All of the 58 Western Area Conferences held at Broyhill Home in Clyde over the years have been special. How could they not be? When you bring as many as 1,100 Baptists from across the western part of the state together to celebrate God working in the lives of hurting children and families, plus add gospel music and good barbecue, you are bound to experience something memorable.
This year’s event held on September 7 was no exception. Despite the threat of abnormally cool temperatures, folks began arriving early to tour cottages and preview this year’s Annual Offering video. Music began to fill the air as children greeted guests and dinner was served by members of Crestview Baptist Church of Canton. The evening’s program featured testimonies by Angel (featured in the June issue of C&C), Family Care mom Caitlin (featured in the January C&C), and Broyhill Home alum Roberta Edwards. The Friends of Children award was presented to the WMU of First Baptist Church Bryson City and then Baptist Children’s Homes (BCH) president/CEO Michael C. Blackwell presented BCH’s Statewide Director - Child/Residential Services Linda Morgan the prestigious Broyhill Founders Award for Distinguished Service.
The Broyhill Founders Award is rarely given. Only three others have received the award. They are: Paul Broyhill, Glenn Brown and Fred Lunsford. This is the first presentation to a staff member.
“You could have knocked me down with a feather,” Morgan said. “Receiving the award from Dr. Blackwell was one of the most high and holy moments of my career.”
For 44 years, Morgan has been instrumental in taking what was a blackberry patch in a mountain cove and turning it into a haven of hope for “the least of these.”
“When you think of one person who has day by day impacted BCH’s ministry in the mountains, you think of Linda Morgan,” Blackwellsaid. “She has been an enthusiastic supporter and provided extraordinary leadership-by-example since 1973.”
Morgan gives God all the credit. She said it was His love that changed her life and it is His love that changes the lives of the children and families who find hope everyday at BCH.
To learn more about BCH events, go to www.bchfamily.org/involved