NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — Gene Mims, a key vice president at the Southern Baptist Convention's publishing house for 12 years, said June 10 he is leaving to return to the pastorate.
Mims, 54, vice president of church resources at LifeWay Christian Resources in Nashville, told Associated Baptist Press he will leave Sept. 30 but as yet does not have a church to go to.
Meanwhile, LifeWay president Jimmy Draper said he likely will announce his retirement date early next year.
Mims' sudden departure without another job “is unusual,” the vice president said, but he was not pressured to resign. The only thing that “factors into my thinking,” he said, “is the desire to pastor.”
The church resources division, which employs 645 people, sells Sunday school literature and other materials to most of the SBC's 43,000 churches, as well as non-Baptist congregations.
LifeWay's 2003 revenues — $414 million — were down last year 0.7 percent from the previous year and are expected to be below budget in 2004, according to a February report to trustees. Church resources, by far the largest division in Lifeway, has suffered financially as well.
But both Mims and LifeWay president Jimmy Draper said the division's financial performance did not factor into Mims' departure, and Draper said such criticism of the division has been misdirected. “They have performed very well,” he said.
Mims said he will stay through September — the end of LifeWay's fiscal year — so he can finish preparation of next year's budget and allow Draper time to replace him.
According to several LifeWay sources, Mims had hoped to be considered to succeed Draper, 68, who is expected to retire sometime in the next two years.
“That was in a lot of people's minds, but frankly I have no interest in that,” Mims told ABP. Resigning now rather than waiting for Draper to retire “would stop any speculation in that regard,” he added. “To tell you the truth, I always thought I would be here till he left. But I decided there's no advantage either for him or for me to do that.”
Mims' announcement is “a little unusual,” Draper acknowledged, “but we decided to do that so there would not be any question. … I'm sure he would be honored to be considered [for president] but that is never anything he has campaigned for.”
The two former pastors have talked often about missing the pulpit, Draper said. That Mims might return to the pastorate “was something we've talked about for a long time,” he said. “The timing seemed right.”
“It's a sad-happy time,” Draper continued. “He's made tremendous contributions for us.”
Draper told ABP he will announce his retirement date “probably early next year.” He expects to give LifeWay trustees 12 to 18 months to find his replacement.
Mims became LifeWay vice president in December 1991. At that time he was pastor of First Baptist Church, Cleveland, Tenn., and had served as a LifeWay trustee since 1984. Mims served as pastor of churches in Tennessee, Virginia, Alabama and Texas. A native of Mississippi, Mims and his wife, Ann, have two adult children.
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