Please submit transitions — including staff changes, ordinations, anniversaries or deaths — to Barbara Francis. This page will be updated weekly.
STAFF CHANGES
Lizzie Bebber, to United Ministries of Greenville, S.C., as executive director, effective in March. She has served at Christ House since 2008, most recently as executive director/pastor and director of the Kairos program.
Shauw Chin Capps, to Cooperative Baptist Fellowship as president of the CBF Foundation and chief legacy gifts officer for CBF. Her most recent position was with CarterBaldwin, an Atlanta-based retained executive search firm.
Matt Dodrill, to Pulaski Heights Baptist Church, Little Rock, Ark., as senior pastor. He comes from Wilshire Baptist Church, Dallas, Texas, where he was pastoral resident.
Mark Giganti, concluding his tenure as pastor of Thaxton (Va.) Baptist Church.
Chance Kuzma, to First Baptist Church, Mocksville, N.C., as minister of youth and community missions.
Melanie Lassiter, concluding her tenure as leadership and discipleship director of Peninsula Baptist Association, Newport News, Va.
Anna Rullan-Garcia, to Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Mississippi, as assistant coordinator.
RETIREMENTS
Lloyd Braswell, retiring after more than 10 years as pastor of Chester (Va.) Baptist Church.
David Greenhaw, retiring as president of Eden Theological Seminary, St. Louis, Mo., where he has served for 23 years.
Mary Wilson, retiring after more than 17 years as pastor of Church of the Savior, Austin, Texas, effective April 5.
ORDINATION
Amanda Willhite, ordained to ministry on Feb. 23 by Believers Baptist Fellowship, Hendersonville, Tenn.
DEATHS
Orville Chapman, 89, died Jan. 2 in California. For 40 years he and his wife, Virginia, were International Ministries missionaries in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire). He trained pastors in rural villages and taught science and theology at local secondary schools. He taught theology at the Institute of Theology in Kinshasa and at the Kikongo Pastors’ School (now the Baptist University of Kikongo/UNBAC). Glen Chapman, the oldest of the couple’s four children, is carrying on his legacy as long-term missionary with International Ministries and has served along with his wife, Rita, in the DR Congo since 1987.
Leo Garrett Jr., 94, a Baptist scholar and teacher, died Feb. 5 in Nacogdoches, Texas. He taught at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (1949-59, 1979-97), Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (1959-73) and Baylor University (1973-79). He was named distinguished professor of theology emeritus by Southwestern Seminary He was named director of J.M. Dawson Studies in Church-State and Professor for Religion at Baylor, later becoming the Simon M. and Ethel Bunn Professor of Church-State Studies. He was a visiting professor at Hong Kong Baptist Theological Seminary and lectured in Mexico, Brazil, Uruguay, Columbia, the Ukraine, and Romania, and at various other schools in the U.S. He was active for decades within the Baptist World Alliance. He was preceded in death by his wife, Myrta Ann. He is survived by three sons, James, Robert and Paul; four grandsons; and three great-grandchildren.
Edward A. Libby, 85, died Feb. 1 in Rockford, Ill. An American Baptist minister, he served South Baptist Church, Worcester, Mass.; Bethel Baptist Church, East Lansing, Mich.; Covenant Baptist Church, Detroit/West Bloomfield, Mich.; and State Street Baptist Church/Creekwood Baptist Church, Rockford, Ill. He served as a member of the Ministers and Missionaries Benefit Board. He is survived by his wife, Evelyn; son, Christopher; daughter, Andrea Sweet; and three grandchildren.
Zelma Mullins Pattillo, 81, died Feb. 9 in Wise, Va. A seminary-trained chaplain, she served as coordinator of spiritual care for New Beacon Hospice, a ministry of Baptist and Catholic hospital systems serving a wide area of North-Central Alabama. Before coming to Birmingham, she was chaplain of the Masonic Home of Kentucky. Earlier she was on the ministry staff of Walnut Street, Crescent Hill and Highland Baptist churches in Louisville, Ky. and campus minister in Clemson, S.C. She was preceded in death by her husband, Wesley M. “Pat”. She is survived by a daughter, Laura Grace; and a son, Stephen Riley.
KUDOS
ANNIVERSARIES
Annie Armstrong, 40 years as organist at First Baptist Church of Christ, Macon, Ga.
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In case you missed them:
Transitions for the week of 2-7-20
Transitions for the week of 1-31-20
Transitions for the week of 1-17-20
Transitions for the week of 1-10-20