By Bob Allen
The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Coordinating Council approved a list of names nominated for a new organizational structure adopted last year now being implemented in stages.
Nominees approved at a called virtual meeting April 4 include 13 names for a new Governing Board, which will retain administrative tasks currently performed by the full council while turning over program functions to two new councils created to focus on missions and ministries. From there the names go before the CBF General Assembly June 26-28 in Greensboro, N.C., for final approval.
Also nominated are new Coordinating Council officers. Kasey Jones, pastor of National Memorial Baptist Church in Washington, is nominated moderator-elect, assuming the moderator post after her predecessor, layman Bill McConnell of Knoxville, Tenn., presides over the General Assembly in 2014. She would become the 11th woman elected to the post and the second African-American.
Jason Coker, pastor of Wilton Baptist Church in Wilton, Conn., and a former council member, is nominated as recorder, succeeding Renée Bennett of Macon, Ga.
A 2012 Task Force report adopted after a two-year study calls for breaking up the current Coordinating Council into three smaller and more focused groups. A new governing board will continue to perform legal and fiduciary responsibilities, but will no longer include representatives from each state and regional CBF organization.
Nominees to the first Governing Board include McConnell, a member of Central Baptist Church of Bearden in Knoxville, Tenn.: Paul Baxley, pastor of First Baptist Church in Athens, Ga.; Daniel Carro, Kingdom Advance ambassador for the Virginia Baptist Mission Board; Matt Cook, pastor of First Baptist Church in Wilmington, N.C.; Garry Dollar, United Way of Greater St. Louis; Doug Dortch, senior minister of Mountain Brook Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala.; Susan Fendley, a retired attorney for the Tennessee Valley Authority in Knoxville, Tenn., and 2012 Task Force member; Wayne Patterson, a member of First Baptist Church in Pendleton, S.C.; Steve Wells, pastor of South Main Baptist Church in Houston; Jean Willingham of St. Petersburg, Fla., a former moderator of CBF of Florida and 2012 Task Force member; Joy Yee, pastor of Nineteenth Avenue Baptist Church in San Francisco and a former CBF moderator; and Camille Allen Snyder of Jackson, Miss.
The first nominees to a 15 voting-member Missions Council are Mimi Walker, pastor of Druid Hills Baptist Church in Atlanta, who will serve as chair; Steven Porter, a lecturer at George W. Truett Theological Seminary in Waco, Texas.; Mike Oliver, senior pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in Madison, Ala.; Alan Sherouse, pastor of Metro Baptist Church in New York City; and Alice Mull, a member of Living Faith Baptist Fellowship in Elizabethtown, Ky.
Nominated to a third Ministries Council, responsible for matching resources and needs in the Fellowship community, are Michael Cheuk, senior minister at University Baptist Church in Charlottesville, Va., the council chair; Terry Ellis, pastor of Broadmoor Baptist Church in Baton Rouge, La.; Emily Hull-McGee, minister to young adults at Highland Baptist Church in Louisville, Ky.; Christy McMillin-Goodwin, a past CBF moderator and associate minister for education and missions at Oakland Baptist Church in Rock Hill, S.C.; Steve Sheely, pastor of Rolling Hills Baptist Church in Fayetteville, Ark.; and Leta Tillman, a member of First Baptist Church in Abilene, Texas.