Transitions for the week of 02.09.18

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

STAFF CHANGES

Lindsay Bergstrom, to New Baptist Covenant, as director of operations and communications. She comes from Baptist News Global, where she is creative services director.

Phaedra D. Blocker, to New Baptist Covenant, as director of programs. She is an affiliate professor in leadership and formation at Palmer Theological Seminary, Wayne, Pa.

Ryann Cooper, to Shearer Hills Baptist Church, San Antonio, Texas, as associate pastor for senior adults and administration.

Sammi Carby, to Gambrell Street Baptist Church, Fort Worth, Texas, as minister to children.

John C. Halton, to Texas Baptist Missions Foundation, as senior consultant. He has retired from the University of Texas at Austin, where he was associate dean of engineering.

Jeff Howard, to Woodland Baptist Church, Tuscaloosa, Ala., as senior pastor. Previously he was interim pastor there.

Katie Murray, to the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, as assistant director for mobilization.

Patrick Wilson, to Salem Avenue Baptist Church, Rolla, Mo., as senior pastor. He comes from the pastorate of Westoak Woods Baptist Church, Austin, Texas.

RETIREMENTS

Mickey Ewing, retiring after 50 years in ministry and 44 years as associate pastor of Northside Baptist Church, Victoria, Texas.

Steve Hadden, retiring as pastor of Midway Baptist Church, Midway, Ky., after 41 years in pastoral ministry.

DEATHS

Joseph Leonard Baker, 89, died on Jan. 20 in Indianapolis, Ind. He was a minister for over 50 years serving churches in the Midwest including Faith Baptist Church, Fort Wayne, Ind., which he founded; Covenant Baptist Church, West Bloomfield, Mich.; and First Baptist Church of Turner, Kansas City, Kansas. He was preceded in death by his wife, Connie. He is survived by his sons, Mark and David; daughter, Rebecca; nine grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

Charlie Elliott, 77, died on Jan. 19 in Vail, Colorado. For 38 years he served First Baptist Church, Midland, Texas, where he was minister of youth and minister of activities. For 30 years he took youth and adult sponsors to Cohuilla, Mexico, every spring to conduct Bible schools and help start Baptist churches. He is survived by his wife, Rebecca; three sons, Michael, John and David; and 10 grandchildren.

Ernest H Jones, 56, died Feb. 3. in Newark, Ohio. He was the first African American to assume an executive level position with the Council of Churches of Greater Bridgeport, Conn., serving as church missions director. In 1998 he was called to serve as senior pastor of Greenwood Baptist Church, Brooklyn, N.Y. Since 2016 he had served as executive minister of the American Baptist Churches of Ohio. He is survived by his wife, Denise; son, Adam; and daughter, Candace A. Jones.

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