By Bob Allen
The former District of Columbia Baptist Convention executive minister and former pastor of Washington’s First Baptist Church has been named executive director of American Baptist Home Mission Societies.
According to American Baptist News Service, Jeffrey Haggray, interim senior pastor of Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Roswell, Ga., was the unanimous choice to succeed Aidsand Wright-Riggins, who retires in October.
An ordained American Baptist minister, Haggray, 51, was elected executive director of the D.C. Baptist Convention, at the time triply aligned with American Baptist Churches USA, the Progressive National Baptist Convention and Southern Baptist Convention, in 2001. The following year the SBC North American Mission Board canceled its cooperative agreement with D.C. Baptists, reducing the convention’s $1.5 million budget by about a third.
Haggray helped get the convention in the black before resigning in 2010 to become the first African-American pastor of First Baptist Church in Washington, a historic congregation founded in 1802 and church home to Supreme Court justices, members of Congress and Presidents Harry Truman and Jimmy Carter.
It turned out to be a mismatch, and three years later Haggray resigned. He moved to Atlanta, moving his membership to the city’s historic Ebenezer Baptist Church.
“I strongly believe that Jeff’s visibility in the faith community, his work as executive director of the District of Columbia Baptist Convention and development experience, along with his knowledge of the American Baptist family, will position ABHMS for a bright future,” commented Clifford Johnson, president of the American Baptist Home Mission Societies board and search committee chair.
Amy Butler, senior minister of The Riverside Church in New York City and a member of the search committee, said Haggray “brings a unique combination of theological depth and authentic prophetic voice, as well as a history of fearless leadership and vast understanding of the important role and opportunity for ABHMS and American Baptists in this moment in history.”
“I believe Jeff will bring a fresh, entrepreneurial spirit to the task at hand and help us embrace the future with full appreciation of our incredible history,” Butler said.
Roy Medley, general secretary of American Baptist Churches USA, said as executive minister of the D.C. Baptist Convention Haggray “showed great leadership skills in reaching across the full racial/ethnic and theological spectrum.”
“He has a passion for the life of the church as it faces the challenges of ministry in North America and the capacity to lead ABHMS in its response,” said Medley.
Organized in 1832 and formerly known as National Ministries, the American Baptist Home Mission Societies oversees evangelism and church planting, along with caring ministries such as disaster response, education ministries including camps and relating to colleges and universities, intercultural and justice ministries like children in poverty, disabilities and immigration and “missional church” training. Judson Press, the publishing ministry of American Baptist Churches USA, is one of its mission programs.
Wright-Riggins steps down Oct. 31 after more than 24 years at the helm of ABHMS. With 40 years as an ordained American Baptist minister and 55 years as a licensed gospel preacher, he is the longest consecutive-serving chief executive in the agency’s history.