LOUISVILLE, Ky. (ABP) – A past chairman of the Southern Baptist International Mission Board who supports changing the Cooperative Program unified budget to send more money to overseas mission fields will be nominated as next executive director-treasurer of the Kentucky Baptist Convention.
Paul Chitwood
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Paul Chitwood, 41, pastor of First Baptist Church of Mount Washington, Ky., and assistant professor of evangelism and church growth at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, is the unanimous choice for a successor to current exec Bill Mackey, who retires at the end of May, according to the Western Recorder.
As chair of the IMB, Chitwood wrote a Baptist Press commentary in 2009 calling for changing the Cooperative Program allocation formula to allow funding for new missionaries.
Chitwood noted that under the current formula, just 18 cents of every dollar given in his state would make it to the overseas mission field. Last year Kentucky Baptists approved a “Great Commission” task force report calling for increasing the percentage of funds budgeted for national and international ministries from 38 percent to 50 percent within 10 years.
Implementation began in January with an announcement that five full-time and 19 part-time jobs at the Kentucky Baptist Convention would be eliminated, and remaining employees would not receive a pay raise this year.
According to a statement released to the Western Recorder, Chitwood said given the current “reality” of Kentucky Baptist life, the next executive director “must be even more enthusiastic about our cooperative endeavors.”
“My desire is to serve the pastors and churches of the KBC to expand God’s kingdom in Kentucky and to the ends of the earth for His glory alone,” Chitwood said.
A vote on Chitwood’s nomination is scheduled June 2. If elected, he would assume the job July 1.
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— Bob Allen is managing editor of Associated Baptist Press. Todd Deaton of the Western Recorder contributed to this story.