RANDY VAILMONT - CHURCH MINISTRIES
Pastor discovers power of trusting God at Southeastern

It was at Southeastern that mega-church pastor Randy Valimont learned that there is one thing greater than faith: trust.

It was faith that brought Randy Valimont to Southeastern in 1978 with $600 in his pocket and a $1,200 tuition bill. He learned about trust on the eve of his first final exam when the other $600 he desperately needed had not surfaced.

God had given Valimont the calling to preach, and he knew Southeastern was where preachers went to prepare themselves. He chose the church ministries program here because he wanted to become a youth pastor.

As Valimont stood on the shore of Lake Bonny staring at the stars on the eve of that first final exam, he wondered why the $600 he needed hadn't arrived. He remembered how he had told everyone that God had sent him to Southeastern. He worried about returning home and being labeled a failure.

But then he heard God say, “Don’t you think if I can put those stars in place, I can take care of your life?”

About an hour before the final, Valimont checked his mailbox and found a check for $680 that an uncle had sent.

“That was a big faith lesson,” Valimont says.

That lesson taught him that there is one thing greater than faith: trust.

“‘Trust’ says to God, ‘I don’t know what you’re doing, but I know you love me, and I trust you in my life,’” Valimont says.

Faith and trust are present “every day, and every minute of every day” that Valimont serves as head pastor of First Assembly of God, Griffin, in Griffin, Georgia.

This South Carolina native learned more than spiritual lessons while at Southeastern. The collection of courses in the church ministries program helped Valimont fine-tune his ability to process information, solve problems, and ask the right questions.

In his theology courses, Valimont studied scripture and subjects such as the existence of God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit. He learned of the Trinity’s attributes and works. Church ministries courses taught Valimont basic techniques to successfully counsel people during crises, sickness and grief, and to accurately apply biblical teachings to specific situations. Courses that focused on preaching and biblical interpretation taught Valimont the art of constructing and illustrating sermons and applying biblical texts to a modern message.

Valimont developed confidence and leadership skills when he served as a resident advisor and devotional leader in his residence hall. These experiences also helped him learn to solve problems and work with different personality types, he says.

When Valimont graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 1981, he felt prepared and equipped to fulfill his calling, he says. Valimont’s first job was as a youth minister in Springdale, Arkansas. Three years later, he took a senior pastor position at a church in Toccoa, Georgia, where he stayed nearly 10 years and watched the congregation grow from 35 to about 400 members.

Valimont moved on to First Assembly in Griffin on August 1, 1993. Since then, attendance has grown from about 450 congregants per week to between 3,500 and 3,800 per week.

It goes without saying that the credit for Valimont’s success goes to God. But the spiritual and practical lessons God orchestrated in Valimont's life while at Southeastern enhanced the trajectory of his career as a pastor.

In addition to those powerful lessons, Valimont found love at Southeastern. He married his wife, Jelly, who earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education, after their junior year. They have three children. Their daughter, Danielle, enrolled at Southeastern in 2004.

“(Southeastern is) a great place to be,” Valimont says. “There is no place like it in the nation.”