ATLANTA — Steve Graham, pastor of Second Baptist Church in Liberty, Mo., has been named director of ministerial excellence for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. He will assume the new role in June.
The initiative for ministerial excellence is funded by the Lilly Endowment Inc., which has provided CBF with two grants over the past three years. The goal of the initiative is to help sustain healthy ministers and deliver practical help to congregational leaders across the country.
“I am thrilled that Steve is joining the leadership development team,” said Terry Hamrick, the Fellowship's coordinator of leadership development. “He brings a wealth of experience and strong gifts for inviting ministers toward excellence.”
Graham said he has long held a passion for ministers working in local churches.
“The very idea of tending to pastors [and] providing givers an opportunity to receive is a humbling thought,” he said. “I have such a great respect for them, and I know that there is a correlation between the health of a pastor and the health of the church.”
Graham has also served on CBF's national coordinating council and a peer learning group in Kansas City, Mo. He has been involved with CBF since 1991, when he served on its first nominating committee.
“Steve's abilities as a friend and mentor are incalculable,” said Keith Herron, pastor of Holmeswood Baptist Church in Kansas City, Mo. “I can't begin to describe how much I've learned from him about the fragility of our calling and how God uses us in a complicated world of faith, leadership, ego and shared glory in being God's people.”
Doyle Sager, pastor of First Baptist Church in Jefferson City, Mo., agreed. Sager has worked with Graham for several years, coordinating events and planning annual retreats for their churches.
“Steve ‘gets it,'” he said. “He understands the pressures of ministry, but he is also very much in tune with the mighty resources available to us — emotionally, spiritually and professionally.”
A native of Oklahoma, Graham attended Oklahoma Baptist University, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
-30-