NORMAN, Okla. (ABP) – Veteran missionary Charles “T” Thomas is expected to be hired by the Cooperating Baptist Fellowship of Oklahoma as coordinator.
Thomas, currently missions coordinator for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Florida, will be recommended to the Oklahoma organization's coordinating council Dec. 6. If elected, he is expected to assume the new post Jan. 1. Both state organizations are affiliated with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, a nationwide network of moderate Baptists.
“There's a great deal of excitement here in Oklahoma” about Thomas' election, said Lavonn Brown, interim coordinator. “We have made him an offer and he has accepted. … We'd have to have a train wreck for this not to happen. But it's not official until the coordinating council votes on Saturday.”
Thomas, a native of Atlanta, would replace Rick McClatchy as chief executive of the CBF of Oklahoma. McClatchy recently left to become coordinator for the CBF of Texas. The Oklahoma organization has three employees.
In 1992, Thomas and his wife, Kathie, were among the first four global missionaries appointed by the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Previously they were missionaries assigned for the Southern Baptist Convention, serving first in France and later in Romania. The Thomases resigned from the SBC Foreign Mission Board in protest of what they termed a “hostile takeover” that resulted in the resignations of two top FMB administrators for Europe.
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