PIKEVILLE—Grayson pastor Joshua Schmidt was elected by acclamation as the Kentucky Baptist Convention’s second vice president Nov. 13 during the organization’s annual meeting in Pikeville.

Schmidt, 30, pastor of First Baptist Church of Grayson, is among the youngest to hold the KBC’s second seat. Travis Ferris, pastor of Walnut Memorial Baptist Church in Owensboro and president of the Pastors’ Conference, presented the nomination in Pikeville.

“Josh is one of the younger pastors in the state, leading one of the faster growing churches in the state, and he is leading them to be a catalyst for missions and evangelism,” said Samuel Schmidt, younger brother of Joshua and pastor of Edgewood Baptist Church in Nicholasville.

Joshua, a graduate of Clear Creek Baptist Bible College and the University of the Cumberlands, taught Sunday School for 9 years at First Baptist before being named director. The church called him as pastor in January 2018, only months after his father, the former pastor of First Baptist, passed away.

“My brothers and I were Kentucky Baptists before we were even born. Perhaps this is one small way I can contribute back to a people so dear to my heart,” said Joshua.

Joshua graduated from the University of the Cumberlands in 2011 with a degree in Business Administration and was working on an MBA when he felt call to the ministry. He graduated from Clear Creek’s bivocational pastor program in the spring, and he plans to graduate from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary with a Master of Divinity in 2020.

Joshua and his wife, Lauren, have one son, Benjamin, 7 months. (WR)