FLORENCE, Ky. – Nominees for first and second vice president remain unopposed with less than a week until the Kentucky Baptist Convention convenes at Florence Baptist Church Nov. 15.
Owensboro pastor Kenny Rager, of Life Community Church, was announced as a candidate for first vice president Tuesday. He will be nominated at the KBC Annual Meeting by Jamus Edwards, pastor of Pleasant Valley Community Church in Owensboro, Ky.
“You will be hard pressed to find a pastor more deeply committed to evangelism and seeing people come to faith in Christ than Kenny Rager,” Edwards said. “As a church planter and pastor, Kenny’s driving passion is very clear: to see as many people as possible bow the knee to Jesus Christ.
“We need leaders like Kenny Rager who are willing to put politics and theological debates aside in effort to unite KBC churches for the sole purpose of spreading the fame of the Lord Jesus Christ across Kentucky as men, women, boys and girls come to know Him,” Edwards told Kentucky Today.
Rager took on the role of church planter in 2012 when he launched Life Community and has led the church in helping support a church in Brooklyn, N.Y., through financial support and mission trips.
“I’m a strong believer that we must work together to win this culture for Christ,” Rager said. “I am passionate about church planting and actively support the Cooperative Program.”
Life Community gave more than 10 percent of its undesignated receipts to missions through the Cooperative Program and various other missions offerings, according to the church’s Annual Church Profile report.
Rager previously served as pastor at Faith Baptist Church in Hartford, Ky., and South Greensburg Baptist Church in Greensburg, Ky. He also served on the KBC Mission Board last year and has held several positions within Daviess-McLean Baptist Association, including moderator.
Meanwhile, Shepherdsville pastor Josh Landrum, of Bullitt Lick Baptist Church, was announced as a candidate for second vice president in June.
“He embodies what our state convention is about, reaching our state, nation and the nations with the gospel of Jesus Christ,” Milton Baptist Church Pastor Tim Scott told the Western Recorder. “Josh loves Kentucky Baptists and has a heart to lead Kentucky Baptists into greater cooperation with one another.”
Scott described Landrum as a champion of the Cooperative Program faithfully leading his congregation in sacrificial giving to proclaim the gospel in the nations.
The Annual Church Profile report shows that Bullitt Lick Baptist gave 10 percent of its undesignated receipts to the Cooperative Program and another 11.7 percent to other missions offerings in 2015.
Before joining Bullitt Lick Baptist in July 2014, Landrum was pastor of Knoxville Baptist Church in Williamstown, Ky., and pastor of students and recreation at The Baptist Church at Andover in Lexington, Ky. He also has served on the KBC’s Committee on Constitution & Bylaws and its tellers committee, as well as on the administrative team for Nelson Baptist Association.
Robin Cornetet