As one would expect, Brad Eubank’s position as senior pastor at Petal First Baptist Church entails not only dedication to the church, but also steady interaction with the community throughout the Friendly City.
But many in Petal would agree that Eubank has gone far and above his pastoral duties, whether that be his work with the Petal School District and the Petal Excel By 5 Coalition, or helping Mt. Vernon Baptist church with cleanup efforts after two tornadoes. For those efforts – and many others like them – Eubank was honored with the prestigious Bobby Runnels Leadership Award, presented last week during the Petal Area Chamber of Commerce Annual Banquet.
“When you look at the list of (previous winners), I wonder how in the world I got on the list,” Eubank said. “There are some amazing people on that list who have impacted Petal for a lot of years, and just looking back at last year’s list, I don’t think I’m even in the realm of those kind of people.
“But I’m completely honored and humbled, by all means. I was blown away by it, and very honored that I would even be considered with a lot of people who were on that list prior to my getting the award.”
In addition to his 30 years in ministry, Eubank serves on the Hope Clinic Advisory Board, of which he was a founding member. He also works on the Board of Ministerial Aid for the Mississippi Baptist Convention, where he serves on the executive committee, and is a chaplain for the Petal Fire Department.
He is also on the Petal Excel By 5 Coalition and the Petal Primary School Shared Decision Group.
“It’s an incredible opportunity to impact peoples’ lives, and obviously my ultimate goal is to be able to share the Gospel with folks and let them know how important the Lord is and how much he loves them,” Eubank said. “One of the best ways we can do that is to serve people and try to meet physical needs.
“Jesus said in Matthew Chapter 25 that when you have fed the poor, you visit the sick in hospitals, and given a cup of cold water in my name, you’ve done it unto me. So I feel one of the best ways we can do that, is to serve our communities and avenues that we get to do on a regular basis.”
The Bobby Runnels Leadership Award is given to someone who serves the community through church, family, school, civic clubs or the chamber, and the name of the recipient is kept a secret until each year’s banquet. The award is named for Bobby Runnels, who served on Petal’s first elected board of aldermen and as mayor pro tem while then-mayor Jack Gay served in Desert Storm.
Previous winners include Deborah Reynolds, Ione Bond, Nadine Coleman and Ken Ribbelin.
“(Eubank’s efforts) all indicate his desire and his willingness to help everybody in our city,” said Valerie Wilson, executive director of the Petal Area Chamber of Commerce. “So he is truly what we consider a model of what we wanted the Bobby Runnels Award to look like.”
But Eubank is quick to point out that the honor does not belong to him alone.
“The truth is, it’s not really about me – it’s about the people in my church and the people that I get to work with,” he said. “It’s really the other people behind the scenes that do so much of the work.”
In addition to the Bobby Runnels Leadership Award, two other awards were presented at the banquet: Firefighter of the Year, which went to Austin Bolan of the Petal Fire Department, and Police Officer of the Year, which went to Ryan Williams of the Petal Police Department.
“Of course, we treasure and appreciate what every single firefighter and police officer does every day for our community, and if we could give an award to each and every one of them we certainly would do that,” Wilson said. “But as with anybody, there are certain individuals who step up and are recognized, not just by the Chamber of Commerce, but by their peers – the people they work with on a daily basis.
“And that’s how these individuals are chosen. They have, on a daily basis, shown their leadership skills and their value to our community. So we always are more than willing and happy to present them with an award.”
The featured entertainment at the banquet was comedian Brent Reed, who brings his show to locations around the United States and Canada.
“We had great attendance; it was a packed house with good entertainment,” Wilson said. “We had a lot of fun with (Reed); he was able to get several of our audience members up on stage, which is always fun.
“They were great sports, and we all enjoyed them participating as part of the entertainment for the evening. All in all, it was just a fun time to reflect and to honor those in our community that have done so much for us.”
