Photo courtesy of Great Commission Publications

UPDATE: A memorial service for Marvin Padgett will take place at Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville on Wednesday, December 28, at 1:00 p.m. Charles McGowan and Richard Jennings will lead the service.

The Rev. Elmer Marvin Padgett, former moderator of Nashville Presbytery and coordinator of Reformed University Ministries (now Reformed University Fellowship), has died. He was 78. Padgett was ordained in Nashville Presbytery in 1997 and served as coordinator of RUF from 1996 to 1997. 

Padgett entered the book business in 1982 when he became the manager of the bookstore at L’Abri in Huémoz, Switzerland.

From 1983-96, Padgett owned and managed the Logos Bookstore of Nashville, Tennessee. He later worked as editorial vice president at Crossway Books from 1997-2005, where he was a member of the ESV Translation Oversight Committee. He served as executive director of Great Commission Publications from 2012 to 2020.

Padgett served as a board member of Covenant College, Good News Publishers, and Great Commission Publications. 

In 2010, Padgett co-edited “Calvin and Culture: Exploring a Worldview” (P&R) with David Hall.

In a Facebook post, David Cassidy said Padgett “was instrumental in strengthening RUF and helped to pioneer so much in the Presbyterian churches in Nashville. His teaching influenced many.”

We will post more information, including funeral details, when it becomes available.