Vestavia Hills, Ala. resident Tatum Osborne attends Vestavia Hills High School.
I was raised in a home that prioritized service. Our family motto is, “Osbornes leave it better than we found it,” and we mean that both literally and relationally. I was taught from a young age the impact that serving others has on both myself and the person I am serving. My passion for service has driven me to make the decision to spend my next four years at Samford University because going to college, to me, is not simply about walking across the stage and receiving my degree, but the most in depth preparation for service I could find.
I have been told time and again how life-changing the next four years of my life will be. I will meet people from all over the country who will inevitably become my lifelong friends. I will be presented with opportunities to lead others and explore what I am truly passionate about. I will also have the opportunity to serve. I watch as my older sisters’ friends serve in their new churches, nonprofits around the community, and camps for children over the summers. I watch them grow into people who are confident in their dreams, to people who are confident in their actions. The example I will take from, of course, is the Lord. The only One who has the capacity to serve with the utmost patience, love, and humility is the One who is Patience, Love, and Humility. Therefore, as I see my sisters’ friends serving and as I see Jesus serving, I will follow the call to service by attending a university that will prepare me for service.
In a country where the goal is to take God out of the schools, I will strive to bring the light, love, and patience of Him into my school building every day. I will create a classroom environment where every child feels safe and seen. Taking on the communicable attributes of Jesus, I will ensure that none of my students feels pushed to the side or overlooked. Attending a Christian university will provide me with the foundation and confidence to live out my faith boldly, regardless of the conditions around me. Furthermore, empowering my ability to someday serve my students will give me the opportunity to teach my students how to serve others as well.
Adamsville, Ala. resident Madisyn McIntosh attends Minor High School.
My Christian faith has been a constant foundation in my life, shaping the way I view myself, my future, and the decisions I make—especially my decision to attend college. Growing up, I was surrounded by people who attended college, and higher education was often viewed as the expected next step. My two older twin sisters are in college right now, and it is my goal to join them. My church family as well has always been a supportive system of me and my sisters. While that environment encouraged me, it was my faith in God that guided my personal decision to pursue college with purpose and intention.
Through my faith, I have learned that my life has meaning beyond expectations and that the talents I have been given are blessings meant to be developed and used to serve others. Through prayer and reflection, I came to understand that college was not just something I was expected to do, but something I felt called to pursue. I thank God for blessing me with opportunities, strength, and guidance, and for bringing me this far in my journey.
My faith has strengthened me during moments of pressure and uncertainty. Balancing academics, leadership roles, work, and extracurricular activities has not always been easy, but relying on God has taught me perseverance and trust. In challenging moments, my faith reminds me that growth often comes through difficulty and that I am never navigating these experiences alone. One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” I take this with me wherever I go.
In addition, my Christian faith has shaped the way I approach leadership and service. Leadership is rooted in humility, compassion, and integrity—values that reflect my beliefs. As I move forward into college, I want to continue growing spiritually while using my education to positively impact others and serve my community.
Attending college is important to me because I see it as an opportunity to honor God through hard work, dedication, and stewardship of the opportunities I have been given. While those around me influenced my path, it was definitely God who played the greatest role in my ultimate decision. I am grateful for how far He has brought me, and I trust that He will continue to guide me as I take this next step toward fulfilling the purpose He has placed on my life.
TO SAY THANK YOU for reading and supporting the businesses and organizations that advertise with Birmingham Christian Family(BCF) and make spreading Good News possible we have TWO Great Giveaways this month!
Two Winners! Four Tickets each to the Bob Sykes BBQ & Blues Festival April 25, 2026, www.bobsykesblues.com.
Nearly 200 area high school seniors recently shared with us how their Christian faith has impacted their decision to attend college. Each student shared these details with us in an essay they submitted as a part of the 8th annual Birmingham Christian Family(BCF) Scholarship program sponsored by Alabama Credit Union, ALFA Farmers, American Village, The Center, and Vulcan Termite and Pest Control.
