The Rev. James Rush Phillips Jr. served as pastor of Methodist churches across North Georgia.
If he had issues with assignments, they didn't show. After all, he'd dedicated himself to service wherever called as a 1940 graduate of Emory University's Candler School of Theology.
"My daddy believed in the way the Methodist church was run, so when he was assigned to a church he made the best of it," said Gregory Phillips, a son from Atlanta. "And he pretty much got along well wherever he went. He knew he wasn't going to be there forever and that he was there to help the church."
In 2002, Rev. Phillips wrote an autobiography for relatives that chronicled his tenure in the North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church. "A Short Sketch of My Life" lists 18 churches that he led in Norcross, Austell, Stockbridge and elsewhere.
He was 23 and a theology school senior when he received his first assignment: The Walton County circuit, from 1940 to 1941. He preached for four churches: Bold Springs, Jersey, Pheasant Grove and New Hope.
"I preached at each church two times, one Sunday each month," he wrote. "I enjoyed visiting the families and often had a meal at their homes. The Walton circuit was composed of 351 members. While I was pastor, five people joined on profession of faith and four members moved their membership to other churches."
On Feb. 11, the minister died from complications of dementia at his home in Blue Ridge. He was 93. A funeral was held Sunday at Royston First United Methodist Church. Henry Coleman Funeral Home, Blue Ridge, handled arrangements.
Rev. Phillips was born in Hart County and earned degrees from Reinhardt College and Emory University. The woodcarver and former Boy Scout leader served as a full-time pastor until 1983 and, in retirement, conducted workshops and served in interim roles.
During a 43-year career, he also served as chaplain at a Warm Springs hospital and taught Bible and Christian education classes at Reinhardt. In retirement, he and the late Lois Gregory Phillips, his wife of 68 years, moved to Royston, and in 1998 settled in Blue Ridge near their eldest child, Flora Jean Grindstaff.
"When we were small, home was wherever Mother and Daddy served," she said. "We had a lot of different friends, and the church people were always wonderful."
The minister summarized his final full-time assignment in his autobiography:
"The record shows that 12 people joined the church while I was pastor at Danielsville," he wrote. "...The people did something beautiful for their new preacher. The people did something beautiful for us. Each family made a quilt square. They put their names on it, and made it into a quilt. We loved the quilt and still enjoy it."
Survivors also include two other sons, James Rush Phillips III of Mableton and Mark Phillips of Atlanta; a sister, Martha Ellen Deming of Atlanta; and seven grandchildren.
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