 Russ Dudrey has preached for the Hastings church since 2007. He has been married to Felice since 1977. They have three children and two grandchildren, with more on the way. Russ's greatest joy in life is his marriage and family, for which he thanks God every day. Felice's goodness, beauty, warmth, and social skills make up for Russ's deficiencies in many ways. Their children all love God and are living their lives to his honor. Russ thinks of himself as a better teacher than preacher. He was in college and graduate school either taking courses, teaching courses, or both, until he was 48 years old; then he taught college for another 10 years. He did a BA in Bible and English at David Lipscomb College (1971), an MTH at Harding Graduate School of Religion (1977), an MA in English Literature at the University of Nevada (1982), and a PhD in Greek and Roman Classics at the University of Minnesota (1998). For his dissertation he wrote a book on I Corinthians 7 against a background of Greek and Roman slavery. Russ loves reading, thinking, writing, and learning. He sees his academic studies as a way to know God better, to read the Scriptures better, to understand culture and the human soul better, and from these to be better equipped to explain the Word of God and give the Gospel to others. He believes that the most important thing he knows is Jesus, and he thinks that all Christian preaching should have the Jesus of Scripture as its central message—so he strives to do that. Russ also has a non-academic side to his life. During his PhD years he made his family's living as a carpenter, building hundreds of decks. He built his family's home when they lived in York. In 2004 he started the wrestling team at York College and was its head coach for two years and its assistant coach for another year. He plays racquetball several times a week, gets outdoors and goes trout fishing whenever he can, which isn't often enough. One of the historic Christian confessions of faith says “Man's chief end upon the earth is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.” Russ agrees. |
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