Transitions for the week of 09.02.16

Please submit transitions — including staff changes, ordinations, anniversaries or deaths — to Barbara Francis. This page will be updated weekly.

STAFF CHANGES

Steve Ackerman, to Grace Baptist Church, Asheville, N.C., as interim pastor.

Stephen Allen, to Tabernacle Baptist Church, Carrollton, Ga., as pastor, effective Sept. 11. He comes from the pastorate of Spring Run Baptist Church, Springfield, Va.

Justin Bell, to First Baptist Church, Elkin, N.C., as associate pastor.

Rick Bennett, to Tennessee Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, as field coordinator, effective Oct. 1. He comes from the pastorate of First Baptist Church, Elkin, N.C.

Bill Bruster, to Wilton (Conn.) Baptist Church, as interim pastor.

David Dennis, now serving as interim minister of music at Second Baptist Church, Memphis, Tenn.

Nathan Parker, to Woodmont Baptist Church, Nashville, Tenn., as interim pastor.

John-Travis Smith, now chief operating officer of Texas Baptist Men. Previously he was pastor to young adults at First Baptist Church, Bryan, Texas.

Courtney Stamey, to First Baptist Church, Greensboro, N.C., as pastoral resident.

Erica Evans Whitaker, to Buechel Park Baptist Church, Louisville, Ky., as pastor. Previously she was pastoral resident at Wilshire Baptist Church, Dallas, Texas.

Caleb Yoder, concluding his tenure as minister to youth at Brookwood Baptist Church, Birmingham, Ala.

RETIREMENTS

C. Welton Gaddy, retiring as pastor of Northminster Baptist Church, Monroe, La., where he has served since 1992, effective in October.

Tom Ingram, retiring after 22 years on staff at the Baptist General Association of Virginia, effective January 2017. Currently he serves as Capital region field strategist and worship and church music content specialist.

ORDINATIONS

Robert Blackwood, ordained to ministry on Aug. 28 by Oxford (N.C.) Baptist Church.

Trey Hayman, ordained to ministry on Aug 21 by Woodmont Baptist Church, Nashville, Tenn., where he serves as director of youth.

John Thornton, ordained to ministry on Aug. 14 by First Baptist Church, Greensboro, N.C., where he serves as pastoral resident.

Sebrenna R. Whitlock, ordained to ministry on Aug. 28 by Martin Luther King Baptist Church, Harrisburg, Pa.

DEATHS

Desmond Hoffmeister, 56, died Aug. 20 in Granada Hills, Calif. At the time of his death he was senior pastor at Granada Hills Baptist Church. Prior to that, he served as executive minister for American Baptist churches of the Rocky Mountains. From 1994 to 1999 he was general secretary of the Baptist Convention of South Africa. In 2000 he was appointed by the National Ministries—now the American Baptist Home Mission Societies. He began his ministry at Ennerdale Baptist Church, near Johannesburg, South Africa, where he worked to establish programs for the poor. He is survived by his wife, Beverly; three children and two grandchildren.

Willis Harold Switzer, 91, died Aug. 29 in Franklin, Va. He served as pastor of seven Baptist churches in North Carolina and Virginia; the first being in Barnesville, N.C., in 1956 and the last being Sunbeam (Va.) Baptist Church, where he retired in 2012. In 2002 he was named pastor emeritus of Black Creek Baptist Church, Franklin, Va. He is survived by his wife, Jo Ann; two children, Marguerite Leather and W. Terrell Switzer; foster son, Charles Crockett; and six grandchildren.