By Brienna Williams | Dr. Rusty Wheelington, Professor of Christian Studies, is a well-known and highly respected professor on the Howard Payne campus. Strike up a conversation with any student who has been through the Christian Studies department and you will hear words such as kindhearted, humble, gracious and genuine in reference to Dr. Wheelington.
Abby Fraser, Senior Christian Education major says, “he’s very easy-going, someone who sees your potential & pushes you to be that. And he’s very honest, even when you don’t necessarily want him to be.”
Dr. Wheelington is married to his wife, Laurie and they have two sons named Caleb and Nathan. They also have two dogs named Honey and Nacho and a female cat named Kevin.
In addition to teaching Christian Education classes at HPU, Dr. Wheelington’s influence extends outside of the walls of the Christian Studies department. He currently serves, along with two of his former HPU students, as Youth Minister at local church, Southside Baptist Church.
“I love youth ministry because there is so much going on between ages of 12 and 18, spiritually, psychologically and mentally. To get to talk with students and to get to see them grow to believe in Jesus and grow in their faith, they’re just fun to be around,” said Dr. Wheelington.
However, Youth Ministry and teaching wasn’t originally his plan, Dr. Wheelington began his college career at Stephen F. Austin University with hopes of becoming an illustrator and animator for Disney.
“I got as far as he could in art classes at SFA and then transferred to the Art Institute of Dallas. After graduating from the Art Institution, I began working for a company in Dallas, we did seasonal designs for Disney and redesigned Chuck E. Cheese,” said Wheelington.
In addition to teaching and building relationships with the students in the youth group at Southside, Dr. Wheelington frequently enjoys participating in marathons and triathlons with his sons and he still finds time to draw and animate.
“I still draw some stuff. Everyone has something that they’ll just do forever. I’ve even had the chance to design some murals for rescue homes in Northern India.”
During his time in Dallas, Dr. Wheelington and his wife, Laurie, began serving in a local church in Cedar Hill.
“Shortly after Laurie and I started attending a church in Cedar Hill, I started teaching 7th and 8th grade boys. While teaching the guy’s middle school Sunday School class, God called me into vocational ministry.”
From there Dr. Wheelington completed his bachelor’s degree in art and pastoral ministry at Dallas Baptist University and pursued a master’s degree in religious communication at Southwestern Theological Seminary.
“After graduating from Southwestern I told the Lord, ‘I’ll go anywhere you want in Texas, so He called us to a church in Memphis Tennessee where I was the student and missions minister for almost 10 years,” said Wheelington.
While in Tennessee Dr. Wheelington decided to return to school to pursue his doctorate degree.
“Four to five years into the job in Memphis I started thinking about going back to school to do my doctorate. I didn’t want to leave church, I just wanted to know more. I decided, if I’m going to go back to school again, I want to finish and not go back again. I graduated with my doctorate from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Church leadership and Christian education,” said Wheelington.
Following his graduation from SBTS Dr. Wheelington says he was intent on not becoming a university professor until he received a call from Dr. Gary Grammling, dean of the school of Christian studies at HPU.
“Dr. Gramling and I had a mutual friend who had mentioned my name to him. Dr. Gramling called me one day to ask about applying for a professor position in the school of Christian studies. I knew that day that God was calling us back to Texas to Brownwood,” said Wheelington.
Dr. Wheelington and his family love Brownwood and the opportunities that they have been given to teach and minister to students.
“We knew that moving to Brownwood to teach at HPU would be a different experience than moving to be in a position of ministry at a church where we would be welcomed into a church family. But the HPU family has been so accepting and loving towards our family and we love being a part of it,” said Wheelington.