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MCALLEN—Pastor William “Bill” Blaylock Sutton, 79, of McAllen died from complications of pneumonia on February 2.
A longtime resident of McAllen, he most recently pastored Trinity Baptist Church until his retirement in 2021, helping a 75-year-old church relocate from a landlocked urban site to 10 acres along prime frontage property donated by a deacon while attendance and giving doubled.
Prior to what he considered a “nine-year interim pastorate” at Trinity, Sutton was the longest-tenured pastor of First Baptist Church of McAllen, where he served from 1986 to 2008 and was named pastor emeritus upon his retirement in 2008. Current staff members shared that Sutton was best known for his passions—Vacation Bible School, stewardship, and missions. With hundreds of VBS volunteers, thousands of children have been reached for Christ locally and in mission settings in New Hampshire, Arkansas, Oregon, and beyond.
To help teach God’s economy, Sutton offered members a “Money-Back Guarantee” on their tithe if they experienced regret, hardship, or no blessing. “Unnumbered families now experience the joy of giving taught through this discipline,” shared Steven Gaither, current lead pastor of First McAllen, describing Sutton as “a gifted administrator under whose leadership the church completed his campus vision without debt.”
To this day First McAllen remains among the top givers in the SBC to offerings for international and North American missions.
Other pastorates included North Hopkins Baptist Church in Sulphur Springs, Texas; First Baptist Church of Pine Hills in Orlando, Fla.; and Windsor Park Baptist Church in Fort Smith, Ark.; as well as associate pastor of Dauphin Way Baptist Church in Mobile, Ala.
Sutton often described himself as “tied” to Southern Baptists, explaining that he was born in a Baptist hospital in 1942, grew up in a Baptist parsonage as a preacher’s kid, and eventually attended a Baptist college. He later earned a bachelor’s degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1967, meeting his future wife, Martha, just before his final semester. He received a Th.M. from International Theological Seminary in Orlando in 1982 and D.D. in 1984.
His devotion to Southern Baptist causes remained a priority all his life, leading churches to excel in evangelistic outreach, baptismal growth and missionary endeavors.
Upon hearing of the death of the friend he had known since the 1980s, Southern Baptists of Texas Convention Executive Director Emeritus Jim Richards praised Sutton’s “compassion for those without Christ as evidenced by his personal evangelism and worldwide mission support.” A strong supporter of the formation of the new Texas state convention in 1998 and the second vice-president in 2004 and 2005, Sutton “never wavered through the years,” Richards said.
“Bill was a man of rock-solid convictions about the inerrancy of the Word of God,” he added. “Within the Southern Baptist Convention and in Texas, he stood in the face of a liberal downgrade when many would not. I sorrow at his passing but rejoice in his legacy.”
Nathan Lorick, who succeeded Richards as SBTC’s executive director, said, “Bill Sutton was a longtime friend and supporter of the SBTC. The wisdom and insight he brought to our convention helped lead us to where we are today. We are grateful for his life and ministry and are praying for his family.”
In addition to serving on the SBTC Executive Board from 1998 to 2008, Sutton was known nationally for having served two tenures on the International Mission Board and on the Board of Visitors at Criswell College in Dallas. He helped launch the Southern Baptist Journal in the early 1970s to plead the cause for a return to biblical orthodoxy and rallied pastors between Orlando and Atlanta to jump aboard his church bus in order to serve as messengers at the annual meeting.
Choir members at First McAllen remember closing the evening service by singing, “Now the Day is Over” while Sutton summed up the events and teachings of the day. As he and fellow members prepared to leave for the night, he would add, “‘[We will] fluff our pillow just the way we like it, close our eyes, and know that our Heavenly Father is wide awake.”
Staff recalled hearing that in response, the choir completed the song with, “When the morning wakens, then may I arise pure and fresh and sinless in thy holy eyes.”
Stephen Sutton, Bill’s youngest son, remembered his dad as “totally concerned with sharing the good news with lost people.” He added that his dad also had a reputation for practical advice: “A man in his church came to him once and asked for advice for staying in his marriage. Dad asked him, ‘Can you make it one more day?’ The man said that he could. Dad just left him with that.”
Sutton is survived by his wife of 54 years, Martha; and sons William Blaylock Jr., Richard Bryan, and Stephen Davis. The Suttons additionally have eight grandchildren.
Funeral details will be updated as they are confirmed by the family. For a recent feature on Bill Sutton’s perspective on ministry visit this link: Catching up and looking up with Bill Sutton – TEXAN Online
