The front porch of the home at the corner of Avenida De Sol and Mercado Street in Navarre is a bit different from the neighbors.
There’s no furniture or decorations. Sandbags are piled to one side, and walls around the door frame have been modified with a system to allow plastic barriers to be snapped into place.
Tim Grier grew up playing lacrosse in Maryland. But he didn’t play much after high school. He had a career in the Marines as a first sergeant and is now a Junior ROTC Instructor at Navarre High School.
Centuries ago, a common sight on this nation’s rural lanes and footpaths was a lone figure dressed all in black, often astride a horse – an itinerant, Methodist preacher. These itinerant preachers traveled from one village to another ministering to several small congregations under their care. The most famous itinerant preacher was John Wesley, the founder of Methodism. Though Dr. Alan V. McBride drives a pickup truck and has one, large congregation under his care, this itinerant ethos was behind his pastoral assignments over twenty-seven years of ministry, including his assignment to Navarre United Methodist Church as senior minister in July of 2017.
Less than a year after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that killed 17 people and prompted a statewide movement, Santa Rosa County schools are seeing new security at the front door.