ATLANTA — Kevin Ezell