Dear Editor:

Concerning the recent controversy regarding the liquor referendum:

Several Effingham County churches chose to post signs on their grounds stating our opposition to this referendum. Some of those churches serve as polling places for the county. Pineora Baptist is among them.

We did not advocate a candidate. We took a Biblical position on a moral issue. Our sign was legally located more than 150 feet from the polling place, but still on church property. Those who took issue with this might consider that we willingly serve our community by providing a facility and several poll workers that enabled even those who took an opposing viewpoint to come and cast their votes.

Pineora Baptist’s members routinely stage blood drives for the Red Cross, and our church serves as a staging facility for the Red Cross to help people displaced by disasters (thankfully we have not yet had to serve in this capacity). We have hosted Girl Scout meetings in the past, have shared in a Habitat project and generally have tried to be a good neighbor addressing a variety of needs in our community.  

It is a little disappointing to have some citizens take shots at us (and other area churches) when we are working sacrificially to be a blessing to the residents of our community.  
 
Bobby Braswell Jr.
Senior Pastor
Pineora Baptist Church