A familiar face will fill the pulpit of Mount Pleasant Baptist Church on Aug. 19.

J. Paul Till, a native of the Mount Pleasant Community, will deliver the sermon at the church’s 124th homecoming.

Till became a Christian and joined Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church at an early age and served in several leadership positions at the church while still in high school.

He attended elementary school in Industry before transferring to Georgiana High School where he graduated in 1968. He holds a degree in communications and journalism from Auburn University and a master’s degree in counseling from Troy University in Montgomery.

He began his career as a journalist with The Associated Press in Atlanta immediately upon graduating from Auburn in 1972 and later worked with The AP in Montgomery. He was hired by Alabama Farm Bureau to start a magazine for its members and became the first editor of Neighbors Magazine. He was promoted to head up the Communications Department for Alabama Farmers Federation and Alfa Insurance Company.

When he retired in 2009 after 34 years with the company, he was serving as administrator and head of the Alfa Health Insurance Division.

He is the author of a book, Achieving Balance, a non-fiction account of how to balance family, faith and financial success.

Till and his wife, Barb, have served as leaders and mentors to hundreds of young married adults during the past 14 years at First Baptist Church in Montgomery, where he also has served as a deacon.

Mount Pleasant’s homecoming service will being at 10:30 a.m.