FOREST HILL, La. (LBM) – Randy Carruth, founder and president of I Am Able Ministries based in Forest Hill, died Friday, Oct. 15, after being on a ventilator for four weeks with COVID, family members shared.
Carruth’s ministry consisted of finding money and volunteers for various missions projects – often church construction or vacation Bible school – across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Ukraine and Honduras. Amiable Baptist Church in Glenmora was his home church since before he made a profession of faith in Jesus as a bashful 10-year-old boy, relatives said. In time Carruth became a Sunday School teacher, youth leader and deacon.
According to his wife, he turned to the ministry after a work-related accident in 1997. Reading missionaries’ prayer requests made him want to help, said Carruth’s wife of 43 years, Savannah NesSmith Carruth. His first short-term missions trip was to Mayan Indians in Mexico. That sparked Carruth’s interest in ministry with and among indigenous people. That interest culminated in Carruth working with other Southern Baptist pastors to start the All Nations Camp Meeting on the grounds of the Coushatta Indian Reservation, about 45 minutes northeast of Lake Charles, Louisiana.
News outlets report that the six-nights-a-week camp meetings have continued for two years as of Oct. 2.
Visitation is set for 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, October 19, and 1 p.m. Wednesday, October 20, at Amiable Baptist Church, 514 Melder Road in Glenmora. The Celebration of Randy Carruth’s life is to take place at 2 p.m. Wednesday, October 20, at Amiable Baptist. Carruth’s funeral will be livestreamed on the All Nations Camp Meeting Facebook page.
Carruth is survived by his wife, Savannah DesSmith Carruth, one daughter, Randalla (Mrs. John) Reynolds of Lafayette; two sons: Shane Carruth and Channing Carruth, both of Forest Hill; and three grandchildren, Cameron, Evie and Beckett.
In lieu of flowers, his family requests that gifts be made to I Am Able Ministries, 202 Richmond Rd, Forest Hill Louisiana 71430.
