[1]DALLAS (BP)–Mac Brunson, president of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, is the new pastor of First Baptist Church, Dallas, following a unanimous vote by the historic Texas congregation May 9.
Brunson, 41, was approved on a voice vote following a Sunday of preaching and visiting with the congregation, which voted on a recommendation from a search committee. The senior pastor of Green Street Baptist Church, High Point, N.C., since 1992, Brunson was elected president of the state convention in 1997.
He is the third pastor this decade for the church, one of the most well-known in the Southern Baptist Convention and one of the largest with 26,000 members. Brunson succeeds O. S. Hawkins who was named president of the SBC Annuity Board 18 months ago. Ken Hemphill, president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas, where Brunson is a graduate, served as interim pastor.