NASHVILLE — Les Puryear, senior pastor of Lewisville (N.C.) Baptist Church, will be nominated for president of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) during the SBC’s June 10–11 annual meeting in Indianapolis, Dwight McKissic, senior pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas, announced May 12.
Puryear is among six announced nominees for the post, joining Frank Cox, pastor of North Metro Baptist Church, Lawrenceville, Ga.; Johnny Hunt, senior pastor of First Baptist Church, Woodstock, Ga.; William L. (Bill) Wagner, a former Southern Baptist missionary and seminary professor and current president of Olivet University International in San Francisco; Avery Willis, a former Southern Baptist missionary and retired senior vice president of overseas operations for the International Mission Board; and Wiley Drake, pastor of First Southern Baptist Church, Buena Park, Calif.
Puryear, a native of North Carolina, has been pastor of Lewisville Baptist Church since 2005. Prior to his call into full-time vocational ministry in 1996, he served as a telecommunications executive for 25 years. He is a graduate of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, and currently is working on a doctorate at Trinity Theological Seminary in Newburgh, Ind. He and his wife, Debbie, have two sons and two grandchildren.
Information from the 2007 Annual Church Profile (ACP) for Lewisville Baptist Church, lists 11 baptisms and primary worship service attendance of 195. The church received $4,751 for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions and $1,500 for the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions. According to the ACP, the church gave $20,331, or 5.9 percent, through the Cooperative Program in 2007 from total undesignated receipts of $343,795.
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