noted in the minis-try for leaving his con-gregations each Sunday with something they could use during the week.

“He had a way of weaving stories that people could relate to,” he said. “They could eas-

ily remember the mes-sages and begin apply-ing them to their lives during the week.”

The book can be pur-chased from Amazon.

com in either paper-back or Kindle format. For more information about the book, persons can visit www.re-diggin-gwells.com.

Contributed photo

Former Searcy First United Methodist minister Alvin C. Murray stands outside the parsonage of the church with his children while his wife takes the picture. The parsonage at the time was located on Center Street. Murray served at the church from 1953 to 1959. His son recently published 31 of his sermons in the book, "Re-Digging Wells."

Former Searcy minister’s sermons compiled in bookSon created book after father’s death

Murray sermons

■ Dr. Alvin C. Murray is a former minis-ter at First United Methodist Church in Searcy.■ His son compiled 31 of his old ser-mons into a book.■ The book is avail-able on Amazon and in the Kindle format.

BY MOLLY M. FLEMINGmfleming@thedailycitizen.com

borough was arrested on the charges Friday, ac-cording to a press release from the SPD.

He was taken to the White County Law En-

forcement Center. Scar-borough’s bail was set at $25,000. He is awaiting formal charges by Pros-ecuting Attorney Chris Raff.

This case is still under investigation.

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