Jerry Sutton - Biography

Biography

Sutton earned a PhD in church history from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

In 1999 Sutton led the Summit for the New Millenium which was designed to coordinate missionary efforts and church support in the 10/40 window.

Sutton served as the president of Southern Baptist Pastor's Conference in 2000 and was first Vice President of the Southern Baptist Convention in 2005.

During the 2006 Tennessee Baptist Convention, Sutton led a movement amongst Tennessee Baptist to affirm the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 edition when he proposed that all appointees of the Convention’s Committee on Committees and the Convention’s Committee on Boards be asked if they affirmed the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 edition.

In June 2006 Sutton announced he would allow himself to be nominated for the Presidency of the Southern Baptist Convention after being repeatedly asked to run by other Southern Baptist. He made this announcement only a few days prior to the election at the Southern Baptist Convention in Greensboro. He ran against two other candidates, Frank Page of South Carolina and Ronnie Floyd of Arkansas. Sutton placed third with 24.08% of the overall vote.

Dr. Sutton has written four books: The Baptist Reformation, which is a history of the conservative resurgence within the Southern Baptist Convention, The Way Back Home, which tells of how "to begin again with God," "A Matter of Conviction," the story of how Christianity shaped Western civilization, and "A Primer on Biblical Preaching", 2011.

In 2008, Sutton left Nashville and accepted a teaching position at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. Sutton took the position of Vice President of Academic Development and Dean of the Faculty at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri in 2010.

Sutton is married to Fern, a professional Christian therapist, and has two daughters: Ashli, who is a licensed Tennessee attorney, and Hilary, who is a professional actress and writer.