Former Russellville pastor pens new book
Many people look forward to retirement because they will finally have a chance to focus on hobbies they enjoy, and that’s exactly what former Russellville pastor, Dr. Bob Carter, is doing.
Carter, who served as the pastor of First United Methodist Church in Russellville for six and a half years, has just recently published his first book, which is a collection of poetry, called “A New Song: Poems of Life and Faith.”
Carter said he has always had a love for words and for poetry and, over the years, he was able to intertwine that love into something else he loved: his ministry.
“Poetry is something I have done and used throughout my ministry whether it was in sermons or newsletters,” he said. “Some of the poetry in the book is on different subjects, but most of the poems are ones I’ve used [as a pastor] and then tweaked.”
Carter said he has drawn inspiration for the poems from many sources and some have even been inspired by specific people.
“I have one poem that I wrote after meeting a lady in the last days of her life,” Carter said. “When I visited her hospital room and asked her if I could do anything for her, she wanted me to make sure with her children that it was ‘still alright’ but I didn’t know what that meant. When I called them, they told me it meant their mother had wanted to give her body to science, so I made the proper arrangements for her.
“She inspired me and I’ve met several people like her that have inspired me in different ways.”
Carter can also be dubbed a music writer since his poem “A New Song,” which is where the title of the book comes from, was actually set to music by, Lanny McAlister, who served as the choir director when Carter was the pastor at Russellville FUMC.
“I had used the poem in a sermon or in a newsletter and Lanny was impressed by it and asked if he could do some music for it,” Carter said. “I thought it was fine and he did the music and the choir at the community college performed it.”
Several other of Carter’s poems have been set to music and one in particular was actually meant to go with music to correlate with a message he gave at the United Methodist Church’s Annual Conference last year.
“The poem ‘With Christ Again’ was something I wrote after being given the scripture for this service, which was Romans 8,” he said. “I like for the songs I choose to go along with the scripture but there wasn’t one hymn that would go with those verses, so I wrote one and we sang it to the tune of ‘The Gift of Love.’”
Carter never wrote his poems with the intention of having them published, but with the encouragement of his family, Carter submitted his first draft to his publisher in August and received the finished product on Good Friday. He is now making several stops to promote the book and hold book signings.
Carter will have a book signing at the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce in Russellville on Tuesday from 3:30 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. Copies of the book will be available for $22 with $2 from the sale of the books in Russellville to go towards the Franklin County, Alabama Tornado Disaster Relief Fund.
“This is something I’m doing with each stop I make – I’m donating part of the proceeds to the local disaster relief fund because I felt I should give part of the money back to help these people.”
Carter said he’s anxious to get back to the community he spent several years being a part of.
“I’m having fun with all of this – meeting with people I’ve known and meeting people I’ve never known,” he said. “I’m looking forward to being back in Russellville and seeing many old and new friends.”
