By Tim Wildmon | AFA President

Like a lot of you reading this, I get rather melancholy around Christmas. Memories of yesteryear that can never be experienced again cause me both joy and sadness. Please indulge me this month, I would like to tell you about my life. I have shared bits and pieces, but I would like to let you know more of my story.

My mom, Linda, and my dad, Don, were both born and raised in the hills of northeast Mississippi. Dad was born in 1938 and mom in 1940. Like most people who grew up in the rural South during the 1940s their families had to work hard just to make ends meet. They didn’t have much, but neither did anyone else they knew. Mom grew up on a farm and Dad was raised in a small town.

They both went to high school in the ’50s. Mom was taking summer school chemistry at Blue Mountain College in 1960 when Dad asked her out. He was living in nearby Ripley. As the story goes she turned him down twice – for legitimate reasons – before saying yes to a movie. Dad was not going to ask again if the third time had not been a charm. On the way back to the dorm from that first date, Dad told Mom he was going to marry her. One year later he did.

I was the first born. Came into the world on March 6, 1963, in Houston, Missouri. Dad was in the Army at Fort Leonard Wood just north of there. A few months later they got out of the Army and moved to Atlanta, Georgia, so Dad could go to seminary at Emory University. He wanted to be a Methodist pastor. And on March 6, 1964, my sister Angela was born there in Georgia. Dad packed a three-year divinity program into two years, while stocking groceries at night and serving a small country church on the weekends. In 1965 the four of us moved back to Mississippi and the bishop gave Dad four churches in Tishomingo County. I’m not kidding. Four churches. Methodists do this to see if you are going to quit. Dad didn’t. My sister Donna was born there on February 1, 1966. Soon afterward we moved to Tupelo and Dad took a church in its infancy. It was a challenge and Dad liked challenges.

Then on March 6, 1971, my little brother, Mark, was born in Tupelo. You read that right, March 6. If you have been paying attention you noticed that three of the four of us have the same birthday. At one time that was two short of the world record which was five siblings born on the same day of the year. Twins or above don’t count.

My growing up years were the ’70s. The things I remember about that decade includes seeing the Vietnam war on the evening news. I remember how my best friend’s mom cried when Richard Nixon came on television to resign from the presidency of our country. I recall riding my bike to the drug store for a candy bar, cola and comic book many afternoons. The bicentennial was celebrated in 1976. It was at summer camp of that year that I gave my life to Jesus Christ. I became a believer. And then one summer later, 1977, I remember Dad leaving the pastoral ministry to start the National Federation for Decency. Some years later that organization became American Family Association.

In the spring of 1979 Alison and I started dating, and in 1981 we both graduated from Tupelo High School. Then on July 28, 1984, we were married. We have been happily married ever since. We both went on to get degrees from Mississippi State University. She was a good college student, I barely made it. After graduation, Dad offered me a job here and I accepted. I have been here now 17 years. I’ve witnessed our staff go from 15 to over 100.

Since 1986, I have had many responsibilities, from writing scripts for radio programs, to doing interviews on CNN, to writing columns for USA Today, to speaking in churches and to conferences all over the country. In fact, I was thinking the other day that, with the exception of Alaska, North Dakota, Hawaii and a few states in New England, I have now traveled to and spoken in all the others states.

The purpose of AFA is to educate Christians about the growing influence of secular humanism and moral relativism on our culture, and to show them ways to get involved to fight back against those things and all the social ills they bring with them. That’s why we come to work here everyday.

Today Alison and I have three children – our daughter Wriley, 16, and our sons Wesley, 14, and Walker, 10. I also turned 40 this year. Forty means you should be half way to paying for your house. We’re only four years away from beginning 12 years of college expenses. That’s if none of ours choose the five-year plan as I did. You got all those numbers? Good. Now have a Merry December 25 and Happy January 1.