Bishop Leonard Fairley Speaking and Book Signing Event

Join us for a book signing event with former Soapstone UMC pastor and UMCSC Resident Bishop Leonard E. Fairley, author of “Silver Linings,” a 382-page memoir from the Advocate Press. Bishop Fairley will speak prior to the signing, and we will have books available for purchase and signing. Light refreshments will be served as Bishop Fairley spends time catching up with old and new friends.
Purchase “Silver Linings” during the event or before the event using this link.

About Silver Linings
In this riveting, inspiring, and heart-wrenching coming-of-age account, United Methodist Bishop Leonard E. Fairley recounts his upbringing through the eyes of a young boy who discovers that even the unpredictable nature of everyday life is a woven tapestry held together by God’s providence.

Fairley grew up as one of nine children to a single mother in Laurinburg, North Carolina. And while he experienced a great deal of suffering and difficulty, times that caused him to question life’s circumstances and even his faith, Fairley shares how he learned ways to straighten out the question marks of his life into the exclamation points of purpose.

“I will never accept injustices such as poverty, oppression, and racism as natural realities of life,” Fairley writes in the preface. “I have gleaned wonderful lessons through the joys, laughter, tears, heartaches, trials, and friendships shared in these pages. It is, was, and will be these lessons that remind me never to allow the unfairness of life to strip me of a hope that is rooted in God’s desire to make life worth living for all his children. I hope that this work will be of help to people who have allowed darkness to blind them to the many threads of light that make life worth living. It is my hope that it will restore hope in those who have lost the ability to believe in silver linings.”

Learn about the upbringing that shaped this man of God into the leader, Christ-follower, and hope-bringer he is today. For as Grandma Gladys taught, behind every dark cloud is a silver lining.