RAPID CITY, S.D. (BP) – Changing his original plans to retire next year, Fred MacDonald has announced he will step back immediately as executive director-treasurer of the Dakota Baptist Convention (DBC).
MacDonald made his intentions known in a letter earlier this month to DBC pastors. “Important developments” in his life and family dictated his decision, namely, becoming the primary caregiver for his ailing mother. MacDonald, himself, is “recovering nicely” from a recent surgery, he said.
He announced in the Sept. 10 letter that, after speaking with the state convention’s administration team, he would work for a week to help prepare for the DBC annual meeting. Three weeks of remaining vacation would follow, at the end of which he will be retired.
The Dakota Baptist Gathering and Annual Meeting will be Oct. 9-10 in Brookings, S.D.
“I am sorry for the shortness of this notice, but this change will enable me to devote more attention to my mother,” MacDonald wrote. “We have a great Executive Board and Admin Team and they will provide good direction in this interim time. Please continue to preach the gospel. Please continue to give strong support to the Cooperative Program and the Baker [State Missions] Offering. Most of all, please continue to partner together because, as Solomon said, ‘two are better than one.’
“As I said in my original letter to you, I am retiring from this role, but I am not retiring from Jesus or the Dakotas. I look forward to times to preach, teach, train and encourage. I love you all and am committed to always being a good Dakota Baptist, doing our part to reach North and South Dakota for Christ.”
MacDonald has been DBC state executive since February 2020. His tenure focused on evangelism and established Church Relations Ministries in an effort to combat pastors’ isolation throughout the Dakotas and other challenges of ministry during COVID. He has also been heavily involved in the annual Sturgis motorcycle rally ministry.
A graduate of Northern State University in Aberdeen, S.D., Criswell College and Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary, MacDonald previously served as a pastor in New Mexico and South Dakota. He was also an associational missions strategist in New Mexico and a missionary to South Dakota appointed by the North American Mission Board. Later, he served as South Dakota’s state evangelism director.
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