Elmer L. Towns

Elmer Leon Towns (born October 21, 1932) is an American Christian academic, pastor and writer who co-founded Liberty University alongside Jerry Falwell in 1971.

He is a speaker on the principles of church growth, church leadership, Christian education, Sunday school, prayer and fasting.

Towns has served as Dean of the B. R. Lakin School of Religion, Dean of Liberty University Baptist Theological Seminary, and Distinguished Professor of Systematic Theology at Liberty University.

Elmer Leon Towns Jr., was born on October 21, 1932, to Elmer Leon Towns Sr., and Erin McFaddin Towns in Savannah, Georgia, the oldest of three children.

The senior Towns was a clerk at a local hardware store and an alcoholic, which contributed to his death.

Towns Jr. frequently attended Eastern Heights Presbyterian Church as a teenager, though he believes his real conversion to Christianity came in 1950, following an evangelistic meeting earlier in the evening.

Towns attended Columbia Bible College for three years (1950–1953) before transferring during his senior year to Northwestern College in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and completing his Bachelor of Arts degree.

Towns began his work in ministry at the age of 19, when he re-opened Westminster Presbyterian Church in Savannah, Georgia, in 1952.

Towns commuted to Savannah to serve as pastor of the church during his junior year at Columbia Bible College, and the congregation grew to over 100 attendees under his leadership.

While attending graduate school at Dallas Theological Seminary, Towns attended and later joined the First Baptist Church of Dallas.

Towns’ affiliation with First Baptist Church was the catalyst for his career-spanning interest in church growth and promotion of large, vibrant congregations.

First Baptist Church also introduced Towns to the importance of Sunday school as an education and retention tool within the Church.

Also during his time in Dallas, Towns taught philosophy at Dallas Bible College, and served as Education Director for Southwest Baptist Tabernacle and pastor of Faith Bible Church.

Following graduation from Dallas Theological Seminary, Towns accepted an assistant professorship in Christian Education at Midwest Bible College in St. Louis, Missouri.

Towns was instrumental in helping the college achieve accreditation, and the experience earned him a place on the Accrediting Association of Bible Colleges (AABC).

He married Ruth Jean Forbes in 1953.

He then attended Dallas Theological Seminary in pursuit of a Master of Theology degree.

While in that program, Towns also enrolled in Southern Methodist University to study for a Master of Arts degree in Education.

He received both master's degrees in 1958.

Towns’ involvement with AABC led to his selection in 1961 as president of Winnipeg Bible Institute and College of Theology in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada (now Providence University College and Theological Seminary).

During his tenure the college became accredited, doubled enrollment, and increased fundraising efforts.

In 1965, Towns became Associate Professor of Christian Education at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois.

A year later he became the Sunday School editor of Christian Life magazine, a position he held for 22 years.

Both of these appointments corresponded with a remarkable increase in published works from him.

Both posts also provided Towns with an environment for gathering and analyzing data on Sunday schools, Christian education, and church growth through the use of yearly surveys, interviews, and church attendance records.

This combination of sociology and ministry to create models for church growth was unique.

Towns used the editorial appointment to communicate to a national audience through articles and books his vision for effective Sunday school teaching and church growth, eventually becoming a leading figure in the field of Christian education.

It was during this period that Towns released his first research compilation in the ground-breaking bestselling book The Ten Largest Sunday Schools and What Made Them Grow.

The reception for this book was so overwhelming that Towns used his position at Christian Life to publish the list "The 100 largest Sunday Schools" annually for ten years.

Also during this period he became an advisory board member for the Evangelical Teacher Training Association and wrote a textbook and two teacher manuals.

Towns acquired a teaching post at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and moved to Deerfield, Illinois, where he earned his Master of Religious Education from the nearby Garrett–Evangelical Theological Seminary in 1967.

In 1970, Jerry Falwell believed he was called to establish an institute of higher learning.

Falwell, then pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church, began a fund-raising campaign and started researching candidates to help lead the school.

Falwell and Towns had met previously during the preparation for The Ten Largest Sunday Schools and What Made Them Grow, as Thomas Road Baptist Church was number nine on the list.

Towns' academic work in Christian education and previous experiences with the college accreditation process made him a strong candidate.

In 1971, Falwell and Towns co-founded Lynchburg Baptist College in Lynchburg, Virginia (now Liberty University), with Falwell in an executive and fund-raising role and Towns as academic director and the school's only full-time instructor.

In 1973, Towns left Lynchburg Baptist College on sabbatical and became a consultant for the consolidation of seven small Bible colleges into Baptist University of America, in Atlanta, Georgia.

He then served as vice-president and academic dean.

Following an extended break from being a student, he attended Fuller Theological Seminary and received a Doctor of Ministry degree in 1983.

In fall 2013, Towns announced he would be taking a sabbatical from his teaching and administrative duties to focus on speaking and writing.