WOW! What great stories these students have to tell about God at work in their lives!
With the help of an independent panelist of judges, five students will be chosen as finalists for three college scholarships this year. Our essay winner will receive a $2000 scholarship and our two runner ups will each receive a $500 scholarship.
On Monday March 30 we will announce our finalists on Facebook and Instagram. You have the opportunity to read these students’ great stories starting on Tuesday March 31 through Monday April 6, 2026, and help us select our scholarship winners! Read their outstanding essays at www.BirminghamChristian.com/Scholarship then cast your vote for your favorite student essay.
Vote by simply Liking and Sharing your favorite student essay post on our Facebook page, @BirminghamChristianFamily. Cast an additional vote on Instagram, @CFPBirmingham by simply Liking and Commenting on your favorite student essay post.
Voting ends Monday April 6, 2026, and winners will be announced Thursday evening April 9 on Facebook and Instagram. Winners will also be recognized in the May issue of Birmingham Christian Family.
Join BCF in encouraging our youth to live out their faith wherever they are, and may we set an example for them to follow.
Early spring, my daughter Banks and I planted red potatoes and Vidalia Onions. I confess, I should remember the particular type of red potato, but they had no marquee value. I just know they are red. Vidalia, on the other hand, is the Corvette of onions. Sweet and saucy, the Vidalia, a geographic cousin to the Georgia Peach, is the marquee name of onions, so I remembered it.
Walt and Banks together with sunflower: Walt has used the great outdoors to connect and spend quality time with all three of his daughters.
The day before, I turned rows in the garden spot- every country home place has a garden spot. Maybe it doesn’t get used every year. But on a country homestead, the garden is always in the same place because there is always fertile ground there. It was a cooler spring morning, maybe 50 degrees, and as the sun chased the moon out of the morning sky, it brought the warmth of a Spring sun-shower with it. Banks and I both wore long sleeves to ward off the chill in the early morning air, but now each of us contemplated shedding a layer. The rows in the garden were long and straight. I’d guesstimate they were 100 feet long with plenty of room for more potatoes and onions than we could ever eat by ourselves. “Banks, take your two long fingers and stick them straight down in the dirt as far as they will go. Then take this piece of potato and shove it down in the hole, and then cover it with dirt.” She listened intently and then followed my directions precisely. “Daddy, the hole is too small for the potato to fit in.” I study the situation momentarily. “Indeed, it is, baby girl. Can you make your fingers fatter and longer?” She grinned in response, as I surveyed the wood line for a good stick. “A good stick will fix almost any problem, little princess.” “How about that one?” she asked, pointing a few feet away. “Looks perfect to me,” I offered, picking it up and handing it to her.
Banks Merrell is seen here during one of her outdoor adventures with her dad.
“Hmmmm…” she said provokingly. “What?” I asked. “I can’t get this stick to ‘fix’ your bad jokes.” Her smile spanned from ear to ear. I laughed and gently pushed her shoulder just enough to roll her off her kneed perch and into the soft dirt. She laughed, “Heeeeyyyyy!” I pounced and tickled her ribcage relentlessly. “I bet it will fix your sassy jokes,” I retorted! A minute or two later, she declared, “I’m France,” which is code in our house for “I surrender.” I pulled her up out of the fresh dirt and helped dust her off. She grinned and giggled as she told me how “mean” I was. She plunged the stick into the ground two fingers deep. I didn’t have to explain why the stick was the proper tool; she understood it implicitly. It was twice the diameter of her two longest fingers. “Works perfectly,” she offered. I nodded my head and moved back to my row. Side by side, we planted potato pieces until we reached the end of the row. The dirt was fresh and earthy. Its smell was strong and intoxicating. “There is nothing like the smell of fresh dirt, Banks.” She nodded, semi-approvingly. I clasped a handful in my hands, letting it sprinkle between my fingers back to the ground. It was cold, even under the warming sun, and soft, like talcum powder. “Isn’t it interesting to you that God uses this dirt to make