Frank Page to lead NAMB evangelism efforts

Updated 10/09/09 at 8:37 am
 

DENVER – North American Mission Board trustees have named prominent South Carolina pastor Frank Page to a key leadership position, signaling that the agency is not in a holding pattern regarding a possible combination of it with the International Mission Board.

The former pastor of Warren Baptist Church in Augusta currently serves as pastor of First Baptist Church of Taylors, S.C. He will join the NAMB staff later this month.

Page, who first conceived a national evangelism strategy during his tenure as SBC president in 2006 and 2007, was named vice president of evangelism by trustees during their regularly scheduled meeting in Denver. The appointment shows trustees are not shy about bringing in a high profile personality to bring focus and clarity to the agency.

The appointment comes against the background of a study by the Great Commission Task Force at next June’s annual SBC meeting that some believe will call for a restructuring of the denomination. Include in that report, which is anticipated to be released in the Spring and voted on at the meeting in Orlando, is a possible combining of the two missions agencies. The future of the denomination’s six seminaries, with their declining enrollments, is also expected to be discussed.

During the meeting Richard Harris, acting interim president, was named interim president of the Alpharetta-based agency.

Trustees also named a ten-member presidential search committee to locate the agency’s third president.

Georgia Baptists will be represented by the appointment of trustee First Vice Chairman Tim Dowdy, pastor of Eagle’s Landing First Baptist Church in McDonough, will serve on the committee to locate the agency’s third president.

Other committee members include Ted Traylor, pastor of Olive Baptist Church in Pensacola, Fla. Who will serve as the committee’s chairman; Larry Gipson, pastor of First Baptist Oneonta, Ala.; Doug Dieterly, executive pastor, Plymouth Baptist Church, Plymouth, Ind.; Lisa Knutsen, a member of Green Valley Baptist Church in Henderson, Nev.; Ryan Palmer, pastor, Seventh Metro Church, Baltimore, Md.; Chuck Herring, pastor of Collierville First Baptist Church in Collierville, Tenn.; Trustee Chairman Tim Patterson, pastor of Hillcrest Baptist Church, Jacksonville, Fla., will serve as an ex officio member of the committee.

Read more coverage of this developing story in your next print edition of The Index.