REV. DALTON RUSHING

SENIOR PASTOR

The Rev. Dalton Rushing is Senior Pastor (and Chief Troublemaker) of Decatur First United Methodist Church, where he has served since 2017. Originally from Memphis, Tennessee, Dalton holds degrees from Memphis University School, Birmingham-Southern College, and the Candler School of Theology at Emory University. In addition to his service at Decatur First, Dalton serves as an ordination candidacy mentor, an associate secretary of the annual conference, a teaching supervisor in the Contextual Education program at the Candler School of Theology, and a member of the executive committee of North Georgia Conference Board of Ordained Ministry, where he chairs the Committee on Extension Ministry. Dalton is 3 Practice Circle Referee, a member of the North Georgia delegation to the General and Jurisdictional Conferences of the United Methodist Church, and a contributor to the Methodist Book of Daily Prayer and the upcoming Abingdon Preaching Annual 2025. He is a past member of the board of directors for Decatur Cooperative Ministry and the former interim host of the nationally syndicated Day1 weekly radio program. Dalton is passionate about helping people find their calling from God, a calling which the theologian Frederick Buechner describes as "the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet."

Dalton’s wife Stacey is also an ordained elder, serving as executive director of the Housing and Homeless Council of the North Georgia Conference. They have two daughters who keep them busy and happy. Dalton’s hobbies include gardening and writing, and he makes the best barbecue in all the world.