GARY LEWIS Senior Lead Pastor at First Baptist Church Rincon Lives For Service Story by Cindy Reid Photos by Tonya Perry
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irst Baptist Church has been in Rincon for over 100 years, which is about as long as the city of Rincon (incorporated in 1927) has been around. Always an integral part of the community, the church today is stronger and more vital than ever. Their mission to “Passionately follow Jesus as we serve others with truth and grace” is exemplified by their Senior Lead Pastor Gary Lewis. Born and raised outside of Atlanta, Gary is a graduate of Clemson University (South Carolina), Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (Texas) and Beeson Divinity School of Samford University (Alabama). He and his wife Krissy have been married for 31 years and have two children. Their son Graham is in his fourth year at Georgia Tech, and their daughter Harper graduates in December with an RN degree from Georgia Southern. The Lewis family has been in Rincon for the past six years after living in Ft Worth, Atlanta and Tulsa. They love living in coastal Georgia and enjoy spending time exploring the beaches, the historic districts of Savannah and all the area has to offer. Guided to Ministry Gary’s path wasn’t always toward ministry. As a college undergraduate, he studied to be a corporate lawyer and headed to a prestigious MBA program. Over the course of the next two years, “I came to see that God had something else for me to do.” It was while working as an intern in a law firm the summer after his sophomore year that he understood something in the corporate world—the world of the very rich—that made a
28 October/November 2021 | www.EFFINGHAMMAGAZINE.com
