Adrian Rogers

Adrian Pierce Rogers (September 12, 1931 – November 15, 2005) was an American Baptist pastor and conservative author. He served three terms as president of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Rogers entered Christian ministry at the age of nineteen. He studied at Stetson University and then studied at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He was ordained by Northwood Baptist Church in West Palm Beach. He was senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Merritt Island, Florida from 1964 to 1972. In 1972, he became the senior pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee, where he remained until March 2005.

He was elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention in 1979 in Houston, Texas, on a platform of biblical inerrancy.[5] This election launched the conservative resurgence in the denomination.The denomination has remained conservative since Rogers' tenure as president. He was re-elected in 1986 and 1987.