A conversation with Scott Foshie will often lead home, to the faith of his forebears that led to his own.
“Some of my earliest memories are my grandma Lois standing next to me in church with a hymnal, a shape-note hymnal,” Foshie recalled. “She sang the most beautiful low alto, and she could harmonize with the hymns.”
That leads to a story about his salvation. “She developed breast cancer when I was in the third grade, and she said ‘Scott, I don’t know if I’m going to beat this cancer, but I know that I’m a winner either way, not because of what I’ve earned or anything I’ve done, but because Jesus forgave me of my sin.’”
Then she told nine-year-old Scott, “I hope you know Jesus like I know Jesus.”
A few weeks later, the young Foshie told his mother he was ready to receive Jesus and knelt next to his bed.
“Do you want me to help you?” his mother asked.
“I told her no, Mrs. Lingo taught me what to do—Lorraine Lingo was my Sunday School teacher—and I prayed to receive Jesus.”
Family will come up again. So will Jesus. A conversation with Scott Foshie always leads to Jesus.
Audra, Levi, Scott, Liz, and Lydia. “God has blessed us with beautiful children,” their proud father said. “Lydia is 19, majoring in business at Southwest Baptist University. She’s also in the band, and so we’re really, excited about that. Levi is 17 and a junior in high school. He’s a percussionist and also plays in the jazz band. Liz is 14. She’s freshman and plays the flute.”
“I met Audra in college,” he said about his wife. “I was a computer science major starting at East Tennessee State University. I wanted to be a scientist, a meteorologist. Audra was a biology major, but we both loved singing and we both got choir scholarships.
“We got put together in an a cappella vocal jazz ensemble.”
That led to a few dates, and a key question. At an evangelism clinic in West Frankfort, Illinois, Foshie had learned the FAITH witnessing plan from Pastor Roger Teal. Back home he asked Audra if she understood what it takes for a person to go to heaven.
“She said, ‘Well, I’ve never murdered anybody, and I’ve never robbed a bank. I grew up in church, but to be honest, I’m not sure I’m going to heaven.’”
Foshie asked his date, “Would you like me to share with you how the Bible answers that question?”
“To be honest, part of me wanted her to say no,” Foshie admits, afraid he would fumble the FAITH acrostic. But she said yes.
Not many men have the privilege of leading their future wife to faith in Jesus. They were married in the same church where she was baptized, and began ministry service together that led through three Tennessee churches over 15 years, and eventually to Illinois.
In the process, Foshie was growing as a pastor and as a leader.
“I answered the call to ministry on Father’s Day in 1999. I drove the next morning to my grandpa’s farm to tell him.” Foshie’s grandparents on his mother’s side raised chickens—18,000 at a time.
“I’ll never forget the image of my grandfather Jacob standing next to his tractor and saying, ‘Son, don’t ever forget to put John 3:16 in every message you share. Make sure people are invited to receive Jesus, because if you haven’t done that, you’ve not preached.’”
With that grandfather, he studied Henry Blackaby’s Experiencing God. “My grandfather was in the hospital as he battled pancreatic cancer. We talked about what Blackaby articulated from Scripture, that God is always working. When we’re in love with him, we’re able to sense his invitation for us to join him in that work.”
God’s invitation led to Steeleville Baptist Church in 2015, their first stop in Illinois. “Illinois has been good to my family,” he said, smiling and ruminating how parts of the state are similar to his native Appalachia.
And to service as a trustee with the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission in 2018, eventually becoming board chair in a tumultuous season with repeated turnover in leadership and convention-wide efforts to abolish the SBC’s troubled public voice twice. He personally sought peace for roiling relations.
And to a staff position with the Illinois Baptist State Association in 2019, leading church revitalization.
“From my first meeting with him some five years ago, I could clearly see evidences of God’s work in Scott’s heart and ministry,” said Rob Peters, founder of Corpus, Inc., a ministry that facilitates church revitalization processes. “God has cultivated in Scott a unique blend of godly passion, relationship capacity, and wise decision-making,” he said. Peters worked through a revitalization project with Nate Adams and senior IBSA staff, then helped shape the process that Foshie and the Church Health Team have used in over 100 churches and 23 associations.
“Scott’s work as a local church pastor and for IBSA in church revitalization have uniquely prepared him for the challenges of leading the state association,” Peters assessed.
“As a pastor, Scott knows the everyday challenges pastors face. As director of church revitalization for Illinois, he saw a wide variety of church expressions while immersing himself deeply in the issues that challenge churches today,” he said. “Scott has a unique anointing from God that is like what was said of Joseph in Genesis 39: ‘The Lord was with Joseph…and blessed everything that Joseph did.’”
Foshie’s relational skills drew the search committee to him.
Member Jennifer Damotte, minister of worship and education at First Baptist Church of Morton, said, “I find Scott to be warm and engaging and energetic. He has a lot of plans that God has been working out with him, and I am very confident in his leadership as we go into the next few years.” That comment has been repeated by search committee and board members alike.
“One of my coaches calls me a ‘visionary synergist,’” Foshie said. “I love to pursue God’s vision while also bringing and keeping everyone possible together as a spiritual family as we pursue him.”
Foshie pledged to begin his service with a listening tour. He started even before his new tenure began—before Christmas. He met with pastors in the Quad Cities, where Southern Baptists are relatively few and churches feel remote.
On the drive, you might have heard him listening to J. Vernon McGee, a verse-by-verse preacher from a couple of generations ago whose iconic ministry in Los Angeles was seasoned with a strong Southern drawl.
“My grandfather used to study the Bible with me verse by verse when I would spend time with him at his farm,” Foshie said. “You’ll often find me listening to Dr. McGee while I’m driving around Illinois, because it’s a continuation of my life-long journey through Scripture my grandpa started with me.”
Dr. Scott Foshie Executive Summary
Elected as 12th IBSA Executive Director by unanimous vote of the IBSA Board on December 9, 2025. Will serve as Executive Director Elect until April 1, when he will succeed Nate Adams.
Holds four degrees: Bachelor of Music Education from East Tennessee State University; Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry from Southern Baptist School for Biblical Studies in Jacksonville, Florida; and most recently Master of Theological Studies in Leadership from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Family: Native of Greeneville, Tennessee. Married to Audra, his wife of 24 years. They have three teenage children, Lydia, Levi, and Liz.
Church life: The Foshies are active members of Chatham Baptist Church.
Previous service: IBSA Church Health Director, 2019-2025; Director of Mission, Nine Mile Association, 2018-19; Pastor, Steeleville Baptist Church, 2015-2019; and Associate Pastor roles in music and education in three Tennessee churches beginning in 2000.
A leader I admire is Adrian Rogers. He led Southern Baptists to embrace and affirm Biblical inerrancy and our mission to reach our neighbors and the nations in a way that few SBC statesmen have been able to achieve. He also led with great optimism, hope, humor, and genuine love.
A Christian author I appreciate is Lee Strobel, The Case for Christ. His experience of discovering faith in Jesus is a powerful tool to strengthen believers and to lead those searching to find Christ. Billy Graham’s Peace with God was instrumental as I began to grow in my relationship with Jesus.
A book that changed my ministry is How to Develop a Powerful Prayer Life by Gregory Frizzell. This concise book helped me get my prayer life on track, and I return to it regularly.
My go-to psalm is Psalm 67. He calls us to use everything he’s blessed us with so others can have the opportunity to know him and experience his love.
Artists with many songs on my playlist are Zach Williams, MercyMe, and Rich Mullins
The movie I could watch over and over is any “Ernest” movie. My family has never lost our love for watching Ernest get himself into some kind of mess and find his way out of it.