Elmer Towns
| Elmer Leon Towns | |
|---|---|
| Born |
October 21, 1932 Savannah, Georgia, United States |
| Occupation | Academic Dean, Professor, Author, Professional Speaker, Pastor |
| Nationality | American |
| Period | 1971-present |
| Subject | Leadership, Church Growth, Christian Education, Sunday School |
| Website | |
| elmertowns |
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Elmer L. Towns (born 1932) is co-founder of Liberty University, the largest private, non-profit university in the world. Towns is also a prominent Christian leader, author and speaker on the principles of church growth, church leadership, Christian education, Sunday School, and prayer and fasting. He has authored over 170 books, 8 of which are listed on the Christian Booksellers Association Best Selling List. In 1995, he received the Gold Medallion Award from the Evangelical Christian Booksellers Association for Book of the Year in Biblical Study, The Names of the Holy Spirit. Most recently Towns served as Dean of the B. R. Lakin School of Religion, Dean of Liberty University Baptist Theological Seminary and Distinguished Professor of Systematic Theology at Liberty University. In the Fall of 2013, Towns announced he would be taking a sabbatical from his teaching and administration duties to focus on speaking and writing.
On October 21, 1932, Elmer Leon Towns, Jr. was born to Elmer Leon Towns, Sr., and Erin McFaddin Towns in Savannah, Georgia, the oldest of three children. Senior Towns was a clerk at a local hardware store. Though Elmer Sr. made middle class wages, his addiction to alcohol strained the family’s finances and eventually claimed his life. Despite the difficulties at home, Towns Jr. was consistent in attending Eastern Heights Presbyterian Church as an adolescent, though he believes his real conversion to Christianity was in 1950, at the edge of his bed following an evangelistic meeting earlier in the evening. Towns attended Columbia Bible College for three years (1950-1953) before transferring his senior year to Northwestern College in Minneapolis, Minnesota and completing his Bachelor of Arts degree. He also married his wife Ruth Jean Forbes in 1953. He then attended Dallas Theological Seminary in pursuit of a Master of Theology degree. While in that program, Towns also enrolled in Southern Methodist University to study for a Master of Arts degree in Education. He received both Masters degrees in 1958. A teaching post at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School moved Towns to Deerfield, Illinois, where he earned his Masters of Religious Education from nearby Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois in 1967. Following an extended break from being a student, he attended Fuller Theological Seminary and received a Doctor of Ministry degree in 1983.
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