Paul Chitwood

Paul Chitwood (born 1970) is an American Baptist minister who is the 13th and current president of the International Mission Board, serving since 2018.

Paul Chitwood was born in LaFollette, Tennessee in 1970, one of three sons of Thomas Chitwood.

His parents divorced when he was two years old, and his father, who maintained custody of Chitwood and his brothers, moved to Jellico, Tennessee.

After being invited by the deacons of First Baptist Church in Jellico, the family become regular attenders.

Chitwood's father, younger brother Dana, and Chitwood himself became professing Christians and were baptized into the church.

Despite a fear of public speaking, Chitwood became a minister and preached his first sermon on a Wednesday night at his home church after the pastor had resigned.

A car accident he was involved in as a teenager strengthened his resolve to pursue ministry.

Born in LaFollette, Tennessee, Chitwood graduated from Cumberland College (now the University of the Cumberlands) in Williamsburg, Kentucky, in 1992 and began pastoring his first church a year later.

He later continued his studies at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, earning two graduate degrees.

In 1992, Chitwood earned a Bachelor of Science degree in religion with a minor in biblical language at Cumberland College (now the University of the Cumberlands) in Williamsburg, Kentucky.

Chitwood became pastor of South Fork Baptist Church in Owenton, Kentucky, in 1993.

Chitwood married his high school girlfriend, Michelle Elaine Herron, in 1993.

The couple has two biological children: a son, Daniel, and a daughter, Anna.

He later attended the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, where he earned the Master of Divinity in 1995 and a doctorate degree in 2001.

His dissertation was entitled "The Sinner's Prayer: An Historical and Theological Analysis."

In 1995, he left South Fork and became pastor of First Baptist Church in Owenton, serving until 1999.

That year, he became pastor of First Baptist Church in Somerset, Kentucky.

He joined the seminary's faculty in 2002 and was also chosen as a trustee of the Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board that year.

In 2002, Chitwood joined the faculty of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

That same year, he became a trustee of the International Mission Board, and he was chosen president of the Kentucky state pastors' conference.

In 2003, he left to pastor First Baptist Church in Mount Washington, Kentucky, a congregation of approximately 2,000 people.

While pastoring in Mount Washington, he opposed a local option ordinance to allow the sale of alcoholic beverages on Sundays.

Chitwood was elected to a one-year term as first vice-president of the Kentucky Baptist Convention in 2004.

The following year, he was a candidate to succeed outgoing president Herschel York as president.

The conservative York had been elected the previous year in a close vote of 686 to 627 over Rusty Ellison, who was seen as a moderate candidate.

In 2005, Chitwood was elected to a one-year term as president of the Kentucky Baptist Convention (KBC).

He was seen as the more theologically conservative of the two candidates for the office.

At the expiration of his term, he continued his work as pastor of First Baptist Church in Mount Washington, Kentucky, and with the International Mission Board.

He was chairman of the board from 2008 until his departure in 2010.

In 2008, he was chosen by his fellow trustees as chair of the IMB board of trustees.

Chitwood left the IMB board of trustees in 2010.

He was previously executive director of the Kentucky Baptist Convention (2011–2018) and president of the Kentucky Baptist Convention (2005–2006).

In 2011, he was chosen as executive director of the KBC.

He oversaw a reorganization of the convention that was credited with reversing a decade-long slide in baptisms and membership.

He was an advocate for Sunrise Children's Services, a foster care and adoption agency operated by the KBC.

Under Chitwood, Sunrise tripled the number of children it served, and Chitwood and his wife became foster parents for a young girl in Sunrise's care, eventually adopting her.

On November 15, 2018, Chitwood accepted the position of President of the International Mission Board (IMB).

He was immediately confronted with a report of past unreported or mishandled sexual abuse cases within the IMB, and promised to implement the recommendations of an independent law firm charged with investigating the reports.

Throughout his ministry, Chitwood has opposed the employment of homosexual people by Baptist churches and organizations, expansion of gambling in Kentucky, and the expansion of sales of alcoholic beverages.

They have a daughter, Cai, who they adopted from an orphanage in China, and a daughter, Lilly, who they adopted in 2018 after serving as her foster parents for three years through Sunrise Children's Services, a ministry of the Kentucky Baptist Convention.