Paul Chitwood

Paul Chitwood (born 1970) is an American Baptist minister who is the 13th and current president of the International Mission Board, serving since 2018. He was previously executive director of the Kentucky Baptist Convention (2011–2018) and president of the Kentucky Baptist Convention (2005–2006).

Born in LaFollette, Tennessee, Chitwood graduated from Cumberland College (now the University of the Cumberlands) in Williamsburg, Kentucky, in 1992 and began pastoring his first church a year later. He later continued his studies at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, earning two graduate degrees. He joined the seminary's faculty in 2002 and was also chosen as a trustee of the Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board that year. He was chairman of the board from 2008 until his departure in 2010.

In 2005, Chitwood was elected to a one-year term as president of the Kentucky Baptist Convention (KBC). He was seen as the more theologically conservative of the two candidates for the office. At the expiration of his term, he continued his work as pastor of First Baptist Church in Mount Washington, Kentucky, and with the International Mission Board. In 2011, he was chosen as executive director of the KBC. He oversaw a reorganization of the convention that was credited with reversing a decade-long slide in baptisms and membership. He was an advocate for Sunrise Children's Services, a foster care and adoption agency operated by the KBC. Under Chitwood, Sunrise tripled the number of children it served, and Chitwood and his wife became foster parents for a young girl in Sunrise's care, eventually adopting her. On November 15, 2018, Chitwood accepted the position of President of the International Mission Board (IMB). He was immediately confronted with a report of past unreported or mishandled sexual abuse cases within the IMB, and promised to implement the recommendations of an independent law firm charged with investigating the reports.

Throughout his ministry, Chitwood has opposed the employment of homosexual people by Baptist churches and organizations, expansion of gambling in Kentucky, and the expansion of sales of alcoholic beverages.