Please submit transitions — including staff changes, ordinations, anniversaries or deaths — to Barbara Francis. This page will be updated weekly.
STAFF CHANGES
Debbie Bennett-Reynolds, to First Baptist Church, Ithaca, N.Y., as pastor, effective Sept. 1.
Kevin Bumgarner, concluding his tenure as editor of the Florida Baptist Witness, to become director of communications at Bell Shoals Baptist Church, a multi-campus church in Tampa, Fla.
Steve Brown and Jared Murray, to First Baptist Church, Red Bank, N.J., as pastors.
Sylvia Chambers, concluding her tenure after 40 years as music director at Webster (N.Y.) Baptist Church.
Frederick Dicks, now serving as pastor of The Baptist Temple, Rochester, N.Y.
Rusty Edwards, concluding his tenure as pastor of University Baptist Church, Hattiesburg, Miss.
Debi Foley, concluding her tenure as pastor of students at Sugarland (Texas) Baptist Church.
Kristen Hancock, to Woodland Baptist Church, San Antonio, Texas, as interim associate pastor of faith formation.
Marjorie Hinson, concluding her tenure as choir director and organist at First Baptist Church, Rockingham, N.C.
Sara Hunt-Felke, to First Baptist Church, St. Petersburg, Fla., as pastor for students and young adults, effective in Sept.
Abraham Jaquez, to Baptist University of the Americas, San Antonio, Texas, as president and chief executive officer, effective Aug. 21. He has been executive director for Buckner Children and Family Services in Dallas since 2011.
Philip King, to Calvary Baptist Church, Winchester, Va., as pastor.
Marcie Newberry, to First Baptist Church, Jonesboro, Ark., as preschool director.
Danny Owens, to Smithfield (Va.) Baptist Church, as intentional interim pastor.
Brandon Patterson, to Maranatha Baptist Church, Plains, Ga., as pastor.
Ed Rafferty, to Gibbon (Neb.) Baptist Church, as interim pastor.
Nathan Steiner, concluding his tenure as children’s ministry director at Summit Church, Boise, Idaho.
J. Brent Walker, to The John Leland Center for Theological Studies, Arlington, Va., as interim president. Previously he was executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty.
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RETIREMENTS
Rick Jordan, retiring as pastor of Susquehanna Baptist Church, Independence, Mo.
Bill Leonard, founding Dean of the School of Divinity and Dunn Professor of Baptist Studies and Professor of Church History at Wake Forest University School of Divinity, Winston-Salem, N.C., announcing plans to retire in July 2018.
DEATH
Darrell E. Heidner, 92, died July 8 in New Effington, S.D. He served as pastor of churches in Iowa and Nebraska before moving to Wichita to serve as area minister for the American Baptist Churches of the Central Region. He is preceded in death by his wife, Betty Lou. He is survived by four daughters, Ruth Clark, Martha Nelson, Rachel Rogg and Lois Pierce; and a son, Paul Heidner.
KUDOS
CHURCH ANNIVERSARY
First Baptist Church, Carrollton, Ga.; 170 years; Aug. 6.
CHURCH TRANSITION
First Baptist Church, Raytown, Mo., became Connection Point Church, a church with multiple locations on August 6. Cornerstone Baptist Church, Lee’s Summit, Mo., voted on March 19 to merge with First Baptist and become the Lee’s Summit campus of the new Connection Point Church.
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In case you missed them:
Transitions for the week of 07.28.17
Transitions for the week of 07.21.17