LifeWay nominates Alabamian to serve as next president

The presidential search committee of LifeWay Christian Resources’ board of trustees recommended Aug. 5 that Thom S. Rainer become the Southern Baptist entity’s next president after James T. Draper Jr. retires Feb. 1.
   
Rainer, a native of Union Springs, Ala., is dean of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary’s Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism and Church Growth in Louisville, Ky.
   
LifeWay’s board of trustees will vote on the recommendation during its Sept. 12–13 meeting in Nashville. If approved, Rainer would become LifeWay’s president-elect and begin Oct. 17 to work alongside Draper to ensure a smooth transition, according to search committee chairman Rick Evans, pastor of Dalraida Baptist Church, Montgomery.
   
“I am thrilled that we have an Alabama native as president-elect of LifeWay,” Evans said. “It’s something that Alabama Baptists can be proud of.”
   
“I am honored and excited to be the nominee of the search committee,” Rainer said. “I look forward to the vote of the full board of trustees in September.”
   
Rainer, now 50, was a 1977 graduate of the University of Alabama working in the banking business when he was called to the pastorate, noted Roger Willmore, pastor of Deerfoot Baptist Church, Trussville, and a member of the search committee.
   
It was that “blend of pastor, preacher and businessman,” that attracted the search committee to Rainer, Willmore noted. “He has an obvious awareness of the needs of our churches in the Southern Baptist Convention.”
   
Rainer’s authorship is also an asset, Willmore noted, explaining that the committee discovered Rainer “is one of the top three authors read by pastors age 40 and younger.”
   
“[Rainer] has the youthfulness to reach the younger generation and enough experience, age and respect to maintain (LifeWay’s) connection with the older generation.”
   
Licensed and ordained by Golden Springs Baptist Church, Anniston, Rainer attended Southern Seminary and earned a master of divinity degree and Ph.D. from the school. 
   
As a pastor, Rainer served Green Valley Baptist Church, Hoover, and  churches in Florida, Kentucky and Indiana prior to becoming founding dean of Southern Seminary’s Billy Graham School in 1994.
   
Rainer also served Samford University in Birmingham from 1990–1994 as adjunct professor in evangelism, church growth and missions at Beeson Divinity School.
   
He co-founded and served as associate director of the Charles Hadden Spurgeon Institute for Pastoral Leadership and Church Growth at Beeson. Rainer has served as a church consultant and church growth conference speaker for several years and is founder, president and CEO of the Rainer Group, one of the nation’s leading church and denominational consultant organizations. 
   
He is a member of both the Academy for Evangelism in Theological Education and the American Society for Church Growth.
   
He and his wife, Nellie Jo, who is also from Bullock County, have three sons, Sam, Art and Jess.
   
The recommendation of Rainer follows an intense six-month search that began with the committee members’ pledge to pray every day, seeking God’s guidance through the process, said Evans, adding that the committee received a “significant number” of nominations.
   
“We are elated to have our mission completed,” Evans said. “We bring a motion of unanimity that we have found the man God has chosen for the job.”
   
Draper, who has served as LifeWay president since 1991, applauded the search committee for their work and said he was pleased with the committee’s choice. 
   
“I am incredibly excited to have a man of Thom Rainer’s gifts and vision to work alongside in the months ahead,” Draper said. “He is a proven leader, a brilliant statesman and a gifted visionary. That’s why I believe LifeWay’s best days are still ahead.”  (LifeWay, TAB)