things grow?” I drew her attention. “Of all things? It’s not pretty. It’s not appealing. It’s hardly noticeable, but without it, nothing grows.” She studied the dirt falling from my hands. “I guess He can do whatever He wants,” she declared. “Yes, He can. But why dirt?” She responded, “I don’t know.” I asked, “Could it be that everything has a purpose?” She nodded her head again, sticking a potato deep into the hole and pulling the dark brown soil back over the top. “Can trees grow plants like this? Can concrete? Can sand, even?” She nodded opposingly, each time I asked. “What about you? What is it that He wants you to do, that only you can do?” Not letting me get too caught up in the profoundness of my thoughts, she looked at me and said, “Plant potatoes.” I couldn’t help but laugh, and she did too. Over the next few months, the potatoes will grow, and we will reap the harvest. All because God gave the dirt and the eye of the potato a purpose. And Banks. And me, too. You as well. He gave you very specific purposes, indeed. Ephesians 2:10 reminds us that He prepared the way for us to do those good things He would have us do. So, get to planting, for you will reap, in due time, if you do not grow weary of doing good. (Galatians 6:9)
-Walt Merrell is a Christian Outdoorsman who writes of his adventures with his family, with the hope that others might be inspired and encouraged to embrace God’s tapestry, otherwise known as the great outdoors, as a means of finding Common Ground. You can follow him at Shepherding Outdoors on FB, YT and IG and at shepherdingoutdoors.com.
David and I both grew up on family farms. On the Standridge farm, David’s family had row crops and raised feeder pigs. On the Swann farm, my family had cattle and grew a large vegetable garden every year. So, along with delicious farm-fresh vegetables and beef in the freezer, we Swann children had to help out on the farm. There were four of us. Suzanne was the oldest. Less than a year after she was born, twins came along. That would be Danna (me) and Dinah. Four years later, our baby brother, Tommy, was born.
David and Danna Standridge on their wedding day.
One fine spring day, my Poppa Swann and Dad, who farmed cattle together, told us to be in the hayfield just as soon as we got off the bus and changed into work clothes. Time to put the hay in the barn. On hay hauling days, it was all hands-on deck. Square bales were heavy and had to be stacked neatly on the trailer, hauled to the barn, then hoisted off the trailer to be stacked neatly in the hay barn. My sisters and I, who were of small stature, loaded the square bales onto the trailer. If a bale was extra heavy, it took two of us to get the job done. My Poppa stacked, our little brother drove the tractor, Nanny Swann was cooking, and Mom and Dad were at their day jobs.
At school that day, this cute boy whom I had my eye on finally got up the nerve to ask me if we could do something together after school. I hemmed and hawed around because I was shy about telling him I had to work on the farm. I was conflicted but realized if I said no that he may not ask me again. So, I said, “I really want to, but I have to haul hay when I get home.” He thought about that for a minute and said, “I’ll come help you.” So, we had an extra hand in the hayfield. Poppa was testing this young man’s mettle and put him to stacking hay on the trailer and stacking it in the barn. It was hot and dusty work. We finished much quicker than usual. My Poppa was smiling ear to ear- something he never did in the hayfield. David Standridge won my entire family over in the hayfield that day!
When we got engaged, David’s mom reminded him of a conversation she had with him when he was five years old, and I was four. When we were much younger, our dads worked together. Our families would share a meal sometimes. The grownups would visit, and we children would play outside. As we Swanns girls were leaving the Standridge home, David and his mom, Pat, were watching us walk to the car from their window. Pat told David, “When you grow up, son, pick out one of those three girls and marry her.” David and I have been married for 44 years.
The old saying goes that home is where the heart is. Since 1986, the Taylor Burton Company has dedicated itself to building custom homes with lots of heart all across the Birmingham area.
The Taylor Burton Company team can help you with any of your home remodeling, home design, and custom home building needs. “We can build your dream home without the hassle,” explains Burton.
