Grace Evangelical Presbyterian Church recently welcomed Dr. Richard L. Holmes as its new pastor. Dr. Holmes received his D. Min. degree from Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia.

As a firm believer, he has dedicated his life over the past 25 years to the pastoral ministry. Pastor and his wife, Nancy, have three adult children.

In honor of March being literacy month for the Rotary Club of Franklin, rotarians honored the original members of Macon County's volunteer organization Read2Me for their efforts to promote early literacy in the community.

Each Read2Me member was presented with the Rotary Club's Family and Community Service Award.

On Saturday and Sunday evenings, March 16 and March 17, Louisa Chapel United Methodist Church (470 Louisa Chapel Road – Franklin) will host a “Life of Christ” drive-thru. The event will take place from 7:30 – 9:00 each evening, and will consist of seven separate scenes depicting the Life of Christ. Sets are constructed to represent each scene, and live players will be stationed throughout the ‘drive thru’ to tell the story of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.

C. Fairley Pollock, Ed.D. (Coordinator of Student Services at Southwestern Community College) spoke at the Kiwanis of Franklin meeting Tuesday, Feb. 12. Pollock reported that the college had been selling Valentine Candygrams as a fundraiser for Relay for Life.

The college is sponsoring a spelling bee in March with a prize of $250.

Some new continuing education courses to be offered in the spring will include Zumba, Cupcake Decorating, American Sign Language, and ABC's of Computer.

A new curriculum program will be Health Information Technology.

All classes are listed on the website http://www.southwesterncc.edu/.