Each Friday, Baptist Women in Ministry introduces an amazing woman minister, and today we are pleased to introduce you to Prissy Tunnell.
Prissy, tell us about your current ministry role.
I am the minister of music and children at North Broad Baptist Church in Rome, Georgia, and have been here for three years.
Where all have you served in the past?
My ministry has taken me from Florida to Texas to Vietnam to Costa Rica back to Texas to Georgia to North Carolina and back again to Georgia, my home state.
The positions that I have held include: weekday education director, assistant minister of music, minister of music, minister to children and families, minister of music and senior adults, minister of faith development, minister of music and children, home missionary, foreign missionary, and seminary professor.
I have been teased about not being able to hold down a job, but my answer has always been, “I have had the same boss, worked for the same company, but been assigned to many different departments with many different supervisors.”
What do you love best about your current ministry role?
I am now in a smaller church than I have served in a number of years, which has allowed me to know all of the membership in a more personal way. North Broad supports my ministry in wonderful ways and allows me the opportunity to try new things and to dream big.
Who was the first woman minister you ever met?
Her name is Loraine Lumpkin. She did not have all of the degrees, credentials, or titles that today’s world deem necessary. She was a home missionary and on the staff of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas. Her title was not minister, but her passion certainly was. Even today I have her ear, and she is willing to listen and advise at the age of ninety-seven.
What is the best ministry advice you have ever received?
You are free to be and do whatever God has called you to be and do, which is my paraphrase of Ephesians 4:15-16: “ Speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” Also my life verse is “May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord my strength and my redeemer.” Psalm 19:1
On September 7, 2014, North Broad Baptist Church held a beautiful celebration to honor Prissy’s 50th anniversary in ministry. Prissy is pictured above at that celebration with all her grandchildren.