FORT WORTH, Texas (BP)–John Yeats, editor of the Indiana Baptist newsjournal, will be nominated for Southern Baptist Convention recording secretary during the SBC annual meeting June 17-19 in Dallas.
To date, Yeats is the lone announced nominee for recording secretary. David W. Atchison, who has held the post since 1990, announced in February he will not seek re-election. Atchison, a Franklin, Tenn., layman, is head of a new ministry, Disciple’s Call.
Yeats’ nomination will be made by Gary Miller, pastor of Sagamore Hill Baptist Church, Fort Worth, Texas.
Yeats has been editor of the Indiana Baptist and director of communications for the State Convention of Baptists in Indiana since 1996. He currently is administrative committee chairman of the SBC Christian Life Commission.
Miller said Yeats, a former Dallas-area pastor, “exemplifies the kind of Christian statesmanship Southern Baptists have always appreciated from their denominational leaders. As a pastor in Texas and Kansas, John exhibited a heart for missions and church growth and an absolute commitment to the authority of God’s Word. … As a man of courage and conviction, John is well-suited to serving our convention in this strategic office.”
Yeats was pastor of South Park Baptist Church, Grand Prairie, Texas, from 1991-95 and pastor of Shawnee Heights Baptist Church, Topeka, Kan., from 1978-91.
A native of Caddo, Okla., he is a 1972 graduate of Dallas Baptist University who earned a master of divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, in 1975. He and his wife, Sharon, have three sons.
