A Mississippi College professor was announced as the nominee for president of the SBC’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission Monday (March 30). Evan Lenow will be presented to the ERLC Board of Trustees at a special called meeting in April.
The announcement by the presidential search committee concludes a seven-month search process to identify a successor for Brent Leatherwood, who resigned in July 2025.
Lenow currently serves as 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, Mississippi.
Background
Lenow previously served at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he was associate professor of ethics, director of the Land Center for Cultural Engagement, and director of the Center for Biblical Stewardship.
“Evan is exceptionally qualified and has time-tested experience,” search committee chair Mitch Kimbrough said, “but 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. I know that when he represents Southern Baptists in the public square, he’ll do so as one of us.”
Since 2012, Lenow has served as a research fellow in Christian ethics for the ERLC. He 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 holds a Ph.D. in theological studies with a concentration in Christian Ethics from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, an M.Div. in Advanced Biblical Studies from SEBTS, and a bachelor’s in communication from Mississippi College.
He is married to Melanie and they have four children.
“I am honored that the ERLC presidential search committee has nominated me to fill this role,” Lenow 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.”
The ERLC Trustees announced two measures earlier this year to give direction to the ERLC’s work — keeping it biblical and within the theological bounds of the Baptist Faith and Message (2000), and to make resourcing churches a high priority.
After the public leadership of Russell Moore, which grew troubled and divisive as Moore spoke out on cultural and political issues that did not have wide grassroots support in the denomination, the trustees sought to clarify the public square work of the next leader on issues with broad SBC consensus.
Looking ahead
The ERLC goes into the June SBC Annual Meeting with the hope that messengers will support the new leadership, after two failed votes of 42% of messengers to abolish the entity, and after a year of rebuilding relationships with pastors and churches.
“We are overjoyed that he has answered God’s call to use his keen intellect and shepherd’s heart to lead the ERLC,” Foshie said about Lenow.
Hollingsworth shared that assessment. “We are excited to hear of the unanimous affirmation of the ERLC presidential search committee for Dr. Evan Lenow’s candidacy to become the next ERLC president,” Hollingsworth said. “He will represent Southern Baptists well in both the pulpit and the public square.”
The date for the trustees’ special called meeting to vote on Lenow’s nomination will be announced later.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by and originally published by the Illinois Baptist.
