Baptist Briefs: British Baptists downsize national staff

British Baptists downsize national staff. The Baptist Union of Great Britain will downsize its national staff from 46 to 32 employees and change the way it works with associations and Baptist colleges to improve how it serves local churches in the 21st century. Changes approved by the Baptist Union Council followed a yearlong study prompted by financial concerns but broadened to re-examine mission structures designed for the 20th century. The driving vision for the shift, which also includes reducing the size of the governing council, is to create a more flexible structure that moves decisions closer to the local church. In March, the Baptist council received report of a deficit of more than $1 million in the Baptist Union’s Home Mission Fund, attributed to declines in giving by churches.

Gilbert elected BTSR dean. Timothy D. Gilbert, longtime professor at Tarrant County College in Fort Worth, has been elected dean at Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond, a post he will assume July 1. For nearly 30 years, Gilbert has been a professor of philosophy at Tarrant County College, where he also has served as divisional dean and associate vice chancellor for academic affairs. He is a graduate of Oklahoma Baptist University and holds master of divinity and doctor of philosophy degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth. He is married to Karen Grubb Gilbert, who works contractually for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. The Gilberts—members of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth—have two daughters: Katie Lacey is director of college and young adults at First Methodist Church in Birmingham, Ala., and Mary Beth Foust is a BTSR student.

Longtime seminary professor Tate dies. Marvin Embry Tate Jr., professor of Old Testament interpretation at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary from 1960 until 1995 and senior professor until 2003, died Nov. 16. He was 87. Tate taught at Wayland Baptist University before joining the Southern Seminary faculty. He wrote numerous books, including several biblical commentaries, and he helped with Hebrew translation for the New International Version of the Bible. He is survived by his wife of 55 years, Julia; five children—Sarah McCommon, Martha Kent, Betsey Tate, Andrew Tate and Virginia Phelps; and five grandchildren.

CBF names manager of congregational services. The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship hired Ruth Perkins Lee as manager of congregational services and has begun to organize staff in the missional congregations department around changes called for in the 2012 task force report. Perkins Lee, who currently serves as minister of students at First Baptist Church, Auburn, Ala., will begin work at the CBF resource center in Atlanta Jan. 1. A graduate of Mercer University’s McAfee School of Theology, Perkins Lee served as a member of CBF’s 2012 task force and is part of the implementation team.