Russ Dean
Russ Dean is a native of Blackstone, Virginia, but was raised in Clinton, South Carolina.
He and his wife Amy have served as pastors of Park Road Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
He is a graduate of Clinton High School (’82), Furman University (’86), the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (‘92) and he earned the Doctor of Ministry degree from the Beeson Divinity School of Samford University (’01).
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When he graduated, they moved to Nashville where their first daughter Melanie was born, and Merrill worked as a copywriter at a religious publishing house.
They then moved to Athens, Tennessee, where Lori, their second daughter was born and Merrill worked as an ad representative at the local daily newspaper. After about three years in Athens, the family moved to Rome, Georgia, where she taught English, served as yearbook advisor, and coached debate and several other literary events for 27 years at Armuchee High School.
During that time Merrill also managed a home for her husband and their two daughters, taught an adult Bible study class every Sunday, earned a Master’s Degree in Literature and an Education Specialist Degree in Leadership as well as certification in Gifted education and National Teacher Certification in English and Language Arts.
Since retirement, Merrill has published four novels and one collection of poetry: The Welsh Harp (2012), The Truth About Katie (2013), Our Pebble in the Pond (2016), Becoming Jestina, (2018), Branches of Love (2019).
To sum it all up, Merrill loves to learn new things. She attends several writing conferences each year and is active in Rome Area Writers to hone her writing skills. She is active in Toastmasters, where she seeks to improve her speaking skills to make her book promotions more effective, and she enjoys keeping up with social media and learning effective ways to use it.
She also loves to learn through travel. She and her husband have been to Italy, Wales, England, Scotland, Ireland, Czech Republic, Jordan, Israel, Greece, Spain, and Portugal. Mastering Zoom technology is her latest accomplishment. Her favorite activities include visiting with her two daughters and sons in law and their families, including six grandchildren and one great grandson.
View Davies’ Nurturing Faith books below.
