Rusty Sumrall Thankful for Calling to Serve Associations
A Column in the Baptist Associations Series with Applications for all Local Denominational Organizations
(Photo from Sumrall family)
(This column appears this week in the digital and print edition of The Baptist Paper. Access the column in the digital edition HERE. The Baptist Paper is a publication of TAB Media. Request a free trial HERE. See all TAB Media columns written by George Bullard HERE.)(Subscribe to this Substack Blog using the “Subscribe now” button below.)
Rusty Sumrall Thankful for Calling to Serve Associations
By George Bullard
Rusty Sumrall was called to Christian ministry during high school, and during college he was called to pastor three small country churches, but he arrived in seminary knowing he did not want to be a pastor and was “really searching for the Lord’s leadership.”
He can now see how God was going before him to prepare him for a lifelong ministry with Baptist associations.
At Mississippi College in Clinton in a course on the Baptist denomination, Rusty became aware of associations as a dimension of Southern Baptist life. He realized the Bible drills in which he participated growing up were a program of his association.
During seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, he and his wife, Becky, spent a summer in Missouri directing an association’s missions center.
When Rusty returned to seminary, he enrolled in a class on the Baptist association taught by Russell Bennett. (See the recent tribute article on Bennett HERE.)
This class was a great learning experience. It allowed him to be mentored by Bennett to consider associational ministry as a career.
He later attended a training session with the former Home Mission Board for potential associational directors. He was the youngest person there. Few young adults consider this ministry role.
(Continue reading HERE.)