In CapMin Weekly Bible Study, Dr. Randy Covington Teaches Alaska Leaders about Biblical Leaders

If a heart for evangelism and a life spent in fruitful ministry aren’t enough, the commute alone proves that Dr. Randy Covington is committed to ministering to political leaders.

Every week, beginning in the dead of winter and extending into spring, Dr. Randy Covington travels 850 miles from his home in Anchorage to the State Capitol Building in Juneau where he leads a discipleship Bible study to Alaska’s legislators.

Juneau is one of two U.S. state Capitols not accessible to the rest of the state by roads; the other is the Hawaii State Capitol in Honolulu on the island of Oahu. A traveler can only get to Juneau by boat or plane, and so every week Dr. Covington takes a two-hour one-way plane ride to lead the Bible study.

On the way in, he picks up catered boxed breakfasts. And he does all of this before the Bible study begins at 7 a.m.

The legislature meets January through May and Dr. Covington has just completed his second year teaching legislators about biblical leaders. He began in the Old Testament with Abraham, Moses, Noah, and David and moved into New Testament leaders such as Paul, John, Barnabas, and Peter.

“Each week we choose a different person and we examine his life, the good things he did, the bad decisions he made,” Dr. Covington said. “For example, Solomon is the wisest man who ever lived, but he brought concubines into his palace and allowed them to bring in their idols and worship them. Was that wise? No, that was his downfall.”

“That’s a lesson for all of us. Even Moses made bad decisions. We look at good examples to emulate and bad examples so we don’t make the same mistakes.”

“And then, of course, we look the perfect leadership of Jesus.”

“Even though Jesus was the Son of God and sinless, He was a servant. He could have had anything and deserved to have the greatest recognition, but He was not in the world to be recognized, He was there to serve.”

The response to the teaching has been positive. “So often I hear, ‘This is such a wonderful way to begin my day. I come in, we pray, we’re in the Word of God, I’m excited about what I’ve learned, and then I go into my office at 8 a.m. and I’m energized!’”

The study is well attended with about 20 regular participants, a mix of legislators, Capitol staff, aides, and the heads of state agencies. These people had already been meeting for the weekly Alaska Prayer Caucus which concentrated on prayer and devotions. After learning about Capitol Ministries from President Ralph Drollinger, the group’s sponsor, Rep. George Rauscher, D-29, Sutton, invited Dr. Covington to join the prayer group and add the Bible study.

Dr. Covington said one of his main objectives is to build and strengthen faith and to help believers understand that the decisions they make should be biblically based.

“I pray that through more exposure to God’s Word, those who do not have a relationship with Christ will come to have one, and I hope to help those who are already believers to dig deeper in the Scriptures and base their decisions on the truth that we find in God’s Word.”

Dr. Covington has a heart for evangelism, is a skilled teacher, and has devoted his life to Christian ministry.

He and his wife Robin were missionaries with the International Mission board (IBM) for 22 years. The couple served in Greece and in Russia where they planted churches, worked in church development, and in evangelism with 26 tribes of indigenous reindeer herders.

Dr. Covington has also served as associate pastor associate pastor at First Baptist Church in Wasilla. The Covingtons have two adult children and four grandchildren.

Dr. Covington earned a bachelor’s degree in music from Wayland Baptist University. He earned a master’s degree in religious education and a PhD in administration from the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Currently, Dr. Covington is the Executive director/treasurer of the Alaska Baptist Convention, a position he has held since 2016.

The 7 a.m. start of the Legislative Bible Study requires Dr. Covington to travel to Juneau the night before, which can be an issue due to scheduling conflicts. Additionally, Alaska winters come with severe weather and planes can be grounded.

“Last year I flew down on Wednesday afternoons so I could spend the night and be at the Bible study by 7 a.m. the next morning,” he said. “Then turn around on Thursdays and fly back. I did that for most of the Session, which was difficult sometimes with travel from my job, but we got off to a really good start.”

This year, to provide continuity on those days that Dr. Covington is unable to lead the study, he has been partnering with Pastor Jonathan Fisher who lives in the Juneau area. Pastor Fisher is well known in the Capitol, having given the invocation prayer in both chambers.

“Many legislators knew who he was and so the couple of times I had to miss, so I recruited him to fill in for me,” Dr. Covington said. “I didn’t want to lose the momentum with the series I was teaching.”

In the future, Pastor Fisher may become Dr. Covington’s permanent ministry partner which fits well with CapMin’s newly established two-by-two Paul and Timothy ministry model to double-team state legislative ministries. As is required of all CapMin ministry leaders, Pastor Fisher would attend and successfully complete CapMin’s four days of instruction and training.

In the meantime, the arrangement is working well.

Dr. Covington hopes that through the Bible-study ministry, many will come to know Christ and those who already do will grow deeper in their faith.

“My prayer is that before they make decisions in their life and their career regarding bills and pending legislation, that they spend time in the Word, that they spend time in prayer, and that ultimately, they make decisions that are in line with what Scripture teaches and that honor God,” he said.

Capitol Ministries ministry leaders are self-supporting missionaries. If you wish to support the ministry to Alaska legislators, click here.