[1]DALLAS (BP)–The Texas Baptist Men executive board has elected Jim Furgerson, an ex-Marine, men’s missions educator and national leader in volunteer missions, to succeed Bob Dixon as the organization’s executive director.
Furgerson, 57, assumes the post of TBM executive director-elect Aug. 1. He becomes executive director on Sept. 6 when Dixon retires.
Furgerson, director of the Volunteers in Missions department of the Southern Baptist International Mission Board since 1993, was the unanimous choice of the TBM personnel committee, according to chairman Joe T. Lenamon of Fort Worth. The committee included the current TBM president, four past presidents, the president of Hispanic Baptist Men, a director of missions and a pastor.
“Volunteerism is key to carrying out the Great Commission, and Jim has been involved in enlisting and equipping volunteers of all ages, from the college campus though senior adults,” Lenamon said. “His recent years with the International Mission Board have given him an expanded world vision for missions and ministry, and that is what we want Texas Baptist Men to have.”
The committee was convinced God uniquely had gifted and equipped Furgerson for the leadership of Texas Baptist Men, according to TBM President George E. “Andy” Andreason of McGregor.
“We believe God has been preparing this man most of his life for this position,” Andreason said. “Everything he has done in the past leads up to his calling as executive director of Texas Baptist Men. We think he is the man to lead us into the 21st century.”
At the IMB, Furgerson has been responsible for directing the enlistment, orientation and placement of tens of thousands of volunteers in about 150 countries.
He worked with the Southern Baptist Brotherhood Commission from 1989-93 as adult division director. Previously, he was program administrator for the Missouri Baptist Children’s Home in Bridgeton, Mo.; director of campus life at South Texas Children’s Home, Beeville; and Baptist Student Union director at Indiana University, Bloomington, Ind.
He served on the staffs of First Baptist Church, Pompano Beach, Fla.; Woodland Hills Baptist Church, Jackson, Miss.; and First Baptist Church, Shelby, Miss. He worked as a summer missionary in Montana and as summer staff coordinator at Glorieta (N.M.) Baptist Conference Center.
Furgerson was led to faith in Christ at age 9 by his father during a Royal Ambassadors meeting at Tower Grove Baptist Church, St. Louis. He made a renewed commitment to Jesus as Lord during his second semester at Southwest Baptist College in Bolivar, Mo.
He completed his undergraduate degree at Mississippi College in Clinton and earned a master’s degree at Indiana University in Bloomington.
He served in Vietnam as a naval aviator with the U.S. Marine Corps, flying more than 500 combat missions. After more than 14 years of active duty and nine years in the reserves, he retired as a lieutenant colonel in 1989.
He and his wife, Patti Cassels, have two grown sons, Jim Jr. and Mike.