{"id":23925,"date":"2025-06-12T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-12T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/goodnewsmags.com\/franklin-county\/?p=23925"},"modified":"2025-06-10T20:03:04","modified_gmt":"2025-06-10T20:03:04","slug":"pastor-lee-brannon-iii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/goodnewsmags.com\/franklin-county\/pastor-lee-brannon-iii\/","title":{"rendered":"Pastor Lee Brannon III: A heritage with heart"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>STUDENTS AT East Middle School in Tullahoma grin when they see Pastor Lee Brannon III in the halls. Brannon is East Middle School\u2019s beloved school counselor. He is the pastor of Burning Bush Original Church of God in Belvidere, where he has served for 24 years with his wife, Tonya Brannon, and two daughters, Hannah and Mikah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Aside from pastoring, Lee Brannon worked as a case manager at the Highland Rim Mental Health Center. After a tragic school shooting in 1998, Brannon was called to be available at Lincoln County High School to counsel students. This experience led Brannon to serve as the high school counselor in Lincoln County and later in Franklin County. He was the first Black school counselor in the Franklin County school system. His calling to serve his church and the schools became intertwined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIf we can change our school, we can change our neighborhood. If we can change our neighborhood, we can change our city. If we can change our city, we can change the world,\u201d Brannon said. \u201cThe kids know that I am available to listen without judgment, and I think when they leave my office, if they don\u2019t know anything else, they know that somebody cares for them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This dedication to the community\u2019s safety, education, and well-being was passed down to Brannon from his whole family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Brannon\u2019s father, Lee Roy Brannon Jr., made history as the county\u2019s first Black National Guardsman, and his mother, Barbara Brown, broke barriers as the first Black Department of Human Services worker. Lee shares his mother\u2019s advice to students even now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/goodnewsmags.com\/franklin-county\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/06\/Story-1-photo1-5-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-23928\" srcset=\"https:\/\/goodnewsmags.com\/franklin-county\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/06\/Story-1-photo1-5-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/goodnewsmags.com\/franklin-county\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/06\/Story-1-photo1-5-980x653.jpg 980w, https:\/\/goodnewsmags.com\/franklin-county\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/06\/Story-1-photo1-5-480x320.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) 1024px, 100vw\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Photography by Brooke Snyder<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cShe would say, \u2018Son, if you stop to think, you will think to stop,\u2019\u201d Lee recalled. \u201cShe meant before you make any decisions, think about the consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another mentor for Lee was his grandfather, Fred Blackwell Sr. He took over the first Black funeral home in the county (Johnson-Blackwell Funeral Home) and had the only Black-owned laundromat. He was in the first graduating class of Townsend High School. Blackwell and his wife, Julia, were able to send all seven of their children to college by working multiple jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lee\u2019s family values compassion and education. His grandmother insisted that all her children earn a teaching certification, regardless of their major. She knew that educators are world changers. Lee agrees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOne of the greatest needs for us is re- evaluating the way that we teach kids. Education doesn\u2019t change much, but the way we do things doesn\u2019t always work for certain kids; that doesn\u2019t mean they aren\u2019t as smart or as capable, it\u2019s just that the \u2018four walls\u2019 system isn\u2019t working for them,\u201d Lee said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lee impacts lives through many channels. He is the student council advisor and adult advisor for Sources of Strength, a peer-led program in which students become the eyes and ears in the hallways to keep a pulse on their classmates\u2019 emotional well-being. This year, he initiated \u201cRandom Acts of Kindness Week\u201d and is planning a sneaker drive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wherever you find Lee, he is creating and inspiring positive changes in the world, honoring his family\u2019s generational values. <strong>GN<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>STUDENTS AT East Middle School in Tullahoma grin when they see Pastor Lee Brannon III in the halls. Brannon is East Middle School\u2019s beloved school counselor. He is the pastor of Burning Bush Original Church of God in Belvidere, where he has served for 24 years with his wife, Tonya Brannon, and two daughters, Hannah [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":23927,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cover"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Pastor Lee Brannon III: A heritage with heart - Franklin County, TN Good News Exchange<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/goodnewsmags.com\/franklin-county\/pastor-lee-brannon-iii\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pastor Lee Brannon III: A heritage with heart - Franklin County, TN Good News Exchange\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"STUDENTS AT East Middle School in Tullahoma grin when they see Pastor Lee Brannon III in the halls. 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