Charles W. Maynard, is an author, storyteller, and ordained United Methodist minister. Charles graduated from Emory & Henry College and Emory University and is a member of the Holston Conference. He has served churches in Virginia, Tennessee, and Georgia. He was Development Director for Holston Conference Camp and Retreat Ministries for eight years before being appointed a District Superintendent for six years. Charles is currently serving as Pastor of Generosity and Traditional Worship at Cokesbury UMC in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Charles has authored or co-authored 32 books, including 22 children’s books. He has written numerous magazine articles on Great Smoky Mountains and Yellowstone National Parks as well as Tennessee history. Charles is known for his telling of traditional Appalachian Mountain tales, stories of American history, and personal narratives of growing up near Chattanooga, Tennessee. For his essays in The Blue Ridge—Ancient and Majestic, Charles received the Reed Environmental Writing Award from the Southern Environmental Law Center. He has written United Methodist Church Sunday School and devotional literature. His most recent books are Tidings of Comfort and Joy – New Stories of Advent and Christmas, A Storyteller Looks at The Parables, and A Storyteller Looks at the Gospel of John.
Charles worked as the first executive director of Friends of Great Smoky Mountains National Park and was named as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the History of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, Discover Life in America, and the Smoky Mountain Heritage Center. He worked as Director of Advancement for the International Storytelling Center in Jonesborough, TN. Charles married his high school sweetheart, Janice, who is a well-known novelist. They have two daughters, Caroline M. Lamar and Anna M. Lee. Charles and Janice both enjoy writing, traveling, and spending time with family – especially their grandchildren – Anastasia, Ainsley, Allie, Levi, and Hattie.
cmaynard@cokesbury.tv
Janice Hoffmann is a fourth-generation farmer who broke tradition and became a musician, a stockbroker, and now, a writer. Although she has lived in five states and two foreign countries, she has called Southern California her home for 46 years. She began writing flash auto-fiction at age 71, and is a contributing writer for the Claremont Courier, and Substack. What's flash auto-fiction? Never more than five minutes at a time, and although Janice writes stories inspired by her personal experiences, she has a vivid imagination and an imperfect memory, so one never knows where the autobiography ends, and the fiction begins.
Consider a Free Subscription to Stories by Janus on the Substack App or website. This link takes you directly to my December 2023 post entitled ""6500 moments of gratitude"", which has live links to other stories, most of which have a button to push so that you can snuggle in, and enjoy being read to. Sometimes, being treated to someone else reading allows you to soak in the sound and the messages. Here is a special to one of Sarah's favorites. I Forgive You is offered because most of us need to be reminded that we don’t have to be who we were five years ago or even five minutes ago. We start by forgiving ourselves and then just start over. We begin again to do, be, and become our best.
I don't know if it is an inspiring quote, but ""What someone else thinks of me is none of my business"" helped me break the cycle of wasting time worrying about what others thought of me, and that was liberating as well as a huge time-saver. I first heard Terry Cole-Whittaker say it, but recently saw a version attributed to Anthony Hopkins.
Dr. Darin Detwiler, LP.D, M.A.Ed
Dr. Darin Detwiler is a well-respected educator, food safety academic, advisor, advocate, and author. For nearly 30 years, he has played a unique role in controlling foodborne illness.
Today, Detwiler is a Professor of food policy and corporate social responsibility at Northeastern University, in Boston, where his students have gone on to leadership positions in industry and in state and federal agencies. In addition to his current role as the Chair of the National Environmental Health Association’s Food Safety Program, his leadership capacities include numerous advisory and editorial boards as well as having long consulted on food safety issues with industry in the U.S. and abroad.
A U.S. Navy Nuclear Submarine Veteran, and a former high school and middle school teacher, Detwiler earned his doctorate in Law and Policy, focusing on states’ ability to implement federal food policies. He is the recipient of the International Association for Food Protection’s 2022 Ewen C.D. Todd Control of Foodborne Illness Award as well as their 2018 Distinguished Service Award for dedicated and exceptional contributions to the reduction of risks of foodborne illness
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