COLUMBIA, Md. (BP)–The Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware’s General Mission Board has unanimously approved the selection of David Lee as the convention’s new executive director.
At its May 2 meeting at the Baptist Center in Columbia, Md., the board received and approved the joint recommendation from its seven-member search committee and its administrative committee, and Lee began his duties May 3.
Lee succeeds Charles Barnes, who retired from the post March 31. Barnes became executive director in 1993 and, at retirement, had 30 years of service in various convention positions.
Also at its May 2 meeting, the board unanimously approved the selection of Bob Simpson as director of communications, as recommended by the administrative committee. In this role, Simpson also will serve as editor of Baptist Life, the convention’s newsjournal.
Simpson succeeds Ron Chaney, who has been editor of the paper since 1994 and communications director since 1998 and has been on the paper’s staff since 1991. Chaney, who remains in an editing and webmaster role, has announced plans to leave the convention for Internet-oriented employment.
Lee, a native of North Carolina, came to Maryland 12 years ago from Mississippi where he had pastored several churches since 1974. While in Mississippi, he also served as the director of ministries for the Jackson County Baptist Association in Pascagoula.
In 1988, Lee came to Maryland to the pastorate of Faith Baptist Church, Glen Burnie, Md. In 1994, he became director of the convention’s church growth and services division and subsequently was named director of strategic planning as well as a BCM/D consultant/specialist for church growth strategies, minister support and preaching.
Lee’s undergraduate work was done at William Carey College in Hattiesburg, Miss. He earned both a master of divinity and a doctorate of ministry at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.
He and his wife, Sherry, have been married 29 years and have two married sons, both of whom are actively involved in vocational ministry, and two grandchildren.
Simpson, a native of Maryland, has served for nearly 30 years in Southern Baptist churches in Oklahoma, Virginia, Florida and Maryland.
Simpson attended Oklahoma Baptist University, Shawnee, and completed his undergraduate degree at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. He also earned a master’s degree in marketing from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
He and his wife, Lorraine, have three grown boys and four grandchildren.
The Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware represents more than 450 Baptist churches throughout Maryland and Delaware.
