New exec pledges to lead BGCT to discover & fulfill ‘kingdom assignment’

Posted: 2/26/08

New exec pledges to lead BGCT to
discover & fulfill ‘kingdom assignment’

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

DALLAS—Commitment to a “kingdom assignment”—ensuring every person in Texas has the opportunity to respond to Christ by Easter 2010—can help unite Texas Baptists, Randel Everett told the Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board just prior to his election as executive director.

The board voted 78-6 to elect Everett, pastor of First Baptist Church in Newport News, Va., as executive director at a Feb. 26 meeting in Dallas. He succeeds Charles Wade, who retired Jan. 31. Jan Daehnert is serving as interim executive director until Everett assumes the executive’s post in April.

Chairman Ken Hugghins of Huntsville noted the executive director search committee “came to unanimity” in recommending Everett after seeking God’s direction and listening to Texas Baptists.

Everett’s commitment to historic Baptist principles, effectiveness as a communicator, lack of political agenda, ability to build coalitions, cultural sensitivity, theological soundness, and passion for missions and evangelism led the committee to recommend him, Hugghins said.

“Randel Everett cares about Texas, and he cares about people worldwide,” he said. “He cares across ethnicities and across generations. He relates well to people.”

God has a “kingdom assignment” for Texas Baptists as they seek to share the gospel in an increasingly diverse context, Everett told the board.

“We no longer live in Acts 2,” when the Apostle Peter was able to address an audience with a shared understanding about God’s acts in Israel’s history, Everett said.

“We live in a pluralistic Acts 17 world,” he continued, comparing postmodern culture to the time when the Apostle Paul addressed a philosophically and theologically diverse crowd at Mars Hill.

Many non-Christians today remain unimpressed by rational, linear evidence or proof of the gospel, but they crave something spiritual beyond themselves, he added.

“They want authenticity,” he said. “They want hope.”

Everett challenged Texas Baptists to take risks and set high goals, casting off anything that weighs them down and encumbers them.

“If we are not operating in the arena where great failure is a possibility, we are not operating in the arena of faith,” he said.

Challenging Texas Baptists to discover and fulfill their “kingdom assignment,” he presented a two-year evangelistic goal.

“By Resurrection Sunday 2010, give every person living in Texas the opportunity to respond to Christ in his own language and context,” he urged.

Rather than categorizing and labeling people, Everett urged Texas Baptists to focus on Jesus.

“Some want to know if I’m an SBC guy or a CBF guy or a BWA guy. I hope you’ll come to the conclusion I’m a Jesus guy,” he said of questions regarding his affinity for the Southern Baptist Convention, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and Baptist World Alliance.

Everett responded to questions from the board regarding:

• Cooperation. A director asked if he would reach out to Christians from “the other state Baptist convention”—the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention.

Everett noted his involvement in a Scripture distribution campaign in Newport News, Va., that included both Baptist General Association of Virginia and Southern Baptist of Conservatives of Virginia churches, as well as congregations of other denominations.

“I pray that we will work with anyone who shares our kingdom assignment,” he said.

• Longevity. Pointing to George W. Truett as a “hero” and model, Everett said as a young pastor, he dreamed of serving one urban congregation 40 years. Instead, most of his pastorates have been relatively short in tenure.

“Almost every church I served was a church in crisis of some kind,” he noted. “That has been the kind of ministry to which it seems we have been called.”

But Everett said he believes the varied experiences as pastor of diverse churches and leader of an educational institution “makes sense” when seen as preparing him for the role of BGCT executive director.

“I hope to spend the rest of my vocational life with you,” he said.

• Unity. A director asked how Everett would promote healing and unity in a climate of “disharmony” among BGCT-related churches.

“I believe we are united around a common goal—a simple, clear vision,” he said.

By uniting around a short-term goal—such as a two-year evangelistic emphasis—Texas Baptists can clarify their identity and begin to discover a longer-range vision, he stressed.

• Diversity. Texas Baptists must demonstrate racial and ethnic diversity, both in terms of staffing and in the selection of people to responsible leadership positions, Everett said.

“If we don’t, it will be at our own peril,” he said.

But Texas Baptists should recognize the opportunity to bridge racial and ethnic divisions as a privilege, not a burden, he stressed.

“I thrive on diversity,” Everett said. “I see it as an expression of the mosaic of God’s love.”

Everett, 58, served nine years as president of the John Leland Center for Theological Studies in Arlington, Va. While he was at the helm, the center received accreditation from the Association of Theological Schools.

His last three years at the Leland Center overlapped the beginning of his pastorate in Newport News. He also served five years at Columbia Baptist Church in Falls Church, Va., a 3,000-member congregation in suburban Washington, D.C.

Previous pastorates were at First Baptist Church in Pensacola, Fla.; First Baptist Church in Benton, Ark.; Inglewood Baptist Church in Grand Prairie; and First Baptist Church in Gonzales. He also was assistant minister of missions at First Baptist Church in Dallas.

Everett was chairman of the Baptist World Alliance’s education and evangelism commission from 2000 to 2005 and has held other positions with the BWA.

He served on the BGCT Executive Board from 1978 to 1979. Other denominational leadership posts included president of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention Executive Board, moderator of Peninsula Baptist Association, trustee of Florida Baptist College, and a member of the national ministry partners study committee and the budget committee for the Baptist General Association of Virginia.

Everett earned his doctorate and master’s degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and his bachelor’s degree from Ouachita Baptist University. He also holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Richmond.

He and his wife, the former Sheila King, have been married 35 years. They have two children—Jeremy, 32, who works as a community ministries director with Baptist Child & Family Services in San Antonio; and Rachel Froom, 28, of Ramrod Key, Fla. They have two grandsons.