VIDALIA — After six years as a public servant, Concordia Parish Police Jury Secretary Russell Wagoner is leaving his job for a higher calling.

Wagoner was recently called by Cliff Temple Baptist Church in Kingston to be their pastor, and after three months, the church decided to ask him to assume the position full-time.

“I have been in the ministry about 17 years,” Wagoner said. “Up until now, I had done fill-in work and pulpit supply, so this will be my first full-time church.”

Wagoner said he is excited about becoming a full-time pastor.

“It has been a dream of mine for a long time,” he said.

Wagoner will begin full-time work at Cliff Temple Jan. 1, but he will begin to take off his remaining vacation days with the police jury sometime around Dec. 15, he said.

“I hate to leave my job here but I know this is where God wants me to go,” he said. “I think I would have gone this way even if the church wouldn’t have been able to offer me full-time.”

Though he has been secretary — an appointed position — since October 2001, Wagoner previously served as a police juror from 1984 until 1993.

Even though he is leaving his job, Wagoner will not be leaving the area, he said.

Police Jury Treasurer Hazel Dickenson will assume acting secretary duties for the time being and the jury will also do some inner-office moving around to accommodate the empty slot for the time being, Police Jury President Melvin Ferrington said.

The jury appreciates the work Wagoner has done, Ferrington said.

“We’re going to miss Russell,” he said. “He has done a good job.”