Tim and Rachael Suddarth

Missionary Profile

Ministry Focus

Tim spent six years in ministry with the Baptist Student Union at Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri. While there, Tim and Rachael helped lead the ministry through a transition from a small inward-focused ministry to a growing evangelistic ministry that had a significant impact on the campus community. Missions Door appointed Tim to campus ministry in May 2002 as part of a ministry partnership between Missions Door and Truman Baptist Student Union. With friends from Truman, Tim and Rachael moved to Tucson, Arizona, to launch a campus-focused community of faith called Damascus Road. After serving for five years in Tucson, Tim and Rachael started a new campus-focused community of faith on the Augustana College campus in Rock Island, Illinois.

Believing that universities are the training ground for the future leaders of our world, Tim now maximizes his impact by training a new generation of campus ministers to reach more students than he ever could alone. Through new staff training, theological education, large-scale training events and continuing education, he strives to equip Missions Door ministers to be fully skilled, knowledgeable, and present in the lives of college students on campuses across the continent.


Faith Story

Tim grew up in a Christian home and accepted Christ at an early age. His faith became real to him during college where he developed gifts in leadership, teaching and administration while serving in campus ministry. He enjoys creating new things, playing board games, drinking hot chocolate and coffee, and engaging in conversations about culture, faith and friendship.

Rachael was also raised in a Christian home. Her role as a professor at St. Ambrose University provides the opportunity to show God's grace, care, and love to students and to use her unique skill set to help other faculty as the director of the Center for Teaching Excellence. She brings those same skills to crafting a Sunday school classroom experience for kids with neurodiversities and as a confirmation leader with junior high students. She uses her unique place in life (the parent of tweens/teens) to lead a small group for parents of tweens/teens and a moms of teens/tweens social group.

Family

Tim and Rachael married in August of 2002 and have three boys: Eli, Ian, and Bigby. They enjoy the gift of exploring faith through the minds of their children as they help them grow into young men of faith, compassion, and integrity. Most days, the boys can be found reading, playing board games, and discussing the best ways to utilize cheese at every meal.

Education

Tim has a M.A. in Biblical Leadership from Phoenix Seminary (Phoenix, AZ).

Rachael has a B.S. in Communication Disorders and an M.A. in Communication Disorders, both from Truman State University (Kirksville, MO) and a Ph.D. in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences from the University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ).

 

 

  • WAYS TO SUPPORT

    Tim and Rachael by making a financial donation using a Credit Card or by Direct Debit (ACH). 

Learn more about where this ministry happens

In colorful communities and along scenic highways, diverse people and landscapes span coast to coast

Iconic American traditions include Thanksgiving dinner, jazz music and the Super Bowl. They meld with eclectic examples of multicultural heritage: numerous local Chinatowns, family-owned taquerias and even cowboy boots, which originated among the nomadic Huns of eastern Europe.

The nation's landscape shows just as many contrasts — sandy beaches and rocky coastlines, open plains and vast deserts, rugged mountains and winding canyons, and abundant rivers and lakes.

The ideals of life and liberty that founded the United States have made the country one of the world's most prosperous, though not without dark chapters and present troubles. Crime, discrimination and ethics violations make regular headlines, and many people live below the national poverty level.

Families view education as essential to the pursuit of happiness, if not also a path to wealth and power for the most ambitious. Yet Americans also demonstrate a charitable spirit of generosity toward neighbors and nations in need.

Freedom of religion grants opportunity for all faiths, but Christianity holds particular influence in country's history and daily life.

Your participation with Missions Door supports ministry in the United States among college students, including many international students, in collaboration local churches. It also enables social outreach, church planting and leadership development in a wide variety of communities — among Native Americans and other cultural groups, and in urban and suburban settings where growing and changing demographics create new opportunities for the Gospel.

Cultural Snapshot

Aside from the Native American, Native Hawaiian and Native Alaskan populations, nearly all Americans and their ancestors immigrated to the United States.

Faith Fact

In a 2013 survey, 56% of Americans said that religion played a "very important role in their lives” — a larger number than any other wealthy nation.

Country Profile

Population: 320 million

Major Religions: 47% Protestant, 23% unaffiliated, 21% Catholic, 6% other

Languages: 82% English, 11% Spanish, various others

Literacy: 99%

Poverty: 16%

 

 

Ministry service area:
Campus Ambassadors

Ministry location:
Iowa, United States