About Parson’s Porch

It all started when…

…in 1989, Parson’s Porch & Company began as an idea of its founder and publisher, David Russell Tullock.  While a doctoral student at Southern Seminary, two professors had a great influence on the direction his ministry would take. Two conversations, with two professors, in two different settings, focused on an idea he has since developed into Parson’s Porch.

When determining his research area for his D. Min. Project, Dr. David Garland, his major professor, suggested that he choose a topic that would be practical not only for a degree but also for a ministry for years to come.  That suggestion led to a research project titled, “Training Lay Persons for a Grief Ministry at First Baptist Church of Rossville, Georgia.” 

Although he completed his degree in 1991, the paradigm of grief continued to be developed to include people’s emotional reactions to any trouble, including loss of innocence, jobs, loved ones, status, and especially those who are traumatized by violence, poverty, disease or other life circumstances, including bad luck and poor choices.

At another time, while talking to Dr. Bill Leonard while a number of his former students were opining about our future as Baptist pastors, he stated the obvious.  “If you are going to survive as a Baptist pastor, you have two choices: “Either, change your theology and ethics and be a fundamentalist, or change your locus and keep your theology and ethics to keep your soul.” 

Combining Garland’s direction with Leonard’s advice, he chose to keep his theology and ethics and to keep his soul.   To quote Robert Frost, “It has made all the difference.”

Although the groundwork for Parson’s Porch was laid for 15 years, it was officially organized in 2004 as Parson’s Porch, Inc. and recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit organization and registered as a corporation by the State of Tennessee.  His Baptist conscience could not allow him to continue as a nonprofit, so in 2010, Parson's Porch suspended its 501 (c) 3 status and dissolved the corporation. We no longer solicit donations. or receive government support. 

Today, Parson’s Porch & Company flourishes, serving a wide range of individuals in the surrounding village with innovative approaches and restorative solutions for people in trouble.  The Company’s major work is with the Church Street Kitchen which serves hot meals to the homeless each day. We subsidize The Kitchen from the profits from publishing books. 

In 2010, and after 35 years as a professional pastor, David went private with his gifts and skills to turn books into bread. He now enjoys publishing and all it entails.