Submitted photoRev. Dr. Berlinda A. Hart Love is the new pastor at Bethel AME Church.

VALDOSTA — The Reverend Dr. Berlinda A. Hart Love is now the pastor of Bethel AME Church, located at 202 South Hall St., Hahira.

The Rev. Dr. Berlinda A. Hart Love is a native of Valdosta where she was born and reared in the countryside of Clyattville where her grandfather, Isaac Stafford Hart, was a tobacco farmer.

She attended Westside High School where she was named Miss Freshman by a unanimous vote of the student body.

However, she completed her high school education in Ewing Township, N.J., after which she attended Savannah State College for a year.

The Rev. Dr. Love holds degrees from three institutes of higher learning in New Jersey; Princeton Theological Seminary (M.Div. with concentration in Homiletics, Pastoral Care, and Theology; Rider University (M.A. in Educational Administration with a minor in Curriculum Development and Design); and The College of New Jersey (B.A. in Education, minor in Psychology, and additional credits in Student Personnel Services and Science, Mathematics, and Technology).

She is an itinerant elder in the Sixth Episcopal District, South Georgia Conference, Valdosta South District, having served the First Episcopal District for 20 years as pastor and pulpit associate in several churches.

The Rev. Dr. Love is the author of three books: Sermons from the Heart, A Special Tribute; Coping with My Mother’s Stroke, A Daughter’s Story: and My Mother’s Stroke and Miracle Recovery.

Being the newly appointed pastor of Bethel AME Church, Hahira, the Rev. Dr. Love is looking forward to serving and doing great things with the members, as well as the Hahira community at large.

A Meet and Greet is planned for Pastor Love from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. Saturday, April 6, 2019 at Bethel AME Church, Hahira. All are invited to attend. Light refreshments will be served.