UPCOMING APPEARANCES SPRING 2022
these are my confirmed appearances this spring. Contact me at bhmpicker@gmail.com for more info or to talk about a music
Reflections on faith, music, and community by Gary Allison Furr
these are my confirmed appearances this spring. Contact me at bhmpicker@gmail.com for more info or to talk about a music
Today I pray for the people of Russia, passive victims of a sociopathic leader, taken into war without their voices
My Ash Wednesday Prayer Eternal God, We have been horrified by a Russian army that uses banned weapons. By order
My new book is now at the publisher and will be available in a few weeks. SHADOW PRAYERS is a
I was invited by President Beck Taylor to give the afternoon Commencement Address for Samford University’s winter graduation on Saturday,
A gyrating Salvation Army bellringer fresh off a successful run at Little Caesar’s sidewalk guards the doorway to the Stone
REVIEW of Michael Lewis, The Premonition: A Pandemic Story W. W. Norton & Company (May 4, 2021). After retirement I
Life in its beginning, life at the end, all is pure and true gift beautiful and real. That there can
The Watchers Gary Allison Furr. September 11, 2020 I wasn’t on a plane, or a family member receiving frantic calls,
This week I remembered a conversation I had with a woman many years ago. I had gone to teach a
My friend LaMon Brown reminded me of this quote from a book i read many times and loved over the
When I first began to preach as a pastor it was in small churches in Central Texas. They were mostly
Some people can look at the big picture and take it in. Others of us have to plant down on
I got the Phizer vaccine. Both shots. Felt a little bad half of one day after the second shot and
Some years back Vickie and I vacationed near Boone, NC, home of Doc Watson. We stayed in a place with
I have come to know Hector Guadalupe through our daughter, first as a cause she believed in and now as
Every Mother’s Day for the last dozen years of my ministry as a pastor, we’d combine Mother’s Day with Graduate
“And He walks with me, and He talks with me, and He tells me I am His own. and the
I am grateful that I have served with three wonderful worship leaders over the twenty-seven years at Vestavia Hills Baptist
Jaroslav Pelikan’s marvelous book Jesus Through the Centuries takes a sojourn through the vast and complex history of the interpretations
Holy Week has always been special for me as a Christian and pastor. Frankly, in the church year it always
A young boy was born in Sweden in 1833, the son of an engineer, fourth of eight children. The boy
Location, real estate people tell us, is everything. To be DIS-located is, then, a threat. When things come apart, our
I confess, I have now been part of a ukelele flash mob, back when mobbing was not a public health
Mark and I are finished with our album. I’ll post the release this week upcoming. One of the songs on
This song speaks for itself. It came to me during the summer. The hook was a quote from a news
At long last, the new CD, FLAT TIRE ON MEMORY LANE is to be released shortly. I’m posting some of
I wrote this to our church back at the beginning of April. I hoped, like all of us, that we’d
It’s not social distancing. It’s just “safe distance.” One of our older ladies’ classes met with me Tuesday morning in
Irony contains great truth—that America could be demonstrating its oldest pain so openly on the day celebrating Christian barrier-breaking contains a word from the Lord for us. Deeds, not words.
So, two more little poems. I can’t help it. They just pop out. Whether they spread uncontrollably is, well, not up to me. Maybe a smile amid the little glimmers of loss that intrude on the day.
Sometime I will have to gather my thoughts about this breathtaking revolution that has been forced on us in the
My daughter is an executive coach and a counselor and sent me an article this week in the Harvard
Prayer and blessing given at the Chamber of Commerce monthly meeting, Vestavia Hills, Alabama, March 10, 2020, by Dr. Gary
Those of us who are pastors consider ourselves called into ministry, but sometimes you realize what a wonderful privilege it
I have a modest guitar collection if you compare to some. Each instrument I have and play, though, is as
“Christmas TIme’s a-Comin’”is the name of a bluegrass Christmas song. When I was playing a lot more often than these
Alabama Coalition for Healthy Mothers and Children This Giving Tuesday, consider making a small donation to help mothers and children
This is a pretty serious moment in our country and the world, for so many reasons. Most of us are
Invocation and blessing offered at the October 8, 2019 meeting of the Vestavia Hills Chamber of Commerce by Dr. Gary
From Sunday’s Sermon “In his book Simply Christian NT Wright says there are four traces of the call of God
A friend asked me to reflect on what you learn by staying in one place for twenty five years.
I live in the vulnerability of my need for grace. Grace I ought to give, grace I hope someone else
I lived my third-grade year in Clarksville, Tennessee, an army town dominated then by the presence of Fort Campbell, Kentucky
Mothers Day is a happy day, and also a sad one for many. Mothers are both biological and spiritual. They
The passing of Rachel Held Evans unleashed a surprising wave of grief to some. But to readers in the Christian
My friend Pat Terry is one of my favorite singer-songwriters, ever. After a long and successful career in contemporary Christian
Even churches, it seems, have their fifteen minutes in the social media world of fame. Through the years, that usually
The emotions of Holy Week run the gamut. From the wild enthusiasm of Palm Sunday morning to dread and anxiety
This Wednesday evening we come to the final of four outstanding speakers in our 2019 Speaker series. Each week, a
It’s incomprehensible that 325 million people can’t figure out how to keep their 18-year-old males from killing us and our
Audio sermon preached at University Baptist Church, Sunday, May 15, 2022 by Gary Furr. To listen, click the audio file
From a sermon two years ago. This was a post from a listener (and one of my staff) from that
I am one of the last people to binge watch “Ted Lasso,” so I’d already heard plenty before viewing it.