James Lang has been pastor of Sycamore United Methodist Church since December of last year. He says his first priority is to help grow the congregation of about 25 members (with about 15 regularly attending services) by knocking on doors in the community.

Lang was previously pastor of Marvin’s Chapel United Methodist Church, which served the communities of Millerville, Bethlehem and Mineral Springs. He was there for 18 months.

Lang is a native of Goodwater, and graduated from Goodwater High School in 1966. His wife of 41 years, Dian, graduated from Benjamin Russell.

He said he began to pursue a calling to the ministry later in life than some, although he first heard it some 10 years ago. “I sent it away,” he said. “I’m 62 years old, and I don’t know why God waited so late to call me to the ministry, but he did. Finally, I just said, ‘Here I am Lord.’ I went to licensing school and was licensed through the United Methodist Church.”

Prior to accepting his ministry, Lang had been the self-employed owner of a convenience store and a mobile home park. He sold the former, but is holding on to the latter.

“My first sermon was about discrimination,” he said. “That was really how God called me. I began to see how people mistreat each other based on the color of their skin, how nice their car is, how big their home is. None of that matters.”

The roots of Sycamore United Methodist Church stretch back to the turn of the 20th century when a man named Joseph Hawkins came to Alabama from West Virginia to manage a mining operation on Emauhee Creek, about 3 miles south of Sycamore.

Hawkins and his wife were devout Methodists, and appealed to the Sylacauga Methodist Church to help establish a mission near the mining operation. At first, the church consisted of just a shelter on the creek bank and a lot was purchased a few years later, according to a history of the church published in 1966.

By 1907, the missions had a total membership of 223, with “88 new members added to the roll that year with 33 adults being baptized. The pastor of the mission was the Rev. C.L. Sumner.”

A permanent church was established in Sycamore shortly afterward, using wood from an abandoned church in another community and pews from a church in the Center Hill area, according to the pamphlet.

The church was given a major facelift in the early 1920s, coinciding with the acquisition of a local textile mill by Avondale. The mill was managed by Hugh Comer, son of Gov. B.B. Comer, who joined the church with his family.

Lang would like to see the church return to the larger membership of past years, so “we’re going out, knocking on doors and inviting people to church. Our prayer is to grow the church in numbers, in finances and in the spirit.”

The church is located behind Floyd and Beasley, across the street from the Sycamore Volunteer Fire Station. Sunday school starts at 9:15 a.m. and Sunday worship is at 10:30 a.m.