Dr. Wes Fowler

Executive Director Missouri Baptist Convention

Dr. Wes Fowler is Executive Director of the Missouri Baptist Convention. He directs the state’s missionary staff; administers Cooperative Program funds given by Missouri Baptist churches; serves as publisher of The Pathway, the official news journal of the MBC; and sets the state’s cooperative strategy for fulfilling the Acts 1:8 mission mandate.

Prior to his election by the MBC Executive Board in 2023, Fowler served for 12 years as senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Mayfield, Ky. He grew up in that church, and was saved and baptized there at the age of eight. He accepted the church’s call to return as senior pastor after serving as youth pastor at First Baptist Church, Valdosta, Ga., and senior pastor of First Baptist Church, Homerville, Ga.

In addition, Fowler served as chairman of the Board of Directors for Sunrise Children’s Services, Kentucky’s largest foster/residential childcare provider. He also served as president of the Kentucky Baptist Convention (2020-21); as a member of the Mission Board of the Kentucky Baptist Convention (2017-19); and as chairman for the search committee that brought Todd Gray to the KBC as executive director-treasurer in 2019. He also served on the SBC Committee on Committees in 2022.

Fowler earned a Bachelor of Arts in political science at Valdosta State University (2003); a Master of Divinity at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (2007); and a Doctor of Ministry with an emphasis in expository preaching at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (2015). In 2022, Southern Seminary honored Fowler as Alumnus of the Year.

Fowler and his wife, Tara, married in 2004. They have three children: Brax, Bryley, and Pierre.