The NAMB presidency was vacated in August 2009 when former president Geoff Hammond resigned under pressure from trustees.

Louisville pastor Kevin Ezell has been nominated president of the North American Mission Board, search chairman Ted Traylor told Florida Baptist Witness today.

The recommendation of Ezell, senior pastor of Highview Baptist Church in Louisville and immediate past president of the Southern Baptist Pastors’ Conference, will be considered Sept. 14 at a special called meeting.

Ezell, 48, is the unanimous choice of the eight-person search committee.

Trustee chairman Tim Dowdy, an ex officio member of the search committee, informed NAMB trustees of Ezell’s nomination in a letter sent via e-mail tonight. Yesterday, Dowdy announced the special called meeting in an e-mail to trustees.

In the Aug. 31 letter Traylor provided to the Witness, Dowdy told trustees Ezell is a “gifted preacher and teacher and a faithful ambassador of the Lord with a passion for reaching the lost and touching the world for Jesus Christ. His own family embodies this commitment as Kevin and his wife of almost 25 years, Lynette, have three natural children and three adopted children from three different countries: Ethiopia, China, and the Philippines.”

Dowdy, pastor of Eagle’s Landing First Baptist Church in McDonough, Ga., noted Ezell has led his current church to grow to 6,000 members since becoming pastor in 1996 “when he stepped into a difficult situation to rebuild consensus and lead the church to flourish.”

In the last three years Highview’s membership has increased by more than 1,000, Dowdy said, “while the church’s investment in missions reached $1.2 million in 2009.”

Under Ezell’s leadership, the congregation has grown to seven campuses spread across metropolitan Louisville, including southern Indiana.