Kenneth Ridings, a South Carolina native who has served as president of the Fruitland Baptist Bible Institute in Hendersonville, N.C., since 1997, has announced plans to retire in December.
Kenneth RidingsRidings, whose hometown is Fingerville in Spartanburg County, made the announcement at the school’s board of directors meeting on July 22.
He became president of Fruitland, which is operated by the North Carolina Baptist Convention, after the untimely death of Randy Kilby. Ridings had been professor of homiletics at Fruitland since 1968.
Accompanied by his wife Ann, Ridings, who is 72, thanked the directors for the “wonderful privilege” of serving at the North Carolina school, saying, “God has his hand upon Fruitland, and our prayers are that this will forever be true.”
Ridings is a graduate of North Greenville College, Furman University and Southeastern Baptist Seminary. He received doctor of divinity degrees from Fredericksburg Bible Institute and Covington Seminary.
Fred Griggs, pastor of Lowndesville Baptist Church in the Lakelands Baptist Association, is president of Fruitland’s South Carolina alumni chapter. “For 40 years at Fruitland Baptist Bible Institute,” he told the Courier, “there has been the presence and voice of a man who has encouraged and challenged students to preach with passion, correctly dividing the word of God – Kenneth Ridings.”
Griggs praised Ridings for his commitment to “teach us to preach expository sermons which proclaim the truths in God’s word.” Such sermons, the Lowndesville pastor said, “have brought untold numbers to Christ and to spiritual maturity.”
Ridings will receive special recognition at Fruitland’s annual alumni day set for Oct. 21 beginning at 10 a.m. in the school’s chapel. “Those of us who had the privilege of sitting in his classes will have the opportunity to say thank you to this great man of God,” Griggs said.
Speakers at the recognition service will include Don Wilton, pastor of First Baptist Church in Spartanburg.