ELIZABETHTOWN–The Kentucky Baptist Convention Mission Board approved several key hires Tuesday in a special called meeting at Severns Valley Baptist Church in Elizabethtown.
Among the appointments was Curtis Woods, current Baptist campus minister at Kentucky State University in Frankfort, as associate executive director for convention relations.
KBC President Adam Greenway described Woods’ selection as historic for the Southern Baptist Convention. Greenway stated that he believes Woods will be the first African American to hold an executive level position in an “old line” Southern Baptist state convention.
Chuck McAlister was tapped as leader of the evangelism and church planting team. A full-time evangelist, McAlister also currently is director of constituent relations for Baptist Global Response, the international relief arm of Southern Baptists. He served as pastor of Old Cedar Baptist Church in Owenton from 1979-1981.
Four regional pastoral ministry consultants were appointed to serve on the newly formed church consulting and revitalization team. The appointees join current KBC staff member Alan Witham who will direct their efforts to assist Kentucky Baptist churches in all aspects of ministry.
Greenway noted that the consultants are full-time KBC employees who will resign their current ministry positions.
Jeff Crabtree, director of missions for Warren Association of Baptists in Bowling Green, was named consultant for the South Central Region.
Todd Gray, pastor of First Baptist Church of Oak Grove, will serve as consultant for the West Region, a 12-county area from Muhlenberg County to the Mississippi River. Gray is a native of Cadiz.
Ronny Raines, pastor of Cold Spring Baptist Church in Campbell County, was named consultant for the North Central Region.
Alan Dodson, pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Lexington, will serve as consultant for the South Eastern Region. The current KBC first vice president and chairman of the administrative committee of the KBC Mission Board, Dodson resigned those offices to be considered for the staff position.
Upon Dodson’s resignation, KBC Second Vice President T.J. Francis assumes the first vice president’s duties.
On Monday, the administrative committee met at the Kentucky Baptist Building in Louisville to review the candidates and also make four appointments that do not require approval of the full board. Those include:
- Paul Gibson, part-time/interim Baptist campus minister for University of Louisville.
- Aaron Harvie as Kentucky’s church planting strategist, a position funded by the North American Mission Board.
An announcement is expected Monday on the new Baptist campus minister at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond.
Also approved was a temporary position for Steve Thompson, exiting assistant executive director of the KBC. Thompson was hired as a special consultant to the KBC Executive Office to assist in the ongoing reorganization of the mission board staff.
Thompson recently was hired as assistant to the president of University of the Cumberlands.
The board voted to give the administrative committee authority to fill two other positions, if candidates can be found before the next meeting of the board in November. The posts that remain vacant are for worship consultant and for leader of the church consulting and revitalization team.
“Having lost so many positions in order to align our staffing with our funding, I knew the few hires we made would have to be top level leaders,” KBC Executive Director Paul Chitwood said. “I am certain God has provided just that kind of leader for each of these positions. These men will prove to be a blessing to Kentucky Baptist Convention churches.”p>
In May, the mission board approved a major restrucutring of mission board staff. In preparation for the changes, 27 full- and part-time staff members accepted retirement or resignation incentive packages.
As part of the restructuring, board members voted in May to seek candidates for 11 job vacancies. Three of those vacancies were unrelated to the restructuring.
The Kentucky Baptist Convention is a cooperative missions and ministry organization made up of nearly 2.400 autonomous Baptist churches in Kentucky. A variety of state and worldwide ministries are coordinated through its administrative offices in Louisville, including: missions work, disaster relief, ministry training and support, church development, evangelism and more. For more, find us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.
by Dannah Prather, KBC Communications
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