Phil Newton

Phil A. Newton serves as director of Pastoral Care and Mentoring for the Pillar Network, an international association of Baptist and baptistic churches committed to kingdom-minded equipping, church planting, and church revitalization. He planted South Woods Baptist Church, Memphis, TN, in 1987 and concluded his 35 years of pastoral leadership in May 2022. He served as pastor of three other churches in Mississippi and Alabama prior to moving to Memphis, as well as serving on two church staffs as a college student. He received his education at the University of Mobile (B.A.), New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (M.Div.), Fuller Theological Seminary (D.Min.), and Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (Ph.D.). He is visiting professor of pastoral theology at Southeastern and an adjunct professor at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Both natives of Alabama, he and his wife Karen met in Mobile, AL and married in 1975. They enjoy discussing biblical issues, reading, cooking, traveling, and interacting with their family. They have five children and nine grandchildren. He has spent the past three decades training young men for the ministry and leading local church sponsored international mission trips. He has authored Elders in Congregational Life; Elders in the Life of the Church (with Matt Schmucker); Conduct Gospel-Centered Funerals (with Brian Croft); Venture All for God: Piety in the Writings of John Bunyan (with Roger Duke and Drew Harris); The Mentoring Church; 40 Questions About Pastoral Ministry; Shepherding the Pastor (with Rich Shadden); Mending the Nets: Rethinking Church Leadership (with Rich Shadden); Are You a Christian?; Churches Planting Churches (edited with Matt Rogers); and Unburdening the Soul: Personal and Corporate Confession of Sin. He has contributed to several journals including The Gospel Coalition and 9Marks e-Journal. Phil and Karen live in Germantown, TN and are members of Midtown Baptist Church in Memphis, where Phil serves as an elder.