Courtney Krueger was born in Charleston, S.C. and grew up in Rock Hill, S.C. He graduated from Rock Hill High School in 1985 and enrolled in Furman University. He graduated from Furman in 1989 with a BA in Philosophy, enrolled in Duke Divinity School and married Lea (pronounced Lee) his college sweetheart in the span of six months.
Courtney was the first paid employee of the Baptist House of Studies at Duke Divinity School serving as its Intern from 1991-1992. He graduated from Duke Divinity School in 1992 with a Master of Divinity degree.
He was called as pastor to the Elm City Baptist Church (N.C.) in 1992, serving there for nearly five years.
Courtney was ordained on March 22, 1992. Exactly one year later on March 22, 1993, a boy named David was born in Greenville, NC. Nine days later he would become Lea and Courtney’s first foster child (they had 12 foster children – mostly short-term - over a three year period). Nearly three years later Courtney and Lea would adopt David.
In 1996, Courtney accepted a call to the First Baptist Church of Pendleton, SC. They began their ministry in Pendleton on November 24, 1996, with Lea eight months pregnant. On December 24, 1996, Sarah Krueger was born.
Courtney is currently the third longest serving pastor in First Baptist Pendleton’s 169 year history.
In 2003, Courtney earned a Doctor of Ministry degree in the field of Christian Spirituality from Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, GA. His dissertation was on Sabbath Keeping which led to many jokes during his studies about “working on the Sabbath.”
In 2008, he was awarded First Place in the Baptist History and Heritage Society’s Preaching Contest.
Courtney enjoys mountain biking and Lea enjoys horseback riding. The wonderful thing about these activities is that they are the only people they know who do them together! There are a number of multi-use trails in the Pendleton area that make this possible. It is a point of pride for Courtney to always arrive back at the truck ahead of the horse!
Courtney also enjoys canoeing. In February of 2008, he paddled 60 miles of the Suwannee River in Florida on a four day trip. Another outdoor interest is backpacking. His greatest backpacking adventure was in 2006 when he and five others spent six days backpacking in the Grand Canyon.
In October of 2008 Courtney traveled to Romania to teach Gypsy pastors in the Gypsy Smith School in Bucharest.
In 2009 Courtney was awarded a grant for a twelve week Sabbatical. As part of this Sabbatical, he spent 5 weeks in Greece with his family assisting CBF Missionaries Bob and Janice Newell in their ministry to Albanians living in Athens Greece.
In 2010 Courtney crossed completed his first (and possibly last!) marathon in Greenville, SC. Jennifer McClung, our other pastor also completed her first marathon the same day (and about 45 minutes before Courtney did).
In 2011 Courtney joined the board of directors of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty. He serves as part of the 13 member Religious Liberty Council.
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