November 9, 2026
WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — Lee Brewer, senior pastor of Palmetto Baptist Church in Palmetto, will be nominated to serve as vice president of the Georgia Baptist Convention during the 204th annual meeting at Second Baptist Church in Warner Robins.
Josh Saefkow, senior pastor of Flat Creek Baptist Church in Fayetteville, said he plans to make the nomination.
“I believe Lee represents the very best of Georgia Baptist life—a man who loves Jesus Christ, believes the Bible, treasures the local church, and understands the importance of working together to advance the gospel,” Saefkow said.
Brewer is a third-generation Southern Baptist pastor and the son of former International Mission Board missionaries. He was saved at age 8 while his father was serving as a pastor in Mississippi.
“On a Sunday morning at the church where my father was pastoring in Mississippi, I walked the aisle, said I was interested in knowing about being saved, and it was there that my dad led me to the Father,” Brewer said.
He was baptized a few weeks later on Mother’s Day.
“Being a third-generation minister on my father’s side and having others on my mother’s side in ministry made it clear to me that I was not interested in going into ministry,” he said. “It was a difficult thing. A blessing, yes. But difficult.”
While in college, Brewer said the Lord’s call became clear, and he surrendered to full-time ministry on Easter Sunday in 2000. Since then, he has served churches in North Carolina, Mississippi, and Georgia in children’s ministry, student ministry, multisite leadership, and as a senior pastor.
“I’ve helped plant churches and multisite campuses, succeeded longtime pastors, seen seasons of fruitfulness and seasons of struggle,” Brewer said. “I have served in very small rural churches as well as very large churches in populated areas. I’ve been on staff in traditional and contemporary settings.”
“These various styles, geographical locations, and differing levels of influence and resources give me the ability to minister to, alongside, and support pastors in every church in Georgia,” Brewer said.
Brewer became senior pastor of Palmetto Baptist Church in August 2022.
Saefkow said the church has celebrated 116 baptisms during Brewer’s tenure and has doubled its average worship attendance and small group participation. The church has also participated in the Georgia Baptist Mission Board’s ReFocus initiative and is expanding its facilities for children’s ministry and adult discipleship.
“Lee doesn’t just speak about cooperation,” he said. “He leads his church to practice it.”
Palmetto gives 12.5% of its budget through the Cooperative Program, 2.3% to the Georgia Baptist Children’s Home, and 2.3% to its local Baptist association, totaling 17.1% before additional gifts to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering, Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, and Mission Georgia.
“From a pastoral view inside the local church, it’s important to remember that ‘rising tides raise all ships,’” he said. “We need to train our own, send our own, and fulfill our own calling from the Lord. But we also need to make sure that the right programs, institutions, leadership, and gospel efforts are being funded that we may not be able to directly put our own hands on.”
“It’s not about personal glory, it’s about the gospel reaching the lost,” Brewer added. “As I tell my congregation, ‘We are not building our castle, we are building His Kingdom!’”
Saefkow said Brewer has personally led more than 30 domestic and international mission trips. “He understands that the Great Commission is not simply a statement we affirm but a command we must obey.”
Brewer said simple steps can help churches renew their evangelistic focus. “I believe if we figure out small steps that everyone can take," he said, "we will gain better ground than if just a few take home run swings.”
“I believe we are on the right track as Georgia Baptists,” Brewer said. “I just want to be another encourager to not hold back on calling for the Great Commission.”
Brewer said churches should resist comparing themselves with other congregations. “God has uniquely equipped and gifted people for their own community for the gospel,” he said.
Brewer has also served on the Georgia Baptist Executive Committee and other denominational committees and previously served within the Mississippi Baptist State Convention.
Saefkow said Brewer’s experience beyond the local church reflects a desire to strengthen Baptist cooperation while keeping the local church central.
“I believe Georgia Baptists need leaders who possess biblical conviction without compromise, humility without weakness, and vision without losing sight of the local church,” Saefkow said.
Brewer said one of the greatest challenges facing churches is fear.
“I think our leaders are afraid to upset the people with the truth,” he said. “I believe the church is afraid of getting a reputation of not being inclusive. I believe the fear of losing big giving can sometimes overtake the faith of big testimony.”
“If the leadership of the church is afraid, then our people will be as well,” he said. “We need to raise up more and more leadership who show boldness and courage in the face of a compromising culture.”
Brewer identifies Galatians 1:10 as his life verse.
“It was presented to me that I get to voluntarily take on the form of the servant to those I’m called to serve by God,” Brewer said. “This is the first and greatest calling of a pastor.”
His aim, he said, is “to lift up those around me with encouragement and providing whatever is necessary for them to reach the potential of their own calling.”
“This is what I want to do for Georgia Baptists overall,” Brewer said. “And however I can serve, I will.”
Brewer and his wife, Emily, have been married 21 years. They have two sons, LJ, 15, and Cayden, 13.
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