ETOBICOKE, Ontario (ABP) — Baptists in Canada’s two most populous provinces will be led by a former youth minister and non-profit officer.
Tim McCoy
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Tim McCoy, who has served for the last four years as director of youth ministries for the Canadian Baptists of Ontario and Quebec (CBOQ), becomes the group’s executive minister effective April 1, according to a press release. The suburban-Toronto-based organization said it expects the decision to be ratified by voters at the CBOQ assembly in June.
He has served since 2006 as the organization’s director of youth ministry. CBOQ comprises about 360 churches — most of them English-speaking — in the two provinces. It cooperates with other regional and language-based Baptist conventions across Canada to form Canadian Baptist Ministries. The 1,000-church national denomination is separate from the smaller and generally more conservative Canadian National Baptist Convention, which affiliates with the United States-based Southern Baptist Convention.
Ted Searle, the president of CBOQ’s board and pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dryden, Ontario, said McCoy “brings to this position outstanding leadership capabilities and proven experience in working together with leaders and churches in responding to the challenges of Christian witness in this age. His visionary leadership as director of our convention’s vital youth ministry uniquely positions him to bring the next generation of leaders along with him in this new role. I believe he is the person God has called to lead our convention into this next decade.”
McCoy said CBOQ “finds itself in an exciting time and place in the story of God. We have many new and seasoned leaders, who are living out their missional story in their regional context. CBOQ’s mandate is to journey with churches, leaders and sister organizations to both learn from one another and to encourage one another.”
In addition to his work with Canadian Baptists, McCoy has been involved ecumenically and internationally with projects through the Baptist World Alliance and the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada. Prior to joining CBOQ’s staff, he was a youth minister in North Carolina. He has also worked as director of volunteer resources for the American Red Cross.
McCoy is a graduate of Mars Hill College and Pfeiffer University, both in North Carolina. He succeeds Ken Bellous, who retired as CBOQ’s executive in June 2009.
McCoy and his wife, Julie, have three teenage children. They are members of Kingsway Baptist Church in Etobicoke, Ontario, where Julie serves on staff.
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