Macon State College MVPs is a web feature that profiles notable students, alumni, faculty and staff.

Family: Wife, Linda, and daughter, Meigan.

Job Title: Associate professor of history.

Degrees: Bachelor of arts in history and religion, Samford University in Birmingham; master of divinity in theology, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Ky.; doctor of philosophy in American religious history, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Year he joined the Macon State faculty: 2000.

Some of his teaching career highlights are ... 1. Publications of books "Southern Civil Religions in Conflict," "A Fire You Can't Put Out: The Civil Rights Life of Birmingham's Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth," and "Macon Black and White." 2. Winning the Lillian Smith Book Award and the Macon State College Faculty Award for Outstanding Scholarly Activity, 2000. 3. Winning a Golden Apple Award as "Most Influential Teacher" from two seniors at Central High School, 2005. 4. Fulbright Fellowship Award 2009, to teach and research at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece.

He enjoys teaching at Macon State College because ... "We have a racially and culturally diverse student population at different levels of ability. I love being able to 'convert' students from thinking of history as boring to persons who understand its importance. Being in a conservative state with a fairly even mix of white and black students makes our 'clientele' a microcosm of America and easily raises many of the public issues that I care about."

His favorite course to teach is … "'Religion and Politics in American History' because it perfectly melds together the two subfields in which my research has focused. Every day I get to spring some surprises on students regarding the relations of religion and politics in the U.S."

One thing people don’t know about Macon State is … "We have a superb history department with nine members, five of whom have expertise in various areas of religious history. If a student wanted to prepare to go to seminary or graduate school in history or religion, he or she could not find a stronger place to get a bachelor of arts in history - certainly nowhere in Central Georgia."

One thing people don’t know about him is … "I am the biggest Alabama Crimson Tide fan in the state of Georgia."

In his spare time he likes to … "Play golf."

The one person he'd most like to meet is … "Abraham Lincoln, because he was our greatest and most theologically astute president. I tell students that if I were in charge, nobody in America would graduate from college without having read W.E.B. DuBois' 'The Souls of Black Folk' and a large helping of the writings and speeches of Abraham Lincoln. His theology in his second inaugural address is remarkably sophisticated."

If he wasn’t a college professor he would be ... "A sports commentator because I'd get paid to do something I'd do for nothing - cover college football."