Johna Rudzin

My love for nature really drove my passion for my career but it also helps to connect the creation with my Creator. All parts of what I do as a career and what drives me to pursue it each day (as well as the amazement of nature) connect back to God and His love for us through His Creation. It's hard for me not to see how all things in nature are intricately and beautifully woven together by His hand. I have seen it up close in the eye of a hurricane, through hiking Yosemite and Kings Canyon, and in diving coral reefs in the Florida Keys. I have no doubt that I wouldn't be blessed with the career I have and the skills I have if it wasn't for Him creating me for a purpose, and that purpose is to love people well as Jesus did and point people to God's grace in Christ through the spiritual gift of teaching that He has blessed me with. I have been a Christian since the young age of 11 but I went through many valleys of my life where I had turned away from Jesus. It wasn't until my father was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer that I can running back for dear life. It was then the college ministry at First Baptist of Tallahassee was there for me. I grew heavily in my faith in God's promises in these times. It was the solid rock of Christ that got me through his death and clinging on to God's promise through Jesus that I would see my dad again. Another large spiritual growing time for me was during my Ph.D. graduation and move out to California. It was there by no accident that God placed us in an amazing church that had my husband and I grow in our faith during the unsteady times of job transitions and COVID. I learned in those times to heavily rely on His plan and that His plans for us are good. His plans WERE good and we are now here in Starkville, connected to an amazing group of believers at a local church and I have recently had the opportunity to not only see how God can use me to reach people through my position but also serve as a "fill in" for my local church's college group. I am so excited to see what God has in store during this season of life! If you want to know more about God and his unfailing love for you, click here

My Life

Favorite Quote

"Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you” - Jesus in Matthew 10:20

My undergrad alma mater

Florida State University