The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission’s presidential search team has announced Mississippi College academic administrator and longtime ERLC research fellow Evan Lenow as its candidate to lead the entity.
The announcement follows a seven-month search. Search team chair Mitch Kimbrell, senior pastor of Christ Memorial Church in Williston, Vt., called Lenow “exceptionally qualified” with “time-tested experience.”
“What I’m most encouraged by is how much he loves Southern Baptists and how eager he is to serve by helping us apply the Scriptures and the Baptist Faith and Message to the most important ethical questions of our day,” Kimbrell said. “I know that when he represents Southern Baptists in the public square, he’ll do so as one of us.”
The full ERLC board will vote on the recommendation at a special called meeting in April.
Lenow currently serves as the director of the Institute for Christian Leadership, director of Church and Minister Relations, and chair of the Christian Studies Department for Mississippi College in Clinton, Miss.
Born and raised in Memphis, he grew up in a multigenerational Southern Baptist family, where his parents and grandparents were active at Bellevue Baptist Church. Lenow came to faith while attending a Christian school in Memphis and, as a teenager, was drawn to studying theology while sensing a call to ministry. He attended Mississippi College, majoring in communication while minoring in business. During his studies, his coursework included classes in preaching, Greek and pastoral ministry.
Lenow holds a Ph.D. in Theological Studies with a concentration in Christian Ethics as well as an M.Div. in Advanced Biblical Studies from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.
“I am honored that the ERLC presidential search committee has nominated me to fill this role,” he said. “In these challenging cultural times, the world is indeed watching to see how we live out the Good News. I am convinced that the entity’s ministry assignment to assist churches in understanding and addressing the moral problems of our day is as vital as it’s ever been. If the board so chooses, I will look forward to leading the ERLC in its important work.”
If elected by the board, Lenow will succeed Brent Leatherwood, who resigned last July. Gary Hollingsworth has served as interim president since October.
ERLC President Emeritus Richard Land believes Lenow is the right choice.
“I could not be more pleased with the nomination of Dr. Evan Lenow as the next president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission,” Land said. “I cannot think of anyone more qualified and prepared by background, training, experience, and conviction to lead the ERLC in assisting Southern Baptists and other faithful Christians in being the gospel ‘salt and light’ in America that our Heavenly Father has called us all to be.”
Florida Baptist Convention Executive Director-Treasurer Stephen Rummage has known Lenow since the latter’s days as a seminary student.
“I have rejoiced to watch him serve the Lord faithfully across the years,” Rummage said. “Dr. Lenow is convictionally conservative and engaged with the challenges facing our culture. I believe he will lead the ERLC to serve our Southern Baptist pastors and churches with grace and clarity.”
Before joining Mississippi College in his current role, Lenow served as associate professor of ethics, director of the Land Center for Cultural Engagement, director of the Center for Biblical Stewardship, and held the Bobby L. and Janis Eklund Chair of Stewardship at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Since 2012, he has served as a research fellow in Christian Ethics for the ERLC and is the author of Ethics as Worship: The Pursuit of Moral Discipleship (co-authored with Mark D. Liederbach, 2021), Biblically Sound: Embracing Doctrine for Life (2014) and Biblically Correct: Engaging Culture with Truth (2013).
Lenow and his wife, Melanie, have four children.
— Scott Barkley is chief national correspondent for Baptist Press.
