Please submit transitions — including staff changes, ordinations, anniversaries or deaths — to Barbara Francis. This page will be updated weekly.
STAFF CHANGES
Joanna Capps, concluding her tenure as minister of children and youth at Benson (N.C.) Baptist Church.
Ryan Huber, to Memorial Baptist Church, Arlington, Va., as children’s minister.
Laura Harris-Adam, to First Baptist Church, Indianapolis, Ind., as pastor of faith formation.
Toney Keeler, to Northside Baptist Church, Clinton, Miss., as director of music.
Luke Mendez, to Calvary Baptist Church, Abilene, Texas, as youth pastor.
DEATHS
John Bliss, Jr., 81, died Jan. 30 in Haysville, Kansas. An American Baptist minister for over four decades, he retired from the pastorate of First Baptist Church, Council Grove, Kansas, after 14 years there. Following retirement, he served churches in the Central Region as interim pastor. He is survived by his wife, Sally: daughters, Dawn Mathews, Deborah McCullough; Dana Bliss and Johnye Holding; eight grandchildren; 26 great-grandchildren; and one great-great-grandchild.
Donald Cannata, 86, died Jan. 31 in Waco, Texas. He served as minister of education and administration for churches in Texas and Alabama for four decades. He is survived by his wife, Norma; daughters, Leigh Ann Marshall and Susan Moody; son, Mark; seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
Harry A. Fink, 77, died Jan. 28 in Salina, Kansas. He began 35 years of ministry at First Baptist Church, Omaha, Neb. He was pastor of First Baptist Church, Stillwell, Kansas, and then pastor of First Baptist Church, Meade, Kansas, until his retirement. He is survived by his wife, Barbara; son, Kevin; daughter, Stacy Martin; and two grandchildren.
William Robert “Bill” O’Brien, 86, died Feb. 1 in Dallas, Texas. A longtime missionary, missions innovator and music minister, he and his late wife, Dellanna, were appointed as missionaries to Indonesia in 1962. He served 12 years there in the field of music and the arts, taught in the Baptist seminary and directed radio-television efforts for Indonesian Baptists. He was executive vice president of the SBC’s Foreign (now International) Mission Board. He was founding director of The Global Center at Samford University, where he also served as missions professor at Beeson Divinity School. He was preceded in death by his wife, Dellanna, who served as executive director of national Woman’s Missionary Union. He is survived by his wife of 10 years, Charmaine; children, Denise Basden, Erin Puryear and Ross O’Brien; six grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.
KUDOS
ANNIVERSARIES
Josh Hayden, 5 years as pastor of First Baptist Church, Ashland, Va.
Jessica Richardson, 5 years as youth pastor of First Baptist Church, Cleburne, Texas.
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In case you missed them:
Transitions for the week of 1-31-20
Transitions for the week of 1-17-20
Transitions for the week of 1-10-20
Transitions for the week of 1-3-20