EC search team releases survey, requests input from Southern Baptists
By BP Staff
NASHVILLE (BP) – A survey to aid in developing a candidate profile for the next president and CEO of the SBC Executive Committee has been released by the team charged with hiring the successor to Ronnie Floyd, who left the organization in October 2021.
“We have generated these questions to help better inform us on what Southern Baptist leaders, pastors, and churches are looking for in our next SBC Executive Committee president & CEO,” the survey says.
The survey results will remain confidential, yet anonymity is possible as respondents are not required to provide their names.
The survey can be accessed at https://sbcec.typeform.com/ECPresident.
Members of SBC Executive Committee President Search Team include Adron Robinson (chair), David Sons (vice chair), Mollie Duddleston, Mike Keahbone, Jeremy Morton, Philip Robertson and Rolland Slade.
Southeastern announces Bachelor of Business Administration
By Chad Burchett/SEBTS
WAKE FOREST, N.C. (BP) – The College at Southeastern has announced a new Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) program with the goal of training students for Great Commission service in the business sector and equipping church and missions workers to be strategic stewards in a variety of contexts.
“The BBA program is a natural fit for the focus of the College at Southeastern,” said Danny Akin, president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and The College at Southeastern. “At Southeastern we are about preparing men and women for ministry to serve wherever God takes them towards the goal of fulfilling the Great Commission.”
The BBA program is designed to provide students with an integrated knowledge of the functional areas of business and organizations. Graduates will be able to apply the knowledge and skills learned in the program to approach various organizational settings from a biblical worldview.
“Our focus here is on spiritual formation so that students who go into business will go into business with a biblical worldview,” said Harry Carter, professor of business and director of the BBA program. “What we’re trying to do with this program is to prepare students to understand business and be able to compete well in the business world, but to do it from a biblical worldview … according to biblical principles.”
Consisting of 127 credit hours, the curriculum for the program prepares students for business administration through the study of traditional business topics such as management, organizational behavior, organizational leadership and human resource development. Major courses unique to The College’s BBA program include Business as Mission, The Doctrine of Vocation and Ethics of Wealth and Poverty. Pending approval from SACS Commission on Colleges, Southeastern’s BBA program is scheduled to begin in the 2022 fall semester.
NAAF meeting in OKC touts ‘big results’
By Chris Forbes/Baptist Messenger
OKLAHOMA CITY (BP) – More than 110 pastors and ministry leaders gathered in Oklahoma City for the National African American Fellowship (NAAF) Spring Board Meeting and Lifeway sponsored “Big Results” Sunday School Retreat, March 24-26. Oklahoma Baptists hosted both of the national meetings at the Baptist Building.
The NAAF is a fellowship of African American churches that are affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) and hosts meetings throughout the year in various states that have an active African American Fellowship. This was the first time NAAF hosted a national meeting in Oklahoma. Approximately 50 board members met to conduct NAAF business.
“For our board meetings we normally go to different towns around the country to fellowship with the pastors in those cities,” said NAAF President Frank Williams, pastor of Wake-Eden Community Baptist Church and Bronx Baptist Church, both in New York City. “These meetings create a space where NAAF can also meet and help strengthen the pastors who are in these locations.
“This is the first time we have met in Oklahoma City. We had planned to come here in 2020, but that was just as the pandemic started. We are glad we could host our first in-person meeting since the pandemic here in Oklahoma.
“I want to thank the Oklahoma Baptists for hosting us and the great hospitality we have enjoyed. I want to thank Todd Fisher, the executive director-treasurer of Oklahoma Baptists, and I want to thank David Hooks the Oklahoma African American Fellowship (OAAF) state director.
“I also want to thank Walter Wilson (African American affinity ministry partner for Oklahoma Baptists), who pulled us all together for this long overdue session. I have learned of the work of Dr. Wilson in increasing the involvement of African American congregations in the life of Oklahoma (Baptists) from just three churches all the way to now 70 churches.”
Fisher shared his appreciation for having the NAAF meeting at the Baptist Building.
“We are so honored to host to the NAAF meeting and Sunday School Retreat,” he said in his official greeting and welcomed the leaders at the event. “We are grateful for the opportunity to fellowship and continue to share in ministry with our African American brothers and sisters in Christ.”
Willie McLaurin, interim CEO of the SBC Executive Committee, was also present at the event and greeted the attendees.
“Thank you for all you are doing to lift high the name and the fame of the Lord Jesus Christ, here at home and around the world,” McLaurin told the group. “(The SBC’s) job is to come alongside and assist churches with collaborative partnerships, cooperation and generosity. We are a missions-oriented people. We have always been focused on evangelism and ministry. And we will continue to be.”
