ALEXANDRIA, La. (ABP) — In an unprecedented open letter to trustees of the Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Mission Board, the head of an SBC-affiliated state convention called Sept. 9 for NAMB trustees not to endorse a search committee’s recommendation for the board’s new president.
David Hankins
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Louisiana Baptist Convention Executive Director David Hankins distributed an open letter via an e-mail list calling on NAMB trustees not to elect Kevin Ezell, pastor of Highview Baptist Church in Louisville, Ky. as NAMB president.
Trustees are scheduled to elect Ezell, whom a search committee unanimously recommended Aug. 31, during a Sept. 14 special called meeting.
Hankins said “a major flaw” disqualifies Ezell for the post.
“I believe you are being asked to elect a candidate who, while having many admirable qualities, is unqualified in one significant way,” Hankins wrote. “Dr. Ezell’s excellent credentials in areas such as character, family, leadership and theology do not compensate for [his] demonstrated lack of support for the mission of NAMB.”
Hankins noted that despite his church’s annual $6 million budget, “the financial contribution of the church, through the Cooperative Program [the SBC’s unified budget] and Annie Armstrong Offering [the annual SBC-wide special offering for NAMB], has been marginal, at best.”
Kevin Ezell (Highview Baptist photo)
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“Consequently, one has to believe the anemic support of cooperative ministries has been a purposeful decision by the pastor and the church leadership,” Hankins’ letter continued. “Dr. Ezell has indicated he believes this was a better way to reach their congregational objectives. Is that what Southern Baptists believe and what they expect from the leader of the North American Mission Board?”
Hankins said those who would presume to lead Southern Baptist entities ought to have a track record of supporting those entities.
In 2009, according to SBC stats, Highview Baptist Church reported giving $140,100, or 2.23 percent of its total undesignated receipts of nearly $6.3 million, through CP. The church gave $10,000 through Annie Armstrong. They gave $50,000 through the SBC’s Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions.
Kentucky Baptist Convention records show the church gave $10,000 annually to the CP through the KBC during both 2008-09 and 2009-10. The State Convention of Baptists in Indiana reported Highview gave $140,100.04 to the CP. Highview has a satellite campus in Louisville's Indiana suburbs.
Emil Turner, executive director of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention, affirmed Hankins’ call for NAMB trustees to reconsider the search committee’s recommendation.
“Dr. Hankins has a gracious and kind assessment of the situation and he is also clearly logical,” Turner said. “It seems surprising to me that the search committee would recommend someone whose level of support for the North American Mission Board through the CP and the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering could not sustain the work of NAMB were it to be duplicated widely across the convention.
“While I have met Dr. Ezell and been impressed with his personality and his preaching, 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.”
Hankins further expressed concern that a NAMB president who has chosen an independent church model will “send a chilling message” to thousands of Southern Baptist churches who generously support CP and the mission offerings.
Hankins questioned how someone with Ezell’s record could carry out the recommendations of the GCR Task Force report, approved overhwelmingly by messengers to the SBC annual meeting in June, that notes, “The greatest stewardship of Great Commission investment and deployment is giving through the Cooperative Program” and that calls on the SBC to adopt goals of giving more than $100 million annually through the Annie Armstrong offering.
“How can he challenge cooperative support if he has led his church in the opposite direction?” Hankins asked.
Hankins said he had been told there are no candidates who have all the credentials of the current nominee and an exemplary track record of CP and Annie Armstrong support.
“I do not believe this,” he wrote. “There are any number of leaders who possess outstanding leadership skills and meet all the prerequisites, including denominational cooperation and support.
“This is serious business at a serious juncture. No one needs to remind you of the struggles that NAMB has had due to conflict at the executive level,” Hankins told NAMB trustees. “I know you want to get this decision right. Compromising on cooperative missions methodology is not the pathway to getting it right. Please, seek a candidate to lead our national work who possesses all the prerequisites your Southern Baptist family expects and deserves.”
Charlie Warren is editor of the Arkansas Baptist News.