The Board of General Superintendents, Church of the Nazarene, is pleased to announce the election of Scott Rainey as global director of Sunday School and Discipleship Ministries International (SDMI), effective 1 August 2018.

Rainey currently serves as field strategy coordinator for the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Field on the Eurasia Region. He and his family will relocate to the Kansas City area in the U.S.

Rainey replaces Woodie Stevens, who served as global SDMI director from 2006 to 2018.

An ordained elder in the Church of the Nazarene, Rainey served as a pastor in Houston, Texas (Lead Pastor of Living Word Church of the Nazarene), Fort Wayne, Indiana (Minister of Evangelism and Discipleship at Grace Point and Lake Avenue Churches of the Nazarene), and Kansas City, Missouri (Assistant Minister of Outreach and Evangelism at KC First Church of the Nazarene).

In January 2012, Scott, his wife, Jenni, and their two young daughters, Bekah and Sarah, became missionaries in the CIS Field (former Soviet Union). He was appointed strategy coordinator for the field in 2014.

As CIS field strategy coordinator, Rainey oversaw the work of the church in eight countries. He has helped bring unity to field leadership and implemented a vision and strategy that saw five new churches in five different countries in 2016. In the past three years, the church has also been present in two new former Soviet countries, Belarus and Georgia. 

"We are blessed to have Dr. Scott Rainey as the new global SDMI director,” said Gustavo A. Crocker, BGS chair. “He has a proven record of mobilizing the church for evangelism and discipleship from a global perspective. Because of his cutting-edge ministry in the U.S., he understands the church in the post-Christian West, while his experience as a missionary gives him a unique ability to work in diverse contexts. The Board of General Superintendents is pleased with Dr. Rainey's election."

Rainey is a graduate of Olivet Nazarene University, Nazarene Theological Seminary, and Houston Graduate School of Theology, where he earned a Doctor of Ministry degree with an emphasis in church dynamics.

"It has been a joy for our family to live and serve Jesus with the wonderful people of the Commonwealth of Independent States for the last six years,” Rainey said. “They have loved us, been patient with us, and taught us so much. I am thankful for God’s call, and humbled by the church’s confidence, to now serve as the global director of SDMI. I am excited and challenged by the enormous task of helping every child, youth, and adult in the Church of the Nazarene participate in their God-given responsibility to make disciples who make disciples! After all, our church exists 'to make Christlike disciples in the nations!'"

The BGS requests prayer for the Rainey family, SDMI, and the church as they move forward together to carry out the Church of the Nazarene’s mission.

Related: USA/Canada SDMI Leadership Conference quickly approaching