;)
BREAKING NEWS! – Dwight McKissic to Nominate Les Puryear for SBC Presidency
Posted by Geoff Baggett in Baptist Life
sbc IMPACT! contributor and small church advocate, Les Puryear, Senior Pastor of Lewisville Baptist Church of Lewisville, North Carolina, will be nominated for president of the Southern Baptist Convention during the SBC’s June 10-11 annual meeting in Indianapolis. Rev. Wm. Dwight McKissic, Sr, senior pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, TX, will announce his intention to nominate Puryear in an official press release tomorrow.
A native of North Carolina, Puryear has been pastor of Lewisville Baptist Church since 2005. Prior to his call into fulltime vocational ministry in 1996, Puryear served as a telecommunications executive for 25 years. Puryear has degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, in Fort Worth, TX and is currently working on a PhD at Trinity Seminary in Newburgh, IN.
Rev. McKissic commented:
“With his founding and organizing of the inaugural Small Church Leadership Conference in March, 2008, Les has demonstrated his heart for pastors of small churches and his leadership abilities by conceptualizing and organizing a major conference which was joined in sponsorship by SBC entities such as Lifeway, IMB, NAMB, Guidestone, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, and the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina. I have known Les to be a person of integrity, vision, and compassion. He wants to work with all of the people in the Southern Baptist Convention, no matter what their differences are in regard to non-essential doctrinal beliefs, race, or church size. It is my privilege to nominate him as the next President of the SBC.”
Rev. McKissic gave three reasons for his support for Puryear:
- “Les is a small church pastor and he represents the majority of the convention. It’s time for the Southern Baptist Convention to acknowledge that small churches are just as valuable in God’s Kingdom as any other size church. Les will encourage the convention to provide specific support in the way of conferences, materials, etc. for the small church environment.”
- “Les wants to continue the direction that Frank Page has started of getting people involved in the national convention who have not been involved in the past. This will include small and mid-size church leaders, and people from varying ethnic backgrounds.”
- “Les holds to a Reformed view of salvation but it does not matter to him your theological position on soteriology; whether Arminian, Calvinism or anything in between. If you have a passion to reach people for Jesus Christ, then Les believes you should be welcome to be a part of the work of the Southern Baptist Convention. It’s time for the local church to stop talking about evangelism and missions and start doing evangelism and missions.”
Puryear is married to the former Debbie Lewter of Wilmington, NC. The couple has two sons and two grandchildren.
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
Until now, I had given up hope for presidential leadership of the SBC that truly reflected the makeup of the SBC. This nomination is one I can support though I still will not (scheduling conflicts) be making the journey to Indy.
In my own small corner of influence Les will receive the endorsement of this brother in Christ.
In His Word,
Scott
[...] recently posted to SBCImpact, Les Puryear will allow his name to be submitted for consideration for president of [...]
Hear hear!
Great choice!
I was hoping those rumors were true. I’m glad to find out they are.
I’ll drink (my tea) to that!
Mark
[...] Southern Baptist Convention politics, but I am pleased to know that a virtual acquaintance of mine, Les Puryear, will be nominated for the position of SBC President. While I have never met Les, my contact with [...]