Executive director search nearly complete
By Don Hinkle
Editor
JEFFERSON CITY – The Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) Executive Board unanimously approved a request by the Executive Director Search Committee for a special called meeting Feb. 3 for the purpose of acting on a likely recommendation from the committee.
The Executive Board approved the request during its regular Dec. 9 meeting at the Baptist building after Executive Director Search Committee Chairman James Freeman told the board that the committee believes its work is almost finished.
“We are very close to bringing a recommendation to the Executive Board and we feel confident enough to ask for the Feb. 3 special called meeting for the board to consider a candidate for MBC executive director,” said Freeman, a lay member of Country Meadows Baptist Church, Independence. He added that the committee had come together in great unity and anticipated making a unanimous recommendation but required additional time to prepare a salary package recommendation and complete some other due diligence tasks.
After hearing Freeman’s brief presentation, board members voted unanimously to meet Feb. 3 in a meeting that will begin with an 11 a.m. lunch and a noon starting time in which it is expected the candidate will be formally introduced to board for questioning. Since the meeting will be dealing with a personnel matter, it will be held in closed executive session.
If all goes well, the board could vote that day to call the candidate, filling the convention’s top position which has been vacant since April 2007. Long-time Missouri Southern Baptist pastor and state convention staffer David Tolliver has been serving as interim executive director since April 2007.
The 11-member Executive Director Search Committee was formed by the Executive Board on July 10, 2007. The committee is made up of members from across the state, representing various types of churches. Freeman said that the committee conducted a nationwide search and considered national candidates.
In addition to Freeman, the committee consists of John Marshall, pastor, Second Baptist Church, Springfield (vice chairman); Doug Austin, laity, Bethany Baptist Church, Cape Girardeau; Gary Barkley, minister of eduation and outreach, Pisgah Baptist Church, Excelsior Springs; Dianna Chambers, laity, West County Community Church, Wildwood; Larry Fackler, director of missions, Lamine Baptist Association, Versailles; Ed Hamilton, interim pastor, Ozark Baptist Church, Houston; Lyn Heying, pastor, New Oakland Baptist Church, Palmyra; Jeff Purvis, pastor, First Baptist Church, Herculaneum-Peveley; Jody Shelenhamer, laity, First Baptist Church, Bolivar; and Randy Comer, pastor, Highview Baptist Church, Chillicothe.
Complete coverage of the Executive Board’s Dec. 9 meeting will be in the next edition of The Pathway.