Descending from two generations of builders, Taylor Burton has been honing his craft since the age of five years old, riding alongside his father to several projects where he learned the art of building. Now working alongside his three children at the Taylor Burton Company, doing everything from building houses from scratch to remodeling well-loved family homes, Burton has instilled his childhood lessons in his highly devoted staff. “Treat people right,” Burton said. “That goes from customers to subcontractors. Everybody you work with, you treat them right, know them, and know their names.”
Taylor Burton rescued water oak lumber when clearing the land for this custom home in Vestavia. Using his portable sawmill, he turned the wood into beautiful trusses seen on the ceiling of the home.
While the company is a family affair, Burton set a standard of quality he expects everyone to follow, often serving as an inspector to ensure the greatest work possible. very same standard is maintained during all custom projects, such as the annual faith-based Habitat for Humanity event, Builders Blitz. Tasking a single builder to build a house in a week, the daunting nature of the project has never been too overwhelming for Burton or his team. “It’s something you don’t know you can do, but you do it in a week,” Burton said. “You are giving someone a house they may otherwise never achieve.”
Here is a photo of one beautifully completed home project by The Taylor Burton Company team.
While maintaining a certain degree of structure is key to the Taylor Burton Company’s success, Burton’s added flows of creativity and innovation have helped make for expertly crafted creations. Using his portable sawmill, it’s become a growing hobby of Burton’s to create intricate specialty pieces, such as scissor truss structures developed from locally sourced water oak lumber. “We do a lot of different things with our custom stuff and never try to do anything the same,” Burton said. For more information on the Taylor Burton Company and its services, visit www.taylorburton.com or call 205-822-7936.
-Nicholas Wetzel
Watch the video below to learn more about the Taylor Burton Company, including its history and the high standards the team holds itself to.
Following the loss of her 25-year-old son to addiction in 2012, Trussville, Ala.’s Lisa Bright started the Will Bright Foundation (WBF) to ensure stable next step recovery resources and support for men who have maintained up to six months of sobriety following rehabilitation. “We knew we wanted to serve in the space of next step recovery because that is where Will struggled the most,” Bright said. “He could graduate from any recovery program, but then it became, ‘Now what do I do?’”
Taking residence on sprawling donated property in Fayette, Ala., Restoration Springs is WBF’s next step/transitional living facility. Participants in the program are offered housing, transportation, small groups, Bible studies, scholarships, a savings program, and even opportunities to obtain a driver’s license and jobs. Although they can graduate in nine months, guests are encouraged to stay for between a year and a half to two years to achieve the best results. While the efforts at Restoration Springs are key to WBF’s mission, the organization also focuses on making changes to legislation in Montgomery and Washington D.C. Active in an advocacy group known as Voices for Non-Opioid Choices, which seeks to further pain management bills across the country, they successfully lobbied to pass the No Pain Act to ensure non-opioid treatment is covered under Medicare. While the group seeks to expand legislation with an Alternatives to Pain Act and a No Pain for Vets Act, they are not stopping there. “The ultimate goal is for it to come all the way down to private pay because we know where addiction in children starts, and that’s leftover prescriptions in people’s homes,” Bright said.
Will Bright Foundation CEO Lisa Bright is seen here with her son Will.
In addition to offering rehabilitation and making waves in the United States government, the Will Bright Foundation also hosts a variety of fundraisers and participates in serve days across the state, giving back to the community that has given them so much. “We’re a non-profit,” Bright said, adding, “We survive on donations, grants, and fundraisers, and we have some program fees that we collect to help fund our mission.” Save the date for WBF’s Giving Restoration Luncheon on April 21, 2026. The fundraising event will welcome guests to the Grand Bohemian Hotel Ballroom in Mountain Brook to enjoy a delicious meal and hear from the likes of Auburn Basketball’s Coaches Bruce and Steven Pearl, as well as WBRC’s Janice Rodgers serving as emcee. “It’s going to be a very conversational thing about how the father and son dynamic plays such a key role in your life,” Bright said. For more information about WBF and its upcoming events, visit www.willbrightfoundation.com.
Enjoy almost six hours of great live jazz music and delicious barbeque at the 15th Annual Bob Sykes BBQ & BLUES Festival on Saturday, April 25, 2026. The event takes place at DeBardeleben Park in historic downtown Bessemer and gates open at 11am. Be sure to bring your chair, or blanket and set up your spot for the day to enjoy six different talented blues musicians. Since 2010, the event has provided funding for Alabama local charities. The 2026 charity beneficiary is Grace Klein Community, www.gracekleincommunity.com.
The 15th Annual Bob Sykes BBQ & BLUES Festival takes place at DeBardeleben Park, 1700 3rd Avenue North, Bessemer.
2nd generation owner and pit master of Bob Sykes Bar B Q Van Sykes says, “Each year the festival grows and we couldn’t do it without our sponsors and the support of the community.” City of Bessemer Mayor Kenneth Gulley says “The Bob Sykes BBQ and Blues Festival has been a great event for the City of Bessemer. We’re looking forward to many more great years of barbecue and blues music in downtown Bessemer.” The festival has been recognized for numerous years as one of the top food festivals in Alabama. Besides music and good food, enjoy a large kids’ corner with activities and games and a variety of booths including arts and crafts and outdoor exhibits.
Children eight and under are free with a ticketed adult. Purchase general admission tickets for $10 at www.bobsykesblues.com or visit Bob Sykes Bar B Q Restaurant in Bessemer. Day of the festival tickets are $15. The entertainment line-up includes Ms. Aretta Woodruff, Rick Harris, Dexter Allen, Karen Wolfe, Selwyn Birchwood, and Li’l Ed & the Blues Imperials. Click for details on how you can enter BCF’s April Issue Reader Giveaway to receive a family four packs of tickets to the event. †
Each month, Birmingham Christian Family highlights a local church leader who is making a difference in our community. Pastor Rick Malugani of Valley Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) earned his Master of Divinity from Lexington Theological Seminary and has been serving the congregants of Valley Christian Church since January of 2024.
Valley Christian Church is located at 2600 Cherokee Place, Mountain Brook, 35216. To learn more about the church, visit www.vccbhm.org, call 205-879-0419, or follow the church on Facebook and Instagram.
1. What did your journey look like to your current position in ministry? As a youth, I did not attend church although I felt there was something moving in my life. I could not put my finger on it, but when I became an adult and moved away, I met a young woman whom I started dating and she invited me to join her at her church. Once inside I found what had been missing as I found a place of love, warmth and peace. I became involved with the church and found a new sense of purpose and meaning for my life. Just before I turned 50, I felt the call to be a minister. I began my studies at Lexington Theological Seminary in February of 2012 and earned a Master of Divinity degree in July of 2015. During this time, I served as a student pastor at a small church in Pensacola, Fla. and then spent eight and a half years serving the congregation that I first joined in Fairhope, Ala., the one that my now wife had invited me to years before. After a yearlong cancer journey for my wife and the realization that we needed to be closer to family, we prayed, and God opened the door for us to move to Birmingham in December of 2023. I began serving Valley Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in January of 2024.
Pastor Malugani and his wife Ellen have been married for 40 years and have two grown sons and several grandchildren.
2. How would you describe your church family? Warm, friendly and very active. We are a small church and yet these folks have not let that stop them from finding ways to be positive difference makers in the community and world. We support many ministries including Grace Klein Ministries, Jimmie Hale Mission, and Christian World Services. We are a body of believers that enjoy getting out and bringing the love of God into contact with others through service projects as well as offering our time and talents. We have a decades long relationship with one of our sister African-American churches, Macedonia Christian Church located on Wenonah Oxmoor Road SW in Birmingham. We have partnered with them on several service projects including the refreshing of the cafeteria at Miracle Academy. We have also held joint services and enjoyed picnics together.
3. Describe what a family can expect when they come to worship at your church? A sincere and heartfelt welcome with members ready to meet whatever needs a family might have. We offer a traditional service with prayers, music, a message and the weekly sharing of the Lord’s Supper.
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