MOBILE, Ala. – Dr. Ed Litton, president of the Southern Baptist Convention and senior pastor of Redemption Church in Saraland, Alabama, will deliver the commencement address at the University of Mobile on Saturday, May 7.
More than 300 graduates will be awarded bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in an outdoor ceremony on the Dr. Fred and Sue Lackey Great Commission Lawn. The ceremony will begin promptly at 10 a.m., and the audience is encouraged to arrive early.
For graduation details and to watch a live-stream of the ceremony, go to umobile.edu/graduation. In case of inclement weather, the graduation venue is Cottage Hill Baptist Church, 4255 Cottage Hill Road. Weather updates will be made on official University of Mobile social media accounts and on umobile.edu/graduation.
Dr. Ed Litton was born in Kingsport, Tennessee. He earned a Bachelor of Arts from Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Arizona; a Master of Divinity from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas; and a Doctor of Ministry from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.
He served as a home missionary appointed to work in the evangelism office of the Arizona Southern Baptist Convention. From there, he and his wife, Tammy, moved to Tucson and founded Mountain View Baptist Church. In 1994, almost seven years after that work had been established, God led Dr. Litton to First Baptist North Mobile, now Redemption Church.
In 2007, Ed and his family, as well as the entire church family, suffered a devastating loss when Tammy was suddenly killed in an automobile accident. Several years later, he married Kathy Ferguson, a pastor’s wife who had also lost her spouse in a similar accident. Kathy serves as director of planter spouse development at the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. The couple each has three children from their first marriages.
Dr. Litton had come to a church in Alabama with a great vision. That vision continued to expand with a mission of reaching more people and making disciples through church planting and the expansion of multiple locations. In September of 2015, the church relaunched as a new congregation called Redemption Church.
Today, Redemption is one church in two locations, both in North and West Mobile. Redemption has helped plant churches in New York City; Cleveland, Ohio; Denver, Colorado; Tucson, Arizona; Leesburg, Virginia; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Northern Virginia, and Las Vegas. In responding to the Great Commission, Redemption Church is looking to plant more gospel-believing churches in North America.
The University of Mobile is a Christ-centered university with a vision of “Higher Education for a Higher Purpose,” founded to honor God by equipping students for their future professions in an environment where they are known.
About the University of Mobile
The University of Mobile is a Christ-centered university offering on-campus and online bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in over 75 academic programs. Founded in 1961, the University of Mobile is affiliated with the Alabama Baptist State Convention and is located 10 miles north of Mobile, Alabama on a campus of over 880 acres.
For information about the University of Mobile, areas of study, admissions and more, visit umobile.edu, connect with UM on social media @univofmobile, or call Enrollment Services at 1.800.WIN.RAMS or 251.442.2222.
Kathy Dean uses her passion for storytelling and “playing with words” to share the stories of people, place and purpose that make the University of Mobile unique. As associate vice president for university communications, she manages media relations, edits the TorchLight alumni magazine, and oversees university communications. A former award-winning journalist, she is a two-time recipient of the Baptist Communicators Association grand prize for feature writing. Kathy and her husband, Chuck, live with three extremely loud miniature schnauzers.