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 for corporate lending of SouthTrust Bank in Anniston, Ala (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. 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, 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, Tenn., and are members of Brentwood Baptist Church. They have three sons, Sam, Art and Jess, and four grandchildren (one is already with the Lord).
Read more about this topic: Thom S. Rainer
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