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The History of The Southern-Fried Preacher

Harold Bales considers himself a very blessed man. He has spent more than half of his fifty years in ministry as a denominational executive in The United Methodist Church. Joining the staff of the General Board of Evangelism while in seminary allowed him a great opportunity to grow into a mature minister while working with and being mentored by many of the great leaders of world Christianity and visiting many nations as a lecturer, consultant and preacher. Harold’s greatest joy has been his pastoral service in the local parish, which has provided a platform for his dedication and quest for social justice, civil rights, education and ministry to the poor.

Now in semi-retirement, writing for publication occupies most of Harold’s time. Throughout his career, he has written and edited many books. For twenty years he has pursued a public ministry beyond the walls of the church by writing a weekly newspaper column, “The Southern-Fried Preacher.”

This pursuit began shortly after the death of his mother, Edith. For his own grief process and to pay tribute to his mother, Harold wrote about her descent into Alzheimer’s disease and put it in a personal newsletter. Using the name “The Southern-Fried Preacher” for the newsletter came from a suggestion made by Terry Mattingly, former Religion Editor of The Charlotte Observer. Mattingly, now a syndicated columnist for Scripps Howard News Service, had noted the occasional op-ed pieces Harold had contributed to The Observer and suggested he write a regular newspaper column and name it “The Southern-Fried Preacher.”

The first “Southern-Fried Preacher” went out to 35 family and friends. In it he mentioned he would send out another newsletter whenever he had something else to say and it would be free, but only those who asked for it would receive it. Kays Gary, legendary journalist in the region, got hold of the newsletter and reprinted it in his column. As a result, the second issue went to more than 2,000 readers and the third grew to beyond 4,000. Harold bought a secondhand copy machine to print the, now monthly, free newsletter. Family and friends volunteered to help label and prepare it for mailing. Readers began to send small donations to help pay for postage; some sent stamps.

Eight years later, the newsletter morphed into a weekly newspaper column and the name “The Southern-Fried Preacher” stuck. Remaining down-home, witty, sometimes preachy and sometimes cranky — in a good-natured sort of way — he regards the column as a weekly word for a bunch of good friends.

Harold loves plain talk, pooh-poohs political correctness and believes humorlessness is a serious heresy. He considers himself pious, but not pietistic. His writing has created a wide circle of friends to include those from Christian denominations and non-Christian faiths, as well as atheists, agnostics and religious skeptics. He says, “Like the late humorist Will Rogers and often-married actress Elizabeth Taylor, I never met a man I didn’t like.”

Harold describes himself as a garden-variety Methodist and a progressive, evangelical Christian. He admits this baffles some but makes perfect sense to him: “I’m happy to leave it to God to figure all that out at the end.”