Dr. Charles Surrett - Pastor Emeritus

Pastor Emeritus Dr. Charles Surrett faithfully served the Lord in full time ministry from 1967 until his retirement from Emmanuel in 2012. He holds a B.A. degree from Pillsbury Baptist Bible College. He earned M.R.E., M.Div., and D.Min. degrees from Central Baptist Theological Seminary. Dr. Surrett spent his entire ministry serving in Independent Baptist Churches. He worked as a youth pastor for ten years and then as a senior pastor for thirty-four years.  He spent twenty of those years as Senior Pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Kings Mountain.

In addition to his ministry at Emmanuel, Dr. Surrett served simultaneously on the faculty of Ambassador Baptist College. He taught Bible classes and pastoral courses, including homiletics and expository preaching, for twenty-eight years. He further held positions of Academic Dean and Assistant to the President.

Of equal note, he authored several books, including Which Greek Text? The book is a layman-oriented defense of the Textus Receptus, the Greek text from which the Kings James Version was translated. 

Dr. Surrett faithfully pastored for over twenty years at Emmanuel.   His wife, Rosanne, served alongside him throughout his ministry. She taught at Ambassador Baptist College, served the ladies at Emmanuel in women’s ministries and Sunday school, and directed Christmas cantatas. They were married for nearly 59 years when she went home to be with the Savior she loved in 2024. They have five children, twenty grandchildren, and fourteen great-grandchildren.