ST. JOSEPH – Micah Fries, lead pastor at Frederick Boulevard Baptist Church here and second vice president of the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC), resigned his duties as pastor Oct. 7.
Fries announced he is leaving to become director of ministry development for LifeWay Christian Resources effective Nov. 1. He served at Frederick Boulevard for five years and for five years previously as pastor of Missouri Valley Baptist Church in Halls. His service to the MBC as an elected officer spanned two years in the second vice president post.
Fries and his wife, Tracy, are former International Mission Board missionaries to Burkina Faso, West Africa, serving for a time as church planters among the Dagara people. They have two daughters.
“While we are confident in God’s leadership to LifeWay, leaving Frederick Boulevard Baptist Church will be a difficult thing for our family,” Fries said. “We have put down roots in the St. Joseph community and we deeply love our Frederick family. Leaving them would not be possible unless we were confident in God’s leadership.”
Fries confirmed to The Pathway Oct. 8 that he had planned on running for MBC first vice president this year. He now will nominate Neil Franks, pastor, First Baptist Church, Branson, for that office.