Pastor Lanny has served as our Transition Pastor since July 3rd, 2022. As our, "Transition Pastor" he is leading us through a multi-year process of "Starting Over" as an evangelical Christian congregation in Decatur, Illinois.
He has been involved in Local Church and Denominational ministry for 40 years serving as Pastor in Paragould, Arkansas; Waukegan, Illinois; and, for 13 years as the Pastor-Teacher and Chairman of Elders at the First Baptist Church of Atwood, Illinois. He also served for 18 years as the Missions Strategist for Central Baptist Association in Decatur, Illinois. During his ministry with Central Baptist Association, he served as Interim Pastor in 9 Churches and has conducted revivals and/or conferences in 130 Churches in Illinois.
He holds a Diploma in Theology and a Bachelor of Religious Education degree from Tennessee Temple University, Master of Religious Education and Master of Theology degrees from Covington Seminary, and a Ph.D. in Theological Studies from Louisiana Baptist University.
His doctoral dissertation is entitled, "Pre-Tribulational Pre-Millennialism: The Chronology and Characteristics of Eschatalogical Events."
He served 8 years in the U.S. Air Force serving in Texas, Cam Ranh Bay Viet Nam, Oklahoma, Florida, and Guam. After college, he served 1 year in the Oklahoma Air National Guard.
When his wife Lin passed away in 2015, they had been married for 43 years. He has two sons and a daughter all of whom are married and he has six grandchildren and one great-grandson.
