| Pastor Hoard Spirit |
Reverend Alfred J. Hoard Profile
He was born February 27, 1948 in Griffin, GA to Douglas and Helen Hoard.
Raised in Griffin he was educated in the Griffin-Spalding County School System.
At the age of 7 he began to attend Heck Chapel Methodist Church (Now Faith
UMC) under the pastorate of Rev. J. N. Shopshire. He gave his life to Christ at
the age of 12 and received his local preaching license shortly after his 13th
birthday. During his high school years he was a member of the NAACP and
participated in the civil rights marches and sit-ins in Griffin. During these years he
also participated in the high school marching and concert bands directed by Mr.
Rufus Tucker. Upon graduating for Fairmount Senior High School in 1966. He
enrolled in Clark College and graduated in 1970 with a BA degree with a double
major in Psychology, and Religion and Philosophy. While in college he affiliated
with the King’s Memorial UMC under Rev. C. I. Smith and later Rev. Walter A.
Perry, Sr., and helped with the youth, taught Sunday School, and assisted with
worship.
Graduating from Clark College in 1970 he entered Gammon Theological
Seminary and began working on a Master of Divinity in Church and Society.
During the merger of the Georgia and the North GA Conferences of the UMC in
1971, he was ordained a deacon and appointed to his first church as pastor, New
Hope UMC on Hemphill School Road in Adamsville. He completed his Master of
Divinity Degree in 1973 and was placed on probationary status for two years. At
the end of this period in 1975 he was ordained a full elder in the North Georgia
Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. Thus becoming the first
black person to be ordained both deacon and elder in the North Georgia
Conference as referenced in last February’s Black History edition of the North
Georgia Advocate.
Rev. Hoard has pastored Churches in urban and rural setting throughout
North Georgia. He was very active in the work of the various conference
committees he was assigned to, as well as, the North Georgia Ministers
Fellowship where he served for three years as president. In 1985 he was
appointed to Urban Action Ministries (Now Action Ministries), as director of the
Churches In Changing Communities Program for five years. During those years
he became involved with SEJUWN [pronounced See-jun], the Southeastern
Jurisdiction Urban Workers Network, and served as secretary and later president.
He also is a long time member of BMCR, Black Methodists for Church Renewal.
He has completed 39th years of pastoral service in the North GA Conference as he
comes to serve as pastor of New Spirit United Methodist Church.
He is married to Mrs. Margaret Franklin Hoard, director of the Bethlehem
Senior Center in S.E. Atlanta. God has blessed them with two daughters: Ms.
Sylvia E. Hoard, attorney at law, and Ms. Angelyn J. Hoard, a 2010 graduate of
Georgia College and State University. They all live in Ellenwood, GA.
Senior Pastor
Reverend Alfred J. Hoard
He was born February 27, 1948 in Griffin, GA to Douglas and Helen Hoard.
Raised in Griffin he was educated in the Griffin-Spalding County School System.
At the age of 7 he began to attend Heck Chapel Methodist Church (Now Faith
UMC) under the pastorate of Rev. J. N. Shopshire. He gave his life to Christ at
the age of 12 and received his local preaching license shortly after his 13th
birthday. During his high school years he was a member of the NAACP and
participated in the civil rights marches and sit-ins in Griffin. During these years he
also participated in the high school marching and concert bands directed by Mr.
Rufus Tucker. Upon graduating for Fairmount Senior High School in 1966. He
enrolled in Clark College and graduated in 1970 with a BA degree with a double
major in Psychology, and Religion and Philosophy. While in college he affiliated
with the King’s Memorial UMC under Rev. C. I. Smith and later Rev. Walter A.
Perry, Sr., and helped with the youth, taught Sunday School, and assisted with
worship.
Graduating from Clark College in 1970 he entered Gammon Theological
Seminary and began working on a Master of Divinity in Church and Society.
During the merger of the Georgia and the North GA Conferences of the UMC in
1971, he was ordained a deacon and appointed to his first church as pastor, New
Hope UMC on Hemphill School Road in Adamsville. He completed his Master of
Divinity Degree in 1973 and was placed on probationary status for two years. At
the end of this period in 1975 he was ordained a full elder in the North Georgia
Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. Thus becoming the first
black person to be ordained both deacon and elder in the North Georgia
Conference as referenced in last February’s Black History edition of the North
Georgia Advocate.
Rev. Hoard has pastored Churches in urban and rural setting throughout
North Georgia. He was very active in the work of the various conference
committees he was assigned to, as well as, the North Georgia Ministers
Fellowship where he served for three years as president. In 1985 he was
appointed to Urban Action Ministries (Now Action Ministries), as director of the
Churches In Changing Communities Program for five years. During those years
he became involved with SEJUWN [pronounced See-jun], the Southeastern
Jurisdiction Urban Workers Network, and served as secretary and later president.
He also is a long time member of BMCR, Black Methodists for Church Renewal.
He has completed 39th years of pastoral service in the North GA Conference as he
comes to serve as pastor of New Spirit United Methodist Church.
He is married to Mrs. Margaret Franklin Hoard, director of the Bethlehem
Senior Center in S.E. Atlanta. God has blessed them with two daughters: Ms.
Sylvia E. Hoard, attorney at law, and Ms. Angelyn J. Hoard, a 2010 graduate of
Georgia College and State University. They all live in Ellenwood, GA.
Senior Pastor
Reverend Alfred J. Hoard
| New Spirit United Methodist Church |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
