Article By Joyce Glover
Providence Baptist Church of Cookeville has called Melissa M. Roysdon of
Smithville as co-pastor for church ministries. She will serve with Dr. Jim
Rennell, who has pastored the church since August 2000. Roysdon is a graduate of
Tennessee Tech University (1991) and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in
Louisville, Kentucky (1994). Prior to this call, she has served as the associate
pastor of the church. Her responsibilities at Providence will include preaching,
teaching, and sharing in a music ministry.
Roysdon has an extensive background and endorsement in teaching English as a
second language and is currently working as an ESOL teacher for the Dekalb
County School system. She currently is a member of Tennessee Teachers of English
for Speakers of Other Languages and serves on the Tennessee State Department of
Education’s ESL Task Force.
Her ministry experience includes serving as youth and children’s minister
at Yorktown Baptist Church in Louisville. She also worked with homebound HIV and
AIDS patients and as a Family Court advocate with the Center for Women and
Families in Louisville. The Yorktown church ordained her to the Gospel ministry.
She currently is serving as a member of the Coordinating Council for the
Tennessee Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.
As a member and past president of the Smithville Women’s Club she works to
raise monies for scholarships for young women, the Foster Children’s Fund, and
the Smithville Angel Tree. She has served as a member of the Dekalb County
Juvenile Court Planning and Prevention Board and the Dekalb Cares Coalition.
Roysdon lives in Smithville with her husband Tony, a nurse with Elk Valley
Health Services
