CLEVELAND — Focusing on leading students to think beyond north Georgia, Truett-McConnell College opened its new on-campus World Missions Center July 1 with H. Edward Pruitt as its director.

“The founding of Truett-McConnell College’s World Missions Center sends a bold message of Christ’s unconditional love for all mankind, a love which was demonstrated so amazingly through His death and resurrection,” said Truett-McConnell President Emir Caner.

The World Missions Center will function as a vehicle for the planning and implementation of a missions program that will include training, mission trips, and opportunities to serve for TMC students and faculty around the globe.

“The World Mission Center will be the face of Truett-McConnell College to engage the world for missions,” said Pruitt. “The focus of the center will be on spreading the gospel of Christ globally.”

Pruitt stated the center will accomplish as much through academics, mobilization, research, and relationships. Students will experience mission classes and training in preparation for short-term mission trips as well as gather global data on the status of the Church in partnering with other SBC churches in preparation for missions.

Pruitt comes to Truett-McConnell from a position as associate director of The Center for Great Commission Studies at Southeastern Seminary, a position he has held for the past 12 years. His duties there included promotion, planning, and leading international mission trips to Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.

His responsibilities at Southeastern also included conducting training sessions to equip college and seminary students for short-term evangelism and inter-cultural mission experiences. He has worked extensively with missionaries and national researchers in 68 countries.

In addition to his duties as World Missions Center director, Pruitt will be serving as associate professor of Christian Studies, specializing in teaching evangelism and missions courses and serving as leader of a missions concentration within the Bachelor of Christian Studies degree program.

He holds a Master of Divinity from Southeastern Seminary and a Master of Theology in Missiology from the University of South Africa and is currently enrolled in the Doctor of Theology program at the University of South Africa in Pretoria.

Pruitt is the co-author, along with Caner, of two books: “The Costly Call: Modern-Day Stories of Muslims Who Found Jesus,” and “The Costly Call 2: The Untold Story.”