DALLAS (ABP) — The Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board has elected a 15-member search committee to replace executive director Charles Wade, who has announced plans to retire Jan. 31, 2008.
Executive Board Chairman Bob Fowler sent an e-mail May 16 to directors to notify them of the nominees, and the board elected the committee at its May 21-22 meeting.
The committee, composed of seven Executive Board directors and eight members from the convention at large, will nominate a successor for Wade. Ken Hugghins, pastor of Elkins Lake Baptist Church in Huntsville, Texas, and chairman of the Christian Life Commission, is the chair of the board.
The board elected the committee with a smattering of votes in opposition. Several members voiced concern that the committee includes only one Hispanic and one African American.
Board officers said they tried to make a committee reflective of the BGCT in terms of ethnicity, geography, gender and size of church, as well as provide a balance between laity and clergy.
In addition to Hugghins, nominees for the search committee include:
— Michael Bell, pastor of Greater St. Stephen First Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas, and former president of the BGCT.
— Linda Brian, board director from First Baptist Church in Amarillo, Texas.
— Jerry Carlisle, board director and pastor of First Baptist Church in Plano, Texas.
— Stacy Conner, pastor of First Baptist Church in Muleshoe, Texas.
— Teo Cisneros, pastor of Templo Jerusalem Baptist in Victoria, Texas, and a Baptist University of the Americas trustee.
— Gloria DuBose, board director from First Baptist Church in Midland, Texas.
— Gary Elliston, layperson from Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas, and Baylor University regent.
— Elizabeth Hanna, board director from Calder Baptist Church in Beaumont, Texas.
— Mary Humphries, layperson from First Baptist Church in Tyler, Texas.
— Dan Malone, an El Paso attorney.
— John Nguyen, board director and pastor of Vietnamese Baptist Church in Garland, Texas.
— Jim Nelson, board director from Hyde Park Baptist Church in Austin, Texas.
— Steve Wells, pastor of South Main Baptist Church in Houston and member of the Truett Theological Seminary Advisory Board.
— Dan Wooldridge, pastor of Crestview Baptist Church in Georgetown, Texas.
The board also elected two institutional representatives and two staff representatives who will serve as non-voting advisers to the search committee. Gary Cook, president of Dallas Baptist University, and Jerry Bradley, president of Children at Heart Ministries, will serve as institutional representatives. Jane Wilson, a youth ministry specialist, and Keith Crouch, a church architecture director, will serve as BGCT staff representatives.
In other business, the Executive Board went on record affirming Wade's response to concerns expressed by the Basin Baptist Network and Golden Triangle Association. The associations asked the board to clarify the BGCT position regarding God, in light of comments by a speaker at a Christian Life Commission conference who said Christians and Muslims address “the same God.” The board reaffirmed the belief in Jesus as “the unique Son of God and the only way of salvation.”
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