PIKEVILLE— Tim Searcy, pastor of Allen Baptist Church in Prestonsburg, was elected as president of the Kentucky Baptist Convention at the organization’s annual meeting in Pikeville Nov. 13.
Searcy defeated Nick Sandefur, pastor of Porter Memorial Baptist Church in Lexington, garnering 189 votes to Sandefur’s 184 votes. He was nominated by Fitzpatrick pastor Tommy Reed.
Describing Searcy as an “everyman,” Reed said, “He can relate to those in the mountains and the hollows of eastern Kentucky. … I just think, from Paducah to Pikeville, from Williamsburg to Covington, he can relate to any part of the state.”
Searcy has said he wants to encourage humility within Baptist life. “The longer I lead, the more I understand that I should be encouraging people to follow Christ, not me. Only Jesus can save. It is His church, not mine,” Searcy said. “People do not need to hear from me, they need a word from Jesus.”
Allen Baptist Church, where Searcy has served the past three years, gives approximately 1.5 percent of its undesignated receipts through the Cooperative Program. Total Great Commission giving, Searcy said, totaled $27,874 or 9.6 percent, last year.
Average worship attendance at Allen Baptist is about 230, and the church has reported 69 baptisms during Searcy’s tenure.
Searcy has wide-ranging ministry experience, having served as a seminary professor and faculty member, vice president of a college, youth minister, minister of music, associate pastor, pastor, missionary and church planter.
Besides serving as a church planter in Columbia, Searcy has done mission work in Brazil, Costa Rica, Colombia, Russia, Nicaragua, Nepal, Cambodia, and Cuba. (WR)