MHU Trustee Given Key To the City

May 23, 2019

Max Burgin (right) with MHU VP Bud Christman at First Wesleyan Church of Forest City, N.C., on “Max Burgin Day,” May 18, 2019.

The Town of Forest City, North Carolina, proclaimed Saturday, May 18, 2019 as Max E. Burgin Day. Burgin is a Mars Hill University trustee.

In a ceremony at First Wesleyan Church , a city official gave him a key to the city. (First Wesleyan was his childhood church.) He also received North Carolina’s Order of the Long Leaf Pine. The governor’s office issues the award for “exemplary service to the State of North Carolina.”

The MHU trustee board passed a resolution of appreciation for Burgin. University representatives presented it at the ceremony. 

Burgin graduated Mars Hill in 1954. He completed his bachelor’s degree at Wake Forest University. And he earned advanced degrees from Southwestern Seminary, Long Island University, and New York Theological Seminary.

He served 30 years as a U.S. Army chaplain and retired with the rank of colonel. He received two Legions of Merit, the Bronze Star, five Meritorious Service Medals, and six Army Commendation Medals, among other honors.

Burgin was pastor of Lattimore Baptist Church for more than 30 years. He and his wife, Mickie, own and operate Burgin Farms.

He and Mickie actively support several ministries in India. One is a medical mission they began with their daughter, Kelli Mayfield. She is a physician and alumna of Mars Hill.