DOM named to MBC ministerial services post

DOM named to MBC ministerial services post

By Brian Koonce
Staff Writer

April 18, 2006

JEFFERSON CITY – A Missouri son with 42 years in the ministry is stepping up to fill the gap of ministerial services specialist on the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) staff.

George Roach, formerly the director of missions for Mt. Pleasant, Mt. Zion, Monroe Baptist Associations will take on the role of “pastoring pastors” May 1.

Pastors can turn to Ministerial Services for counseling, help with conflict resolution and help in the event that the pastor is terminated. Ministerial Services also receives and sends out resumes to churches that request them. Churches in need of supply pastors can also contact Ministerial Services for a preacher on a particular date.

Roach’s resume makes him seem the perfect man for the job. He grew up in the Boot Heel and after pastoring his first church at 15 years of age, he studied at Missouri Baptist College and Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He pastored several churches in Missouri and Texas before coming as director of missions for Mt. Pleasant, Mt. Zion, Monroe Baptist Association in 2001.

A lot of his ministry has been as a bi-vocational pastor, something he will have in common with a majority of Missouri Baptist pastors.

“Bi-vocational is part of my DNA,” Roach said. “As I looked at this position and what it took, that is one of the things that attracted me to it. I know somewhat what their needs might be.”

Roach was also a member of the nine-man Ministerial Services Task Force, a group that laid a foundation for a ministerial services specialist in the time that position was not filled.

The position was left open when former ministerial services specialist Jim Carter resigned at the end of March to accept the pastorate of Macedonia Baptist Church in Springfield.