Ashland pastor Floyd Paris
to be KBC presidential nominee

By Drew Nichter News Director Pikeville—Floyd Paris, pastor of Unity Baptist Church in Ashland, will be nominated as Kentucky Baptist Convention president when the KBC annual meeting convenes Nov. 16 in Lexington. Paris, a former Kentucky Baptist Pastors’ Conference president, will be nominated by Paul Badgett, pastor of First Baptist Church of Pikeville, who served as KBC president in 2002-03. Paris is the second announced candidate for the presidential post. Butch Tanner, pastor of Red House Baptist Church in Richmond, also is a nominee.

Floyd Paris

This year will mark the first since 2006 that two candidates will oppose one another for any KBC office. In the last three years, all KBC officers ran unopposed and were elected by acclamation.

In announcing the nomination, Badgett said Paris is focused on evangelism and “leading people to Christ.”

“I think Floyd is a guy that can lead us as a convention to give more for Christ and reach more people with the gospel,” Badgett noted, adding that Paris also can lead state churches to increase Cooperative Program and missions giving.

“He’s not a guy that just talks about it, he’s a guy that does it,” Badgett said of Paris.

Badgett explained that Paris was on the brink of being nominated for KBC president last year, but the sudden death of his wife, Penne, in May 2009 put those plans aside.

This year, Badgett said he wants to nominate Paris and “do what a lot of guys felt like we needed to do last year.”

Regarding the loss of his wife, Paris said he chose not to run for KBC president last year out of concern for his daughter, who was a senior in high school at the time.

“I thought it would require too much time for me to be away from her,” Paris recalled.

Now that he is a candidate, Paris said he wants to focus on moving Kentucky Baptists forward per the Southern Baptist Convention Great Commission Resurgence Task Force mandate that was laid out in June—albeit with a caveat.

“We do need to focus on winning the world (for Christ). But we also need to remember that we need to focus on Kentucky as well,” he exhorted.

Referring to Jesus’ command in Matthew 28:19 to make disciples of all nations, Paris said every church member “ought to be equipped to share the gospel.”

“It is imperative that we never take our eyes off … where the Lord has placed us. And as Kentucky Baptists, He’s placed us in Kentucky,” Paris noted. “So, yes, we ought to be involved in world evangelization, … but not to the extent of losing those in our own state. It’s not ‘either/or’; it’s ‘both/and.’”

Paris has served as pastor of Unity Baptist Church since 1998. Prior to that, he was the pastor and youth minister at churches in Tennessee and Mississippi.

Paris was president of the 2007 Kentucky Baptist Pastors’ Conference and is a member of the KBC Mission Board, where he serves on the administrative committee and has been a member of the Committee on Public Affairs. He also serves as a chaplain with Kentucky Baptist disaster relief.

At the SBC level, Paris has served on the Credentials Committee and was a two-term board member for the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.

Paris is a graduate of Mid-South Bible College (now Victory University) in Memphis, Tenn. He holds both a master’s and doctorate degree from Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary, also in Memphis.

According to the 2009 Annual Church Profile report, Unity Baptist Church gave more than $58,500 (8.7 percent of undesignated receipts) to the Cooperative Program, placing it 66th among Kentucky Baptist churches in total CP giving. The church also gave more than $29,000 combined to the Annie Armstrong and Lottie Moon offerings. The ACP statistics showed that Unity Baptist reported 10 baptisms last year.

Western Recorder issue date: August 24, 2010.