PORTSMOUTH (BP) — The Southern Baptist Convention's North American Mission Board trustees heard plans for a new national evangelism initiative and elected Tim Patterson as their new chairman during a May 20-21 meeting in Portsmouth.
In a week highlighted by the commissioning of 117 new missionaries and chaplains, NAMB trustees also toured Naval Station Norfolk, the world's largest Navy base, to gain a firsthand view of the work of Southern Baptist military chaplains.
The meeting took place almost a year to the day that Geoff Hammond became NAMB's new president in 2007.
Hammond also showed trustees a 30-second television commercial that promotes the ministry of Southern Baptists throughout North America and the world. The ad refers viewers to a website where they can view a gospel presentation and locate a nearby Southern Baptist church. The ad was to debut in Indianapolis prior to the Southern Baptist Convention's June 10-11 annual meeting.
Trustees also heard a report from David Wheeler, a NAMB national missionary who serves as associate director of the Church Planting Center at Liberty University in Lynchburg. Wheeler was accompanied by three Liberty students who represent the next generation of church planters who are answering the call to congregationalize the United States and Canada.
In other actions, trustees elected officers to lead the board's governing body. Patterson, the new chairman, is pastor of Hillcrest Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Fla. He had served as first vice chairman of NAMB's board since 2006.