Please submit transitions — including staff changes, ordinations, anniversaries or deaths — to Barbara Francis. This page will be updated bi-weekly.
STAFF CHANGES
David Roberts, concluding his tenure as intentional interim pastor at Sycamore Baptist Church, Franklin, Va.
Bill Tuck, to Mount Hermon Baptist Church, Moseley, Va., as interim pastor, effective June 1.
Craig Williamson, to First Baptist Church, Eatonton, Ga., as pastor. He comes from the pastorate of First Baptist Church, Manchester, Ga.
Mark Wingfield, to Baptist News Global as executive director and publisher, effective July 1. Currently he is associate pastor at Wilshire Baptist Church, Dallas, Texas.
RETIREMENTS
Harold Phillips, retiring after 24 years as coordinator and church benefits advocate for the Baptist Fellowship of Missouri/CBF of Missouri/CBF Heartland.
Randy Rains, retiring as pastor of Black Creek Baptist Church, Mechanicsville, Va., after 45 years of full-time ministry.
DEATHS
Bill Austin, 88, died April 17 in Waco, Texas. He taught at Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas, and Temple Junior College. He also served as chaplain at Baylor University, Waco, Texas. His many pastorates included these Texas churches: First Baptist of Waxahachie, Vernon and Nacogdoches; University Baptist in Abilene; Calvary and Park Lane Drive Baptist in Waco; and churches in Oklahoma and California. He is survived by his wife, Margie; son, Randy; daughter, Terri McKee; four grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
Santiago Garcia Jr., 89, died April 3 in San Antonio, Texas. During five decades of ministry, he was pastor of six Texas Baptist churches: Iglesia Bautista Buen in Del Rio; Westlawn Baptist Church in San Antonio; Bonita Gardens Baptist Church in Houston; Seacroft Baptist Church in San Antonio; Northeast Hispanic Baptist Church in Converse; and Iglesia Bautista in Somerset. He served Texas Baptists on several denominational boards, including Baptist Memorial Hospital System in San Antonio. He is survived by his wife, Delia; seven children; 13 grandchildren; and 17 great-grandchildren.
David E. Horton, 88, died April 7 in Phoenix, Arizona. He had served as pastor of Ft. Wayne (Ind.) Baptist Church. There he became involved with the Amish and the Burmese immigrant community in Indiana and was instrumental in founding the Friends of Burma organization. He is preceded in death by his first wife, Doris. He is survived by his wife, Mary; daughter, Bethany Klingensmith; son, Mark; and three grandchildren.
Brooks Ramsey, 98, died April 17 in Evanston, Illinois. A minister whose self-described “wide-angle view of God” clashed with his white Baptist congregations in the 1960s, he served Memphis churches in six denominations: Prescott Baptist, Idlewild Presbyterian, Calvary Episcopal, First Congregational and First Unitarian. Among his pastorates were First Baptist Church, Albany, Ga., and Second Baptist Church, Memphis, Tenn. Later he served pastorates in St. Louis and Dallas. He is survived by four children; five grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.
KUDOS
ANNIVERSARIES
Jeff Hayes, 3 years as pastor of Oakland Baptist Church, Rock Hill, S.C.
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In case you missed them:
Transitions for the week of 4-10-20
Transitions for the week of 3-27-20
Transitions for the week of 3-13-20
Transitions for the week of 2-28-20