ADA—Pastor Rusty Fuller and his wife, LuAnn, were honored with special surprise day of recognition in both morning worship services at Ada, Trinity in late June to commemorate their 40 years of ministry at the church.
“We surprised them with a pause in our normal schedule to honor them for their commitment to the church and Rusty’s faithful leadership over the past four decades,” said Associate Pastor David Gray.
A graduate of Oklahoma State University, Southwestern Seminary, and Luther Rice Seminary, Fuller came to Ada, Trinity as lead pastor from Savannah in June 1984.
Gray and a few others shared testimonies about Fuller’s tenure at the church and hosted a reception in the Connection Center after both services to provide time church members to communicate their appreciation to the Fullers.
“I’ve been here with him for all 40 of those years; 20 years on staff,” Gray said. “He has served the church as lead pastor longer than anyone else. In addition to the receptions, we collected a love offering for the family.”
“We have two services, and, in the first service, I was standing up to preach and they pulled me back and told me they had a change of plans for the day,” Fuller said. “We had our time of worship and then they had some folks speak. My son is on staff here and he shared from a family perspective. And I have one brother, Dave. He was here and shared some embarrassing moments of our child- hood and one of the guys in the church spoke from the congregation’s perspective. Then, David Gray wrapped everything up. It was a neat day and they provided lunch for our family in our fellowship building.”
Sharing the Gospel and conducting baptisms have been a focal point of Fuller’s ministry. That was highlighted on Aug. 3, 2014, when 26 people were baptized, beyond what the staff was expecting.
“It was a day when we felt led by the Lord to focus on baptism, and we had several people who were ready to be baptized,” Fuller said. “The service began with the observance of six baptisms, and as the service continued, God just continued to work and move, and we would think we were about done and then we had others come and say they needed to be baptized or get their baptism in order. We would sing a song and baptize some more, and I think it was past 1 p.m. before we finished that service.”
“That was definitely one of the highlights of my 40 years in ministry, just to see how God worked in all of that.”
TRINITY ALSO HAS A WIDE OUTREACH AND MINISTRY TO THE ADA AREA.
“Every Christmas, our church hosts a dinner and party for foster children in Pontotoc County,” Fuller said. “Department of Human Services (DHS) caseworkers provide a list of children and a wish list from each. Ornaments are made for each child and placed on a tree. Members of the church family pick an ornament and shop for the child. The church then invites the foster children, their foster parents, and siblings to a dinner and a visit from Santa where they receive their gifts. Each child receives two gifts. That’s one of the things in which God has really made an impact in our community.”
ABOUT 12 YEARS AGO TRINITY STARTED A HISPANIC MISSION.
“They met in one of our buildings for some time and then a few years ago, we acquired a building for them,” Fuller said. “The Sunday night before Thanksgiving we go to the mission and do what we call The Big Feed,” Fuller said. “We fix them a hot meal, get some canvas bags and a shopping list and the members of the church take the bags and fill them up and the church puts a ham with it. Then on that Sunday night we go door to door and invite those people in the west side of town to come to church. We share the Gospel with them and eat dinner together and then we give them the food bags to take home for Thanksgiving.”
Fuller said he believes the church must be intentional with the message of Acts 1:8 in serving its Jerusalem
“That includes really trying to be intent on serving our com- munity,” he said. “On summer nights we do what we call Mission Ada. We go to apartment complexes and trailer parks and do backyard Bible clubs, play games with them, read a Bible story and do crafts with the kids. Then we also go the west side of town and do what we call Easter Eve on that Saturday night. There’s an old school there that is kind of a community center and we invite the commu- nity to come, and we feed them all, share the Gospel and have a big Easter hunt. It’s extremely impactful; people come from all over to participate. It’s a wonderful oppor- tunity to share the Gospel and see some people come to know the Lord.”
MISSIONS ISN’T JUST A LOCAL EMPHASIS.
“Beyond that missionally, we have several partnerships in place,” Fuller said. “My wife and I have been involved for the past 12 years in mission trips to Nicaragua. We go for two weeks, and separate groups of our members join us for one of the weeks. We do medical missions there. We took six doctors from our church this year and in two weeks, we saw about 1,500 patients and had a lot of people come to the Lord.
“That’s been one of the things that has kept us centered as a church; keeping the main thing the main thing and focusing on the Gospel and not getting caught up in other side issues that can be divisive. I have the privilege of pa- storing a great church and probably most of the credit goes to them than to me.
Asked what the secret is to long successful ministry, he concluded, “A lot of it is just depending on the Lord. I have tried to do my best to follow the Great Commandment and just try to love people, be present for them and do life together.”
