ALPHARETTA, Ga. (ABP) — After a 10-month search to replace disgraced former head Bob Reccord, the Southern Baptist Convention's North American Mission Board has recommended Virginian Geoffrey Hammond as its next president.
Hammond, 49, is currently senior associate director of the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia. The state convention was created as an alternative to the historic Baptist General Association of Virginia, which is controlled by moderates.
A search committee presented his name March 1. Hammond must be approved by NAMB's 60-member board, which will vote on the recommendation during its March 20-21 meeting at the board's Alpharetta, Ga., headquarters.
If approved, Hammond will start full-time work May 22.
“As a third-generation missionary, my heartbeat has always been reaching people with the gospel no matter where they live,” he said. “I believe the North American Mission Board is the greatest missionary agency for reaching North America for Christ, and it is the greatest honor of my life to be nominated for this position.”
Bill Curtis, NAMB trustee chairman, said in a press statement that the committee was “thorough and prayerful” in choosing Hammond for the spot. He also commended NAMB employees for their work at the organization, which claims 5,000 missionaries in the United States and Canada.
“During the past year, I have observed our wonderful staff rise to every challenge with faith and cooperation,” he said. “As we prepare to move into a new phase of NAMB's history, I am confident that the staff and our committed missionaries will continue to rise.”
Reccord left the agency in April 2006 amid allegations of extravagant spending, autocratic leadership, and conflicts of interest.
A trustee investigation produced an incriminating report on the former president's tenure that ultimately led to his resignation. Allegations of his poor management first surfaced in a February, 2006 story by the Christian Index, the Georgia Baptist Convention newspaper. After the investigation, NAMB trustees initially put Reccord under strict “executive-level controls,” which many observers saw as preliminary action before his eventual firing.
In April, several trustees called for Reccord to resign. Three days later, he did.
Hammond has worked as a pastor, seminary professor, church-planting strategist, and missionary to Brazil. His has held his most recent position at the Virginia state convention for five years.
He was born in Nigeria to parents working for the SBC's International Mission Board. He graduated from Spurgeon's Seminary in London and received a doctorate from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.
Hammond and his wife, Deborah, have two sons.
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