JAM Newsletter: Rusty Wheelington

Having completed a degree in Visual Communications from The Art Institute of Dallas and working in the animation/illustration field, I was called to ministry and served as a youth minister while finishing a Bachelor’s degree in Art and Pastoral Ministries from Dallas Baptist University. I then went on to finish a Master’s degree in Religious Education from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1996. While serving as the Minister of Students and Missions in Bartlett (Memphis), Tennessee, I completed a doctoral degree in Ministry Leadership and Christian Education from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. In January of 2006, I joined the Christian Studies faculty at Howard Payne University.

I am currently serving as a youth minister and missions team leader at Southside Church in Brownwood, while also enjoying the opportunity to serve other churches and ministries when available.

Having grown up in Texarkana, Texas, my wife, Laurie, and I now call Brownwood home. We have two sons, Caleb and Nathan, a cat named Kevin (even though it’s a girl) and two dogs named Nacho and Honey. Free time is always welcome and when it comes, I enjoy spending time doing absolutely anything with my wife and sons; running, riding, reading, drawing, and doing “yard stuff” are always on my list of fun and relaxing things.

It’s hard to believe I’m in my 16th year at HPU. The last thing I ever thought I would ever be doing in my life was being a professor at a university! I absolutely LOVED being on staff at a local church and being part of a like-minded team serving together was my dream job. And to be honest, I was super nervous about making the move to being on faculty at HPU, but then I got here and quickly realized I was part of the same family just in a different location.

We absolutely have the best students anywhere. They are passionate and excited about ministry and I’m pretty sure one day I’m going to end up working for at least one of them so I’m trying to be nice to them now!