CBF council recommends new leaders

ATLANTA, Ga. (ABP)—The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Coordinating Council approved a list of nominees for a new organizational structure adopted last year and now being implemented in stages.

Steve Wells, pastor of South Main Baptist Church in Houston, is among 13 nominees for a new Governing Board, which will retain administrative tasks currently performed by the full council while turning over program functions to two councils created to focus on missions and ministries. Nominations go before the CBF General Assembly June 26-28 in Greensboro, N.C., for final approval.

Also nominated are new Coordinating Council officers. Kasey Jones, pastor of National Memorial Baptist Church in Washington, is nominated as moderator-elect, to assume the post after her predecessor, layman Bill McConnell of Knoxville, Tenn., presides over the General Assembly in 2014. She would become the 11th woman elected to the post and the second African-American.

Jason Coker, pastor of Wilton Baptist Church in Wilton, Conn., and a former council member, is nominated as recorder, succeeding Renée Bennett of Macon, Ga.

A 2012 Task Force report adopted after a two-year study calls for breaking up the current Coordinating Council into three smaller and more focused groups. The new Governing Board will continue to perform legal and fiduciary responsibilities, but no longer will include representatives from each state and regional CBF organization.

In addition to Wells, other nominees to the first Governing Board include McConnell, a member of Central Baptist Church of Bearden in Knoxville, Tenn.; Paul Baxley, pastor of First Baptist Church in Athens, Ga.; Daniel Carro, Kingdom Advance ambassador for the Virginia Baptist Mission Board; Matt Cook, pastor of First Baptist Church in Wilmington, N.C.; Garry Dollar, United Way of Greater St. Louis; Doug Dortch, senior minister of Mountain Brook Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala.; Susan Fendley, a retired attorney for the Tennessee Valley Authority in Knoxville, Tenn., and 2012 Task Force member; Wayne Patterson, a member of First Baptist Church in Pendleton, S.C.; Jean Willingham of St. Petersburg, Fla., a former moderator of CBF of Florida and 2012 Task Force member; Joy Yee, pastor of Nineteenth Avenue Baptist Church in San Francisco and a former CBF moderator; and Camille Allen Snyder of Jackson, Miss.

Steven Porter, a lecturer at Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary in Waco, is among the first nominees to the Missions Council. Leta Tillman, a member of First Baptist Church in Abilene, is nominated to the Ministries Council, responsible for matching resources and needs among CBF churches and individuals. Dennis Young, pastor of Missouri City Baptist Church near Houston, will be presented to the CBF General Assembly for the nominating committee.