[1]MILL VALLEY, Calif. (BP)–A third nominee for second vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention, David Young Hwan Gill, has been announced.
Gill is pastor of Concord Korean Baptist Church in Martinez, Calif., and current president of the Council of Korean Southern Baptist Churches in North America, encompassing 761 Korean congregations. He also is first vice president of the California Southern Baptist Convention.
The SBC’s current second vice president, seminary professor Bill Wagner of California, made the announcement May 28.
Gill joins two other nominees, Mark Hearn of Indiana and John Hayes of Ohio, for the post, which will be among the offices filled by messengers to the June 15-16 SBC annual meeting in Indianapolis.
Wagner, in a statement to Baptist Press, said Gill is a South Korean native who immigrated to the United States 30 years ago. “He started [Concord Korean Baptist Church] in the San Francisco Bay Area 28 years ago with two families and has seen the church grow to become one of the strongest in the area….
“Dr. David Gill, as a Korean ethnic, will be an asset to our culturally and racially diverse convention and is the type of ethnic leader that we greatly need.”
[2]Wagner said Gill has led Concord Korean Baptist Church in starting 10 other churches, and more than 25 pastors and missionaries have been ordained and commissioned by the church during Gill’s pastorate.
“He was instrumental in leading the Council of Korean Southern Baptist Churches in hosting an Ethnic Missions Celebration, at which time he invited nine leaders of other Southern Baptist ethnic groups. This celebration has become a model for the partnership in the Gospel for all SBC peoples,” Wagner said.
Gill also has been a trustee of Golden Gate Seminary and moderator of his local Baptist association.
He holds master’s of divinity and master’s of Christian education degrees from Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary in Mill Valley, Calif., and a doctor of ministry degree from San Francisco Theological Seminary. David Gill has taught at Golden Gate as an adjunct faculty member for 12 years in the area of preaching, leadership and evangelism. Wagner is the Baker James Cauthen Professor of Missions at Golden Gate.
The other two nominees for SBC second vice president also are pastors, John Hays of Jersey Baptist Church near Columbus, Ohio and Mark Hearn, pastor of Northside Baptist Church in Indianapolis.
Hays’ nomination was announced in March by Guy Morton of Lakeview Baptist Church in Vermilion, Ohio, while Hearn’s nomination was announced in April by Charles W. Sullivan, former executive director-treasurer of the State Convention of Baptists in Indiana.
Two other announcements for SBC offices were made in February: a presidential nominee, Bobby Welch, pastor of First Baptist Church in Daytona Beach, Fla., and a first vice presidential nominee, Gerald Davidson, pastor of the St. Louis-area First Baptist Church in Arnold. Terry Fox, pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church in Wichita, Kan., was announced as a nominee in January for Pastors’ Conference president.
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(BP) photo posted in the BP Photo Library at http://www.bpnews.net. Photo title: DAVID GILL.