In a December run-off election, Muscogee County Sheriff Donna Tompkins became only the third woman elected a county sheriff in Georgia. She’ll talk about security, the Sheriff’s Office and her path to the top job in a department with 441 employees and a jail housing a thousand inmates.

Tompkins joined the sheriff’s office as a civilian employee in 1984 and transferred to the county jail in 1993. After completing Basic Law Enforcement Training in 1994, she worked as a patrol deputy. Tompkins worked her way up through the ranks all the way to captain, before she retired to run for sheriff. She also earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and a master’s degree in public administration.

Read more about Tompkins’ background in reporter Alva James-Johnson’s in-depth interview in February in the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer.

Here’s what else is happening next Sunday morning:

• 9:30 a.m. Adult Religious Education: “How Did Jesus Become God?” A continuing series led by Rick Spradlin.
• 9:30 a.m. UU Singers practice. (Join us. It’s fun.)
• 10:30 a.m. Coffee and conversation before the service. (And after!)
• 10:45 a.m. Sunday service. (Sheriff Donna Tompkins will speak.)
• 10:50 a.m. Children’s Religious Education. The kids join us for the first few minutes of the service, which usually includes a children’s story. Then they adjourn to a classroom for their own activities.

Childcare is available from 9:30 a.m. until noon.