Harris Bond is no stranger to small towns.Bond, who grew up in the Mississippi Delta town of Yazoo City and has lived in other smaller towns like Aliceville, Ala., and Belzoni, Miss., came to Sylacauga last month to become the pastor at Knollwood Presbyterian Church.
He said he likes the town and is excited to be a part of the community, an aspect of his job he says is important.
“I simply want to get to know everyone in town,” Bond said. “I hate when I don’t know everyone.”
After graduating from Auburn University with a degree in English and philosophy, Bond became youth director at the church in Aliceville, where he worked for two years before moving to Charlotte, N.C., to attend seminary at the Reformed Theological Seminary.
“One of the most rigorous and rewarding experiences of my life was going to seminary,” he said, adding the foundation of the seminary was learning languages like Greek and Hebrew, as well as other aspects like philosophy, Bible studies and preaching.
Upon completing seminary school in 2005, Bond was hired as the assistant pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Belzoni, Miss., where he stayed until moving to Sylacauga in September.
Though Bond wasn’t looking for another job, but the opportunity presented itself and he took the offer. He and his new wife, Laura Beth, a graphic designer who Bond married in June, decided in July to make the move.
“God arranged the small details of my life for me to come to Sylacauga,” he said. “I truly believe God is absolutely ruling over every detail, even the little details.”
Bond said the congregation at Knollwood has been great to him since he’s been at the church.
“They’ve ministered more to me than I have to them because of their openness and receptiveness,” he said.
Knollwood Presbyterian had been without a regular pastor for two years before Bond began preaching there, and he said his staying at the church will be dependent on God’s will.
“As a pastor, I don’t think in terms of a career, it’s a calling,” he said. “So if I’m here for 20 years or 30 years, if the Lord still wants me here, then I’m here.”
He said his goal is to faithfully spend himself showing people into the area of Christ and to be a deep-rooted in the community.
“My prayer and goal is that we would be driven by vision of this thing call the gospel,” Bond said. “Basically that Christ has indeed done everything necessary to overturn our sin and He frees us from having to trying to live life setting our own records. Who we are — it’s not religious self-righteousness but it’s also not the irreligious kind of making our own identity either — it’s that Christ has created our identity already and he does it for people who don’t deserve it.”
“That’s His grace and when we begin showing that grace to each other, then we’ll be living by the gospel,” Bond said. “The reason is not just so that we can be people of grace and the gospel but that it would extend through us into the community.”
Bond, who grew up in the Mississippi Delta town of Yazoo City and has lived in other smaller towns like Aliceville, Ala., and Belzoni, Miss., came to Sylacauga last month to become the pastor at Knollwood Presbyterian Church.
He said he likes the town and is excited to be a part of the community, an aspect of his job he says is important.
“I simply want to get to know everyone in town,” Bond said. “I hate when I don’t know everyone.”
After graduating from Auburn University with a degree in English and philosophy, Bond became youth director at the church in Aliceville, where he worked for two years before moving to Charlotte, N.C., to attend seminary at the Reformed Theological Seminary.
“One of the most rigorous and rewarding experiences of my life was going to seminary,” he said, adding the foundation of the seminary was learning languages like Greek and Hebrew, as well as other aspects like philosophy, Bible studies and preaching.
Upon completing seminary school in 2005, Bond was hired as the assistant pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Belzoni, Miss., where he stayed until moving to Sylacauga in September.
Though Bond wasn’t looking for another job, but the opportunity presented itself and he took the offer. He and his new wife, Laura Beth, a graphic designer who Bond married in June, decided in July to make the move.
“God arranged the small details of my life for me to come to Sylacauga,” he said. “I truly believe God is absolutely ruling over every detail, even the little details.”
Bond said the congregation at Knollwood has been great to him since he’s been at the church.
“They’ve ministered more to me than I have to them because of their openness and receptiveness,” he said.
Knollwood Presbyterian had been without a regular pastor for two years before Bond began preaching there, and he said his staying at the church will be dependent on God’s will.
“As a pastor, I don’t think in terms of a career, it’s a calling,” he said. “So if I’m here for 20 years or 30 years, if the Lord still wants me here, then I’m here.”
He said his goal is to faithfully spend himself showing people into the area of Christ and to be a deep-rooted in the community.
“My prayer and goal is that we would be driven by vision of this thing call the gospel,” Bond said. “Basically that Christ has indeed done everything necessary to overturn our sin and He frees us from having to trying to live life setting our own records. Who we are — it’s not religious self-righteousness but it’s also not the irreligious kind of making our own identity either — it’s that Christ has created our identity already and he does it for people who don’t deserve it.”
“That’s His grace and when we begin showing that grace to each other, then we’ll be living by the gospel,” Bond said. “The reason is not just so that we can be people of grace and the gospel but that it would extend through us into the community.”
