LEXINGTON, Ky. (ABP) — Franklin Owen, executive secretary of the Kentucky Baptist Convention from 1972-1983, died Aug. 30 in Lexington, Ky. He was 93.
A longtime Kentucky Baptist pastor and denominational leader, Owen was lauded by peers as a man of vision and integrity. Duke McCall, a retired president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., described Owen as “both a friend and a scholar.”
Owen was “one of those modern saints,” McCall said. “He is one of those whose religion simply flowed out of his everyday activity and context.”
Prior to his becoming executive secretary, Owen served 18 years as pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Lexington. He also served as pastor to congregations in Missouri, Georgia and Alabama.
Owen was the state convention's president from 1964-65. He also served as a trustee of Georgetown College, the Western Recorder, the former Baptist Sunday School Board and Southern Seminary.
A native of Missouri, he was a 1937 graduate of Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau and a 1942 graduate of Southern Seminary. He held honorary degrees from Campbellsville University and Georgetown College.
The Kentucky Baptist Convention named the chapel in the Baptist Building in Owen's honor last year and honored him in 2004 for “lifetime achievement in supporting the Cooperative Program.” Additionally, the University of the Cumberlands established the endowed Franklin P. Owen Chair of Home and Foreign Missions in 2004.
“I have always been a supporter of missions,” Owen said at the time. “Through the position I was elected to, I have worked hard to build the mission program.”
Owen is survived by three sons, Franklin Owen Jr., and Bill Owen, both of Lexington, and John Owen, pastor of First Baptist Church of Winchester, as well as nine grandchildren. His wife, Sue, died in 2001 at 91.
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