Article Preview

Police major leaving EPD to enter ministry

By Robert Sorrell

Major Rusty Verran of the Elizabethton Police Department is dropping his title and picking up a new one, Associate Pastor at Chinquapin Grove Baptist Church.

The 24-year veteran and second-in-command at the EPD has turned in his resignation and will be leaving next week to join the ministry.

“In 1997, Christ changed my life,” Verran said.

The police officer was working nightshift on patrol in Elizabethton and was listening to a new radio station, WCQR, a Christian format station.

“I heard a song called ‘Feel the Nails’ by Mr. Ray Boltz,” Verran explained. “The Holy Spirit began working on my heart that night and I realized that I needed to be saved.”