January 27, 1999
Coffee steeped in Texas Baptist life
___By Ken Camp
___Texas Baptist Communications
___DALLAS--A Texas Baptist-made product retires July 31.
___That's when Ken Coffee, who turns 65 in July, leaves the Baptist General Convention of Texas State Missions Commission. He retires after 45 years in full-time ministry, all of it among Texas Baptist ranks.
___At retirement, Coffee will have worked 16 years on the BGCT Executive Board staff, including the last seven as associate director of the State Missions Commission. He served 14 years on the staff of San Antonio Baptist Association. Previously he served as pastor of churches in San Antonio, Pickton and Floydada, and he was associate pastorof churches in Fort Worth and Winnsboro.
KEN COFFEE
___"I am a product of this convention," said Coffee, a graduate of Wayland Baptist University in Plainview.
___Since he did not have a seminary education, Coffee notes that all his ministerial training came from a Texas Baptist university and "on-the-job" through BGCT-sponsored seminars and consultations. "Everything I know, I learned from Texas Baptists."
___One of Coffee's key responsibilities throughout his tenure with the State Missions Commission has been coordinating work with area and associational directors of missions.
___"The relationship between the state convention and the local associations has never been better. Ken Coffee led the way in revolutionizing the way the BGCT relates to the associations, and he built the highest confidence level possible among the DOMs," said James Semple, director of the State Missions Commission.
___Praising Coffee's "creative and effective" service as associate director, he said, "The influence and fruit of his labor will continue for years to come."
___Coffee has been "the DOMs' best friend in denominational life," said Harold Sellers, longtime director of missions for Coastal Plains Area. "He has been the greatest resource for associational missions any director of missions could ever want. ... He is a loyal and faithful friend to DOMs."
___Coffee and his wife, Martha, already have set up their retirement home in San Antonio, where they previously lived for 17 years.
___Though he worked 30 of his 45 years in ministry in associational or state convention roles, Coffee describes himself as a "local church" man. Helping churches always has been his motivation for denominational service, he said.
___He plans to spend his retirement years consulting with his son, San Antonio-based attorney Blake, to help churches build healthy relationships and mediate differences.
___"I want to get on the front lines, helping local churches directly," Coffee said. "That how I want to close out my life--helping churches."Frontpage / Contents/ Masthead / Why We're Here / Archives / Links / E-mail us/ SUBSCRIBE!