Thom S. Rainer

Thom S. Rainer (born July 16, 1955) is an American writer, researcher, speaker, and current president and CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources, an entity of the Southern Baptist Convention in Nashville, Tennessee. He is the author of several books, including Simple Church, named a Church & Ministry bestseller by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association and the 2007 Christianity Today Book Award winner in the Church/Pastoral Leadership category.^[1]

Biography

Rainer was born in Union Springs, Alabama and is a 1977 graduate of the University of Alabama, majoring in corporate finance with minors in statistics and economics. He began his career as a cash management officer (1977–80) at Trust Company of Georgia, now SunTrust. By age 25, Rainer became a fifth-generation banker and the youngest vice president^[2] for corporate lending of SouthTrust Bank in Anniston, Alabama (1980–83).

Rainer entered Christian vocational ministry in 1982 and earned his Master of Divinity and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. He served as pastor of churches in Alabama, Florida, Kentucky and Indiana prior to joining the faculty of SBTS in 1994 as founding dean of the Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism and Church Growth.^[3] Also while serving at SBTS, Rainer founded and served as president and CEO of the Rainer Group.

In September 2005, Rainer was unanimously elected by the trustees of LifeWay Christian Resources to succeed James T. Draper as the ninth president of LifeWay,^[4] one of the world’s largest Christian resource providers. Shortly after assuming the presidency, Rainer established B&H Academic, a branch of LifeWay’s B&H Publishing Group, to provide pastors, seminary professors and students with theologically conservative commentaries, academic monographs and other biblically-based resources.

Rainer and his wife, Nellie Jo, live in Franklin, Tennessee, and are members of Brentwood Baptist Church. They have three sons, Sam, Art and Jess.^{[citation needed]}

LifeWay Research

Not long after becoming president of LifeWay, Rainer announced the formation of LifeWay Research for the purpose of assisting and equipping church leaders with insight and advice that will lead to greater levels of church health and effectiveness.^[5]

LifeWay Research is frequently cited in religious and mainstream media, including USA Today,^[6] The Christian Post,^[7] and Baptist Press.^[8]

Great commission resurgence

In the 2005 Spring edition of the Southern Baptist Journal of Theology, Rainer published a tribute and a review of the Southern Baptist Convention conservative resurgence after 25 years. The article entitled “A Resurgence Not Yet Realized,” noted that, though a theological turnaround had taken place in the Southern Baptist Convention, there was little indication that a resurgence of evangelism had taken place in the churches. In the article Rainer called for a "great commission resurgence", a phrase that would become the nomenclature for a renewed Great Commission emphasis in the SBC years later.^[9]

Awards and recognition

In the spring of 2004, Rainer was invited to be a member of the Society of Fellows for the R. G. Lee Center for Christian Ministry.

In 2008, Rainer received the M. E. Dodd Denominational Service Award from Union University.^[10] The Dodd Award is the highest denominational service award Union gives. It is named for the man who was a Union alumnus, served as president of the Southern Baptist Convention and who was the father of today’s Cooperative Program,^[11] the method by which Southern Baptists pool their resources to fund their mission efforts. The award is given annually to a leader within the SBC who displays excellence and leadership in Southern Baptist life, as well as friendship and commitment to Union University. Past recipients include Jimmy Draper (2004), Adrian Rogers (2005), Morris Chapman (2006) and Frank Page (2007).

On November 11, 2010, Rainer received the Donald A. McGavran award for outstanding leadership in church growth from the Great Commission Research Network.^[12] According the GCRN president Bob Whitesel, Rainer’s “research and writings have been and continue to be key resources to those who care about church health and growth.”^[13]

Inducted into the Carl F. H. Henry Society of Fellows at Union University (2010) & provided Union’s graduation keynote address.^[10] Rainer was also appointed to serve as a trustee board member for Union by action of the Tennessee Baptist Convention.^[14]

Speaking and teaching

Rainer is in constant demand as a conference speaker, lecturer and teacher. A few examples of his speaking and teaching engagements include:

• "Evangelism and Church Growth in the Southern Baptist Convention," Baptist Identity II Conference^[15]
• "The Church and Contemporary Culture," University of the Cumberlands.^[16]
• Mississippi State Evangelism Conference^[17]
• Christian Executive Officers (CEO) Fellowship^[18]
• The Commission on Evangelism^[19]

Rainer holds the title of Distinguished Professor of Evangelism and Church Growth (2006) at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and also lectures at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Works

Books

• Evangelism in the Twenty-first Century, editor (Shaw; 1989) ISBN 0-87788-238-X
• The Book of Church Growth (B&H Publishing Group; 1993) ISBN 0-8054-1872-5
• Eating the Elephant (B&H Publishing Group; 1994) ISBN 0-8054-6140-X
  • Updated and reprinted with Charles E. Lawless (Pinnacle Publishers; 2003) ISBN 0-9742306-0-X
• Giant Awakenings (B&H Publishing Group; 1995) ISBN 0-8054-6173-6
• Experiencing Revival with Michael Silva (Church Growth Institute; 1996) ISBN 1-57052-058-5
• Biblical Affirmations for Evangelism, co-editor (Worldwide; 1996) ISBN 0-89066-284-3
• Effective Evangelistic Churches (B&H Publishing Group; 1996) ISBN 0-8054-5402-0
• Encyclopedia of Evangelism and Church Growth, co-editor (Regal; 1997)
• The Bridger Generation (B&H Publishing Group; 1997) ISBN 0-8054-6296-1
• The Every Church Guide to Growth with C. Peter Wagner and Elmer Towns (B&H Publishing Group; 1998) ISBN 0-8054-0192-X
• High Expectation Churches (B&H Publishing Group; 1999) ISBN 0-8054-1266-2
• Surprising Insights from the Unchurched (Zondervan; 2001) ISBN 0-310-28613-1
• The Unchurched Next Door (Zondervan; 2003) ISBN 0-310-24860-4
• Breakout Churches (Zondervan, 2005) ISBN 0-310-29347-2
• The Challenge of the Great Commission, co-editor (Pinnacle Publishers; 2005) ISBN 0-9742306-1-8
• The Unexpected Journey (Zondervan; 2005) ISBN 0-310-25741-7
• Simple Church with Eric Geiger (B&H Publishing Group; 2006) ISBN 0-8054-4390-8
• Raising Dad with Art Rainer (B&H Publishing Group; 2007) ISBN 0-8054-4391-6
• Essential Church with Sam Rainer (B&H Publishing Group; 2008) ISBN 0-8054-4392-4
• Vibrant Church with Daniel L. Akin (B&H Publishing Group; 2009) ISBN 1-4158-6541-8
• Simple Life with Art Rainer (B&H Publishing Group; 2009) ISBN 0-8054-4886-1
• Transformational Church with Ed Stetzer (B&H Publishing Group; 2010) ISBN 1-4336-6930-7
• The Millennials with Jess Rainer (B&H Publishing Group; 2011) ISBN 1-6104-5112-0
• I Am a Church Member: Discovering the Attitude that Makes the Difference (B&H Publishing Group; 2013) ISBN 1-4336-7973-6

Articles

• "What Price Evangelism?"
• "A Resurgence Not Yet Realized: Evangelistic Effectiveness in the Southern Baptist Convention Since 1979" PDF
• "Five Major Trends for Churches in America"
• "Seven Secrets of Healthy Churches"
• "What Millennials Want in Leaders"
• "Three Root Causes of Stalled Spiritual Transformation"
• "Keys to Attracting the Unchurched"

See also

• List of Southern Baptist Convention affiliated people

References

External links

• Official website