Faculty
Dr. Leon Ballard
Dr. Leon Ballard is a preacher, pastor and teacher. He is the pastor of York Baptist Church (Alabama), a position he has held for more than 20 years. Leon is the former president of the Alabama Baptist Convention, which is composed of more than 3,000 churches. Leon not only teaches classes for Ebenezer Christian Ministries in the Bachelor and Master programs, he also conducts seminars for the Doctorate program.
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Dr. Roy Scott Harrell
Dr. Roy Harrell is an adjunct professor at Coastal Alabama Community College in Gilbertown, AL, with an extensive education in Christian studies. He received his Doctor of Ministry in Leadership from Midwestern Baptist Seminary in Kansas City, MO and his Master of Divinity from Luther Rice University in Lithonia, GA. From Luther Rice he also completed his Master of Arts in Christian Studies and his Bachelor of Arts in Biblical Studies.
He serves as Senior Pastor at Oak Grove Baptist Church in Meridian, MS. He currently teaches with Ebenezer Christian Seminary, but also conducts courses in World Religions and Old and New Testament studies for Coastal Alabama CC.
He and his wife, Susan, have two children, Rebecca and John (plus, as he said, “we have been blessed with 10 exceptionally gifted and beautiful grandchildren.").
Dr. Beverly J. Knox
Meridianite Dr. Beverly Knox is the Visionary and Pastor of Holy Remnant Church, located in Meridian, MS. And she is the Executive Director of The Montgomery Institute.
She received an Associate of Arts Degree from Meridian Junior College and a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Southern Mississippi in Radio, Television and Film.
She accepted the Lord’s call into the ministry in August of 2000. But her call to serve began earlier than that. In 2005, the ministry of the Holy Ghost was birthed in agreement with her husband, Elder Leon Knox — with the nondenominational ministry started in their own home.
As years passed, she enrolled in Ebenezer Christian Seminary in pursuit of a Bachelor’s Degree in Biblical Studies and everything changed from there. After obtaining her BA in 2011, she went on to earn a Master’s Degree (2013) and a Doctorate in 2016.
As of July 2020, Dr. Knox has served as a member of the Board of Directors at Ebenezer Christian Seminary, a position she “is honored to hold.” She also serves as Pastor of Holy Remnant Church.
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Dr. Rhett G. Payne III
Dr. Rhett Payne, a native of Jackson, AL, did his undergraduate work at Oral Roberts University, where he received a BA degree in English Bible in 1977. From there, Dr. Payne studied at Covenant Theological Seminary, St. Louis, MO, receiving his Masters of Divinity degree in 1985. Finally, Dr. Payne received the Doctor of Ministry degree from Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, FL, in 1995.
With a background in youth ministry, serving four congregations over a period of 11 years, Rhett (as he prefers to be called) was on staff at Central Presbyterian in St. Louis when the Evangelical Presbyterian Church was founded. In 1985, he moved into church planning, serving two churches — as founding pastor of EPC of Marshall, TX, and reorganizing pastor of CrossPointe Community Church, Carrollton, TX.
Rhett moved his family back across the Mississippi River to pastor First Presbyterian of Meridian in 2002. Over the years, Dr. Payne has led the church to expand its vision through the first facility construction in 56 years (in 2008), including a Children’s Ministry Wing; and then once again in 2015, with a Student Ministries Center (completed in 2016). Rhett and his wife, Donna, have been married for 45 years. They have three adult children and five grandchildren.
Dr. Brenda K. Pruitt
A life-time member of Eureka Baptist Church (where she serves as Church Clerk), Dr. Brenda Pruitt also serves as the volunteer Chaplain Assistant at Rush Foundation Hospital in Meridian, MS.
Brenda is currently a certified Pharmacy Technician at Rush (she serves as the pharmacy buyer) and teaches church history for Ebenezer Christian Ministries. She holds a BA, MA and a Doctorate from ECM.
Married to John Paul, she has four children and seven grandchildren.
Rev. Dr. Ed Tatum, Dean of Doctor of Ministry
Alabama native Rev. Dr. Ed Tatum has been an active minister in the Church of God (Holiness) for the past 57 years. He is currently the senior pastor at the Cuba (AL) Church of God (Holiness) where he and his family have lived for more than eighteen years. He has pastored in the Cayman Islands, Kansas, Missouri, West Virginia and Alabama.
Ed was born in the Cayman Islands and has furthered his education in Jamaica and the United States. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Missions degree from Kansas Christian College, where he met his wife, Beverly, of 46 years. They have three adult children and four grandchildren, with the fifth blessing on his way.
Dr. Tatum received a Master’s of Arts in Biblical Studies and later a Doctorate of Ministry degree from Ebenezer Christian Seminary. Throughout his lifetime he has been challenged to gain new knowledge, finding his endeavors to be exciting and exhilarating. Helping others along this pathway at Ebenezer Christian Seminary is now a new mission he finds extremely fulfilling.
Dr. Richard “Doc” Wallace, Dean of Bachelor & Masters Programs,
Assistant Dean of Doctor of Ministry
Doc Wallace has pastored five different churches in Mississippi and Louisiana for more than 36 years and holds many degrees, including a BA in the Bible, an MA in Theology and English and a Doctorate in Christian Counseling. During his long career, he has served as a professor of English at Louisiana College. For Ebenezer Christian Seminary, Doc teaches Biblical courses; he teaches an hour-long Bible study class on the radio called “Wallaceology” and also works as a chaplain counseling hospice patients.
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Other faculty members include:
Jerry Bishop
Corey Fontain
Dr. Greg Massey
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