The ability to serve “in fellowship, stewardship and partnership” has been the most rewarding aspect of the Choctaw Baptist Association director of missions position for Franklin McLelland, who is retiring Dec. 31.
A Meridian, Miss., native, McLelland graduated from Southeast Lauderdale High School in Meridian and Clarke Memorial College in Newton, Miss. He served as pastor of Calvary Baptist Church, Butler; Emmanuel Baptist Church, Meridian, and Big Creek Baptist Church, Waynesboro, both in Mississippi. In 1997, McLelland accepted the director of missions position and has served faithfully in that capacity for 17 years.
“It has been my desire to do what I feel the Lord requires of us as found in His Word and that is to: walk humbly, care deeply, respond kindly, love unconditionally, believe strongly, speak wisely, stand courageously, minister abundantly, dwell peacefully, rejoice constantly, finish victoriously and live eternally with Him,” he said.
He and his wife, Towanda, have two children, three grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
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