Stephen N. Rummage has been elected to lead the Florida Baptist State Convention as executive director-treasurer.
The senior pastor of Quail Springs Baptist Church in Oklahoma City since 2019, Rummage was tapped by the Florida Baptist State Board of Missions during its July 18 meeting at the Baptist building in Jacksonville. He will assume his new role effective Aug. 17.
Search committee chairperson Jeff Robinson, lead pastor of Grace Fellowship: A Church for All Nations, described a search process that was marked by unity and God’s leadership.
Mike Orr, president of the Florida Baptist State Convention and senior pastor of First Baptist Church Chipley, who served as an ex officio member of the search team, agreed. Orr said, “The Spirit of God led us to Stephen Rummage with such incredible unity. It was a supernatural work. God’s hand was in the process.”
No stranger to Florida
Rummage, 55, is no stranger to Florida Baptists, serving as senior pastor of Bell Shoals Church in Brandon from 2009–2019. Under his leadership, the church started four new campuses in addition to the original campus and baptized 444 people in 2017.
During his season of ministry in the Florida Baptist State Convention, Rummage served as state convention president from 2016–2018. In 2012, he was president of the Florida Baptist Pastors Conference, and from 2012–2014, he was chair of Florida Baptists’ Committee on Order of Business.
Beyond serving in Florida, Rummage served as co-pastor of Hickory Grove Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, from 2004–2009, and he served as pastor or interim pastor at other churches in North Carolina and Louisiana.
Rummage also has served actively in denominational life. In 2024, he was president of the Southern Baptist Convention Pastors’ Conference. From 2016–2018, he served as chair of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee, where he served as a member for two terms (2006–2009, 2013–2019). Additionally, since 1996, Rummage has been a professor of preaching at various Southern Baptist seminaries.
Rummage’s daily teaching broadcast, “Moving Forward,” airs on more than 500 radio stations nationwide. He has authored seven books and preached in 15 countries.
He holds a doctor of philosophy in preaching from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary; a master of divinity with Biblical Languages from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina, and a bachelor of arts in communication studies from University of North Carolina in Greensboro.
‘Absolutely called’
He and his wife, Michele, have been married and in ministry together since 1991. They have one son, Joshua, a pharmacist who lives in Brandon with his wife, Morgan.
In remarks to the State Board of Missions, Rummage said that he “is overwhelmed by this opportunity and responsibility” but that he feels “absolutely called to this assignment and I know God has led us to where we are today” to serve Florida Baptists as executive director-treasurer. “God’s sufficiency is all I need” in this transition, he said.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Margaret Colson and originally published by the Florida Baptist Convention.
