[1]NASHVILLE (BP) – Twelve state conventions have navigated executive director changes in the past 12 months with leaders resigning, retiring, announcing retirement or entering the role. In addition, two Southern Baptist Convention entities are searching for their next presidents.
Though that could seem like a higher-than-normal number, SBC Executive Committee President Jeff Iorg said “just on the math,” it’s to be expected.
“If we have around 40 state conventions and each [executive director] serves, let’s say, an average of 10 years, you’re going to have four to five new ones every year. That would be normal,” Iorg said. “So, if you had seven one year and three the next, that would be just the averages evening themselves out.”
The following positions were filled recently:
- Ed Emmerling was chosen as the new executive director of the Baptist State Convention of Michigan last October.
- Lance Caddel began serving as executive director of the Northwest Baptist Convention in March.
- Frank Williams started his new position as executive director of the Baptist Convention of New York in April.
- Trey Turner began serving as executive director of the Minnesota-Wisconsin Baptist Convention in June.
- Monty Patton was named executive director of the Arizona Mission Network of Southern Baptists in August.
- Mark Dance was selected as the next executive director of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention in August.
By comparison, three executive directors began serving in 2020, six began in 2021, five began in 2022, seven began in 2023 and one began in 2024. With Emmerling of Michigan starting Jan. 1, five executive directors have begun serving so far in 2025.
Six state conventions are searching for their next executive directors:
- Illinois Baptist State Association Executive Director Nate Adams announced in February his desire to begin working on a timeline for retirement.
- Eric Ramsey of the West Virginia Convention of Southern Baptists resigned in April to pastor in Oklahoma near family.
- Barrett Duke retired in May as executive director of the Montana Southern Baptist Convention.
- Randy Covington, executive director of the Alaska Baptist Resource Network, has announced plans to retire in September.
- Ryan Strother of the State Convention of Baptists in Indiana began a new role at the State Convention of Baptists in Ohio in August.
- Fred MacDonald, executive director of the Dakota Baptist Convention, announced in August his intention to retire in the fall of 2026.
Meanwhile, the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission and Lifeway Christian Resources are searching for new presidents after theirs resigned this summer.
Rick Lance, executive director of the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions since 1998, is the longest-serving leader of a state convention and said transitions in state convention life go through various cycles.
“In recent years, there has been a significant number of new state executive directors come into the ranks of leadership,” Lance said. “I am impressed with the quality of leaders assuming these roles.”
The position of executive director is unique, vital and does not come with a manual for how to lead, Lance said. “Each new executive director learns as he leads. That is nothing new. We learn from each other because there is a close sense of brotherhood among us.”
In Lance’s view, “the future is bright for state conventions.”
Iorg applauds leaders who are “intentional about transition and who value helping their organization to transition well.”
“I think that we’re seeing that in several states right now where the outgoing director is not just resigning or retiring but has given a notice that has given plenty of time and that they’re trying to bring in new leadership and have smooth transitions,” Iorg said, adding that such initiative “helps organizations to be stronger in the long run.”
Each leadership transition affords followers two specific opportunities, Iorg said.
“Obviously, the first thing is to pray for the right people to be in place and to make the right decisions about the right leadership,” he said.
“The second thing is to prepare for change because when new leaders come, they come with new vision, new energy and new ideas. Embracing those is very significant for the followers.”
Iorg said he is watching this as his successor at Gateway Seminary, Adam Groza, is in the early years of his presidency.
“Dr. Groza has brought new passion, new energy and new ideas, and it has been my delight to support that,” Iorg said. “Even though he may do things differently than I did, I think he’s doing them better than I did.
“So, followers can pray for and then prepare to change and support the new initiatives as maybe the best way to help a new leader go forward in their new job.”
State convention executive directors, Iorg said, are high-value leaders. They are what he calls “the glue guys.”
“They’re the people who hold it all together. They work much more directly with the churches than many of us do that work in the SBC because we have a broader responsibility. They are more focused on their state, more in tune with their pastors, more connected to their churches,” Iorg said.
Executive directors also have the responsibility of pulling together various ministries within a state. “They are the ones who work behind the scenes to make so much of what we do together possible. I’m very positive about those guys,” he said.
As search committees look for new leaders, churches can be thinking about how to raise up new generations to fill such positions in the future.
“The convention needs new leaders who have administrative gifting and vision for cooperative ministry,” Iorg said. “Surfacing those leaders, raising those leaders up, is a very significant responsibility for all of us.”
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