Billy Compton
Mt. Washington—Billy Compton, pastor of First Baptist Church of Mt. Washington, is retiring after more than 50 years in the ministry on Dec. 31.
Compton, a graduate of Campbellsville University, Southern Seminary, and Fuller Theological Seminary was pastor of Severns Valley Baptist Church in Elizabethtown, Calvary Baptist in Glasgow, and Living Hope Baptist in Bowling Green, as well as First Baptist, Mount Washington, two separate times. He was ordained as a 17-year-old.
He worked for the Kentucky Baptist Convention two separate times, was the Kentucky Baptist Convention president in 1995, was on the Executive Board of the KBC and served on various committees throughout the years. He currently is a member of the Western Recorder’s Board of Trustees.
His ministry has been characterized by a commitment to the Cooperative Program. As a college and seminary student, he directly benefited from going to (at that time) Cooperative Program funded schools. He quipped that he also felt the effects of attending a seminary that was not CP funded for his Ph.D.
One of his pastorates, Living Hope, at one time, was the leading contributor to the Cooperative Program. He also spent time as pastor of Severns Valley, the current leading contributor to the Cooperative Program in Kentucky. First Baptist was ninth in the state for Cooperative Program giving in the last reported year, as well.
As the executive associate for the Cooperative Program for the Kentucky Baptist Convention, he traveled across the state, encouraging pastors and churches to get involved in the Cooperative Program, promoting it, and developing in-house strategies for its promotion.
“For me, that was an easy call to be able to promote that for my pastor friends and other churches because I had the opportunity to serve churches that were already committed to our cooperative work through the program,” he said.
“We are much better together than we are alone. The synergy that’s created when churches do join together helps to support international missions, home missions and state missions,” he continued.
Compton added, “We work stronger when we join our heads, our hearts, our hands, and our resources.”
A retirement celebration will be held in his honor at First Baptist, Mt. Washington, on Nov. 12 at 6 p.m. (WR)
Myriah Snyder