Lewis Drummond, professor of Evangelism 1973-1988, was born in Dixon, Illinois in 1927. Over the course of his life, he worked as a pastor, scholar and educator. Before becoming an educator, Drummond earned the B.A. from Howard College, the M.Div. and Th.M. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and the Ph.D. from King’s College at the University of London.
Following his graduation from King’s College, Drummond served churches in Alabama and Texas 1949-1961 until the Ninth and O Baptist Church in Louisville called him as its pastor in 1964. Dr. Drummond continued as the church’s pastor until 1968, when he accepted a faculty appointment at Spurgeon’s Theological College in London. After teaching there for five years, he became the Billy Graham Professor of Evangelism at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Drummond's tenure lasted until 1988, when he assumed the presidency of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina. During his four years at Southeastern, Drummond led the seminary through a crucial period of theological conflict and conservative retrenchment. In 1992, Drummond resigned the presidency of Southeastern to become the Billy Graham Professor of Evangelism and Church Growth at the Beeson Divinity School of Samford University. He remained at Beeson until the summer of 2003, when he retired from formal theological education.
Drummond was a prolific author of evangelism textbooks, chronicles of revivals and spiritual awakenings, and several biographies. He wrote a 900-page biography on Charles Spurgeon and another on Billy Graham, each of which received critical acclaim. Other notable works include Leading Your Church in Evangelism (1976), The Awakening That Must Come (1978), and The Spiritual Woman: Principles of Spirituality and the Women Who Have Lived Them (1999). Drummond died on January 4, 2004.
