Dr. Hershael W. York
Senior Pastor
hyork@buckrun.org  

Dr. Hershael W. York has served as Buck Run's senior pastor since December 2003. He also is the Victor and Louise Lester Professor of Christian Preaching and Associate Dean of Ministry and Proclamation in the School of Theology of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. During 2005 he led Kentucky Baptists as President and he continues to have an active presence in our state convention. Dr. York is co-author with Bert Decker of Speaking with Bold Assurance (2001), a book that guides Christians in effective communication, and Preaching with Bold Assurance (2003), named one of Preaching Magazine’s best books of 2003. Preaching Today has included him among North America’s most effective preachers and has featured his sermons in their monthly selections. He was a featured speaker at the 2007 International Congress on Preaching at Cambridge, England. His articles have appeared in many journals and magazines, and he is a popular conference speaker in the US, Europe, and Brazil. Tanya, his wife of twenty-seven years, is an engaging speaker at women’s conferences, and they have two sons, Michael, 25, and Seth, 23, both preparing for a life of ministry.

The son of missionary parents, Dr. York has a heartbeat for missions and serves as a trustee of the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. He has ministered in Brazil each of the last 13 years and is involved in church planting strategies in South and North America. Under his leadership Buck Run has increased its missionary presence in Europe, Africa, South America, as well as, domestic ministries in Louisiana and Kentucky.

He holds a B.A. in English and Classical Civilizations from the University of Kentucky, where he also earned a Master of Arts in Classical Languages. He received a Master of Divinity and also a Doctor of Philosophy in Greek and New Testament from the Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary in Memphis, Tennessee. His previous pastorates include the First Baptist Church of Marion, Arkansas, and the Ashland Avenue Baptist Church of Lexington, Kentucky. He formerly served as the Preaching Associate Pastor at the Highview Baptist Church in Louisville, as well as numerous interim pastorates.