The annual laity banquet will be held Tuesday, June 14, 2016, at Frazer UMC. Please pre register for this event by clicking the link below. The cost is $12 per person. Dinner will be served.
Coach Tim Horton will be the guest speaker.
SEC veteran Coach Tim Horton, who helped the Tigers to a 2013 SEC Championship and a BCS Championship berth, is the running backs coach at Auburn University. An active member of Auburn United Methodist Church, Coach Horton will be delivering the 2016 Mary Ellen Bullard Address at the Laity Banquet at the Alabama West Florida Annual conference Tuesday, June 14 at 5 PM. Prior to his address there will be musical performance by Dr. James Seay and Josh Bullock from First United Methodist Church in Montgomery. See more about them below.
A 26-year coaching veteran, Horton was recognized by Rivals.com and ESPN.com as one of the nation's top recruiters during his tenure at Arkansas and was one of just two coaches in the nation, and the only one in the SEC, to coach four different 1,000-yard rushers from 2007-10. Under his watch, Darren McFadden and Felix Jones earned All-America honors, while Dennis Johnson and Knile Davis earned All-SEC honors.
In 2011, Horton helped the Razorbacks tie a school record with 11 wins and, combined with a 10-win season in 2010, marked just the third time in school history the Razorbacks reached double-digit win totals in back-to-back seasons.
Horton, who played football at Arkansas from 1986-89, returned to his alma mater in 2007, where he coached McFadden and Jones to All-America honors. McFadden, the Heisman Trophy runner-up, won the Doak Walker Award as the nation's top running back. McFadden finished the 2007 season with a school-record 1,830 yards and 16 touchdowns.
He came to Arkansas after taking the offensive coordinator and wide receivers coaching position at Air Force in January 2007. During the 2006 season, he was the running backs coach at Kansas State, helping the Wildcats earn a Texas Bowl appearance. At KSU, Horton coached future NFL running backs Thomas Clayton and James Johnson.
He was at Air Force from 1999-2005, serving as the wide receivers coach from 1999-2004 and the running backs coach in 2005. Horton was recognized by the Colorado Chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes as one of its coaches of the year in 2004.
Horton began his coaching career at Appalachian State in 1990 and helped guide the Mountaineers to a 67-32 record during his eight years, including Southern Conference championships in 1991 and 1995 and five appearances in the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs.
Horton earned his bachelor's degree in marketing management from Arkansas in 1990. While at Arkansas, he was a four-year letterman and three-year starter as a split end and punt returner under head coach Ken Hatfield. He caught 49 passes for 942 yards and one touchdown in his career, hauling in 23 catches for 453 yards as a senior in 1989. Horton also returned 78 punts for 657 yards in his collegiate career, fifth all-time in school history.
Horton's four years at Arkansas proved to be among the most successful in school history as the Razorbacks compiled a 38-11 record, won back-to-back Southwest Conference titles in 1988 and 1989 and appeared in four straight bowl games, still tied for the school record for the most wins in a four-year period.
A two-time academic all-conference selection, Horton was a second-team All-Southwest Conference selection in 1989 and served as the Razorbacks' team captain. Horton was a two-time all-state running back and a track standout at Conway (Ark.) High School.
Horton and his wife Lauren, who earned a bachelor's degree in early childhood education from Arkansas, have one daughter, Caroline, and one son, Jackson.
Dr. James Seay and Josh Bullock of Montgomery FUMC will be the musical entertainment.
James is the Director of Music at First UMC, Montgomery, and Josh is the Organist/Asst. Dir. of Music at First UMC, Montgomery.
James is a graduate of Birmingham-Southern College, the Peabody Conservatory at Johns-Hopkins University, and earned his doctoral degree in music from the University of Alabama. He has extensive experience as an Operatic Tenor engaged in both Opera, Concert, and Oratorio.
Josh is a graduate of Samford University, the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, and the University of Alabama.
These two young men excel in offering a wide range of musical styles. They are each creative musical artists in their own right but when you put them together the result is an overwhelming musical experience. Best of all, they are both passionately devoted to the ministry of music as God’s call upon their lives.
At the Laity Dinner they will offer 15 to 20 minutes of Christian music that will inspire all who are present.