Friends & Neighbors: Jim Suddath

By Lara Hayes

The first thing you notice when you meet Jim Suddath, the new senior pastor at Fellowship Bible Church, is that he’s tall. Really, really tall.

At 6 feet 8 inches, you would imagine he probably played basketball at some point in his 49 years, and you’d be right. As an avid player at Woodward Academy in College Park, Suddath was good. So good that he garnered a full scholarship to perennial powerhouse Duke University, where he played all four years.

During his stint at Duke, the team was the national championship runner-up his freshman year and Atlantic Coast Conference champions for two years. He was also a member of Coach Mike Krzyzewski’s first team his senior year in 1980. Four of his teammates went on to have solid NBA careers. However, Suddath was “too skinny and too slow” to advance further. Surprisingly, he isn’t disappointed.

“I just enjoyed and was privileged to play basketball at that high of a level,” said Suddath.

He earned a bachelor’s of arts degree in economics and entertained thoughts of law school or Christian ministry. His first job after graduation was as a basketball and track coach, teacher and dorm parent at his high school alma mater.

“I have high respect for the school,” Suddath said.

He worked at Woodward Academy for four years alongside his wife, Jenny. The couple met at Duke through the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, where she was a member of the field hockey team. The couple married in 1982.

The desire to enter Christian ministry didn’t go away. If anything it slowly grew stronger, until Suddath knew he was being called. He decided to go to seminary and was accepted into Columbia Biblical Seminary in Columbia, S.C. Four years later, he earned a master’s of divinity.

Shortly before he completed his master’s, Suddath had a chance meeting on an airplane with Ben Haden, then the senior pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Chattanooga. It was an emotional time in Suddath’s life.

“My mother was dying of a brain tumor,” he said. “One of the passengers wanted me to switch seats with him, so I did. I heard Ben behind me telling the person next to him about Christ, so I got involved in the conversation. We ended up talking for the whole two-hour flight.”

From that meeting, Suddath landed an interview and job offer to be the church’s youth pastor. He and Jenny moved to Chattanooga after graduation, where Suddath spent five years as youth pastor and seven years as assistant pastor.

“A lot of a youth pastor’s job is delayed gratification, seeing results of planting seeds, speaking the truth and being a role model,” he said. “You have to develop a thick skin. If parents are having trouble with their kid, it’s very easy to blame the youth pastor.”

Throughout his tenure as youth pastor, Suddath built many lifelong bonds with the kids he worked with.

“On down the line, I did some of their weddings, family funerals and premarital counseling,” he said. “The seeds that were sown helped them establish their adult lives.”

The past five years were spent as senior pastor at Evangelical Community Church in Jackson, Tenn. The couple and their children, Joshua, twins Joanna and Julia and youngest daughter Jordan were quite happy there. However, Fellowship Bible Church began pursuing Suddath a few months ago.

“I knew one person in Dalton, Steve Daniels of Flash Graphics,” he said. “Steve is a member of Fellowship and on the pulpit committee. The church received about 560 resumes and only made one cold call, and that was to me. It was all very professional.”

Suddath said yes and assumed the position Aug. 1.

Church members haven’t wasted any time spoiling their new pastor.

“I’m being treated too well,” he groaned. “The food, hospitality and welcome ... everyone has been fabulously gracious.”

Suddath’s immediate goal is to spend a healthy amount of time getting to know and love his congregation. He also wants to finish construction of the church’s second large building, which will house a full gym, multifunctional youth ministry and Sunday school space. The $1.2 million project is two-thirds complete.

His long-term hope is to “grow the church in quantity and quality through speaking the love of Christ and modeling his truth in word and deed.”

Away from the pulpit, Suddath spends a lot of time chasing his kids around at various sporting events. He says he can still play a “mean” game of “H-O-R-S-E,” but his left knee won’t allow him to do much more than that on the basketball court. Instead he plays golf, does woodworking and travels. So far he has been to China, India, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Ecuador, Trinidad, Tobago, Israel and Jordan.

He’s also excited about the prospect of getting to know his Muslim neighbors at the mosque adjacent to the church.

“I strongly believe in the freedom of religion and free exercise of worship,” Suddath said. “It’s one of the founding pillars of our country. It would be great if all the countries in the world would allow the free exercise of worship.”