MICHAEL L. RUFFIN, pastor of The Hill Baptist Church in Augusta, Georgia, is a native of Barnesville, Georgia. He is a graduate of Mercer University and the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (M.Div., Ph.D.). Like Dr. Howard Giddens, he has served as both a pastor and a college professor. He and hiswife Debra, a Mercer alumna, have two children, Joshua and Sara.