[1]BRENTWOOD, Tenn. (BP)–Bryant Millsaps, former Tennessee secretary of state and director of the state’s Higher Education Commission, has been named president/treasurer of Tennessee Baptist Children’s Homes, effective Jan. 1. He becomes only the sixth president to lead the child-care agency in its 108-year history.
Millsaps, 52, succeeds Gerald L. Stow, TBCH president/treasurer, who retires Dec. 31 after 15 years of service.
Millsaps, who has served as TBCH assistant to the president since 1998, was named as the agency’s new president during a board of trustees meeting at the agency’s state office in Brentwood on Sept. 30, after being unanimously recommended by a trustee search committee.
Millsaps, in other Tennessee government posts, has served in the House of Representatives as chief clerk, assistant chief clerk and assistant to the speaker. He has also been vice president of operations for Oosting and Associates, a higher education consulting firm located in Franklin, Tenn.
Millsaps holds a doctor of education degree in higher education administration from Vanderbilt University’s George Peabody College in Nashville. He also holds a bachelor of science degree in political science and a master of education in secondary school administration and supervision from Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, where he formerly served as director of alumni and government relations.
A member of Nashville’s Two Rivers Baptist Church since 1987, Millsaps surrendered to a call to ministry in 1997 and was ordained to the ministry by Two Rivers May 1999.
Glenn Weekley, TBCH search committee chair and pastor of First Baptist Church, Hendersonville, said of Millsaps, “His love for and commitment to Jesus Christ, passion for the ministry of the children’s home, knowledge of the state of Tennessee and its Baptist people and his background in service to the people of this great state are but a few of the qualities that we feel uniquely equip him for this tremendously important task.”
Stow said of Millsaps, “His background as a public servant, his academic preparation and his strong commitment to Jesus Christ, the local church, and this ministry qualify him for his new role as president-treasurer.”
Millsaps said he is humbled by assuming the presidency. “The opportunity to build on the foundation that [Stow] and others have laid over the last 108 years is both a thrill and a challenge,” he said.
A native of Soddy Daisy, Tenn., Millsaps and his wife, Robbie, are the parents of three adult children and one granddaughter.
In other news at the Tennessee Baptist Children’s Homes, Morris H. Chapman, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee, has been named as chair of the agency’s “Continuing the Caring Tradition” campaign for Williamson County. Joining Chapman are former entrepreneur Jane Jones, campaign state chair, and honorary chairs Mark Lowry, Christian recording artist, and Hope Hines, NewsChannel 5 sports director. The Williamson County effort is only one of several organized friend-raising events statewide benefiting TBCH.