By Robert Dilday
John Lepper, the Kentucky Baptist Fellowship’s first and only coordinator, has announced plans to retire June 30 after 16 years as head of the state affiliate of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.
“I have high hopes for the future viability of Kentucky Baptist Fellowship,” Lepper said May 19 in a press release. “With a succession plan in place and with a staffing study group in the process of evaluating the overall staffing needs and financial abilities of KBF, I can move forward in my own life, confident that the One who began a good work in KBF, and in each of us, will continue that good work.”
Among his last acts as coordinator will be to help oversee the KBF’s ninth Extreme Build project, a partnership to build houses in Kentucky’s McCreary County. He also will facilitate the KBF state meeting at the CBF General Assembly in June.
During Lepper’s tenure at the KBF, the organization forged partnerships with ministries not only in Kentucky but also abroad. The KBF also helped found the Baptist Seminary of Kentucky in Georgetown in 1996, which it continues to support.
“I am confident that John has left us as an organization well positioned to use our considerable gifts to do the continuing hard work of ensuring that KBF will be an organization that individuals and churches will partner with in meaningful gospel work for years to come,” KBF moderator Bob Fox, a Georgetown pastor, said.
Before becoming KBF coordinator, Lepper was on the staff of the Kentucky Baptist Convention and a pastor.
In retirement, he said he plans to remain in congregational life.
“I anticipate focusing on one of my passions which is helping churches in pastoral transitions. It remains to be seen how that will unfold but I do anticipate being involved in this aspect of church life.”