By Charlie Warren
Kevin Ezell has been elected as president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Mission Board. It is a crucial time in NAMB’s history. I sincerely hope he has many very successful years of leading Southern Baptists to reach our nation with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Unfortunately, he faces overwhelming challenges. His election was peppered with controversy. He will have to rise above the criticism while also struggling to overcome the perception that he lacks a clear understanding of the importance of cooperative missions in Southern Baptist life.
I agree wholeheartedly with Emil Turner’s assessment. Turner, executive director of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention, commented prior to Ezell’s election, “It seems surprising to me that the search committee would recommend someone whose level of support for the North American Mission Board through the Cooperative Program and the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering could not sustain the work of NAMB were it to be duplicated widely across the convention…. I would hope that the new president of NAMB could be an example of commitment to the Cooperative Program as called for by the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force and to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering.”
Ezell’s flippant, sarcastic response about concerns raised by David Hankins, Louisiana Baptists’ executive, and Turner fails the diplomacy test.
I do not doubt Ezell’s commitment to Christ or to reaching America with the gospel, but he will also need to prove his commitment to accomplishing that task through cooperation with 45,000 Southern Baptist churches, 43 state Baptist conventions and hundreds of Baptist associations. Those relationships are vital to NAMB’s success.
In addition to his church’s meager commitment to the CP and the Annie Armstrong Offering, the fact that he almost totally bypassed giving through the Kentucky Baptist Convention raises a huge red flag about his support for and desire to work alongside state Baptist conventions.
Complicating matters for Ezell, the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force recommendations, approved by messengers to the SBC annual meeting in June, ripped apart the cooperative agreements NAMB has with state conventions without suggesting an alternative means for NAMB to cooperate with state conventions in the future. Ezell will have to figure out how those cooperative relationships will be redefined.
Missions binds Southern Baptists together. The Cooperative Program has been the glue. Cooperation and relationships provide the oil and grease to keep the SBC engine running smoothly. Those things seem to be disintegrating. Ezell will succeed only if he figures out ways not only to unite Baptists in the missions task, but to do so with commitment to the CP and cooperation with Southern Baptists nationwide. It is a huge task. We need to pray for his success.
His last two predecessors at NAMB had checkered tenures that ended in resignations under pressure. One seemed to have skills as a CEO, but failed in the area of stewardship and a clear vision. The other had a true heart for church planting, but failed as a CEO. NAMB’s future seems to hang in the balance. There was talk that the GCR task force would dissolve NAMB or merge it with the International Mission Board. Some think that should have happened.
Ezell must succeed with CEO skills, a vision for uniting Baptists in reaching the nation and diplomacy to do so through relationships and cooperation with state conventions, associations and churches large and small. Working only with mega-churches won’t cut it.