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Who Was A. B. Colvin?

The personal collection donated by A.B. Colvin to Campbellsville University reflects a life devoted to service among Kentucky Baptists. Colvin spent eighteen years as a pastor before joining the staff of the Kentucky Baptist Convention, where he served as a denominational leader for twenty-seven years. His deep commitment earned him the nickname "Mr. Kentucky Baptist."

Born on November 10, 1917, in Williamstown, Kentucky, Colvin accepted Christ as his Savior at age twelve and joined Mt. Carmel Baptist Church. He attended public schools in Grant County, earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Kentucky in 1939, and completed a Th.M. from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1942. While attending seminary, he pastored Bethany and Lawrenceville Baptist Churches in Williamstown on a part-time basis from 1940 to 1942. Just a week before graduating from Southern Seminary, he married Irene Shearer of Lexington, Kentucky. Like many in his generation, his plans were interrupted by World War II. In 1942, he entered the U.S. Army Air Service as a line officer.

From 1946 to 1958, Colvin pastored South Side Baptist Church in Covington and First Baptist Church in Lebanon, Kentucky. In 1958, he became secretary of the Missions and Evangelism Department for the Kentucky Baptist Convention (KBC). He remained with the KBC for the rest of his professional career, later serving as assistant to the executive secretary, where he coordinated the work of missions-related departments. His responsibilities included oversight of the Brotherhood, Cooperative Ministries/Christian Life, and Direct Missions and Evangelism programs, as well as advising churches on church-minister relations. Colvin retired in 1985, concluding a ministry career that spanned nearly seven decades.

Even in retirement, Colvin remained active in Kentucky Baptist life. In 1986, a year after his retirement, he was elected president of the KBC. He was a frequent speaker at evangelism conferences and taught at Boyce Bible School, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, from 1977 to 1998. In 1990, Campbellsville College awarded him an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree, and he served as a trustee of Campbellsville University from 1994 to 2002. At the time of his death on August 27, 2003, he was serving as special assistant to the president of Oneida Baptist Institute in Clay County, Kentucky, a role he had held since 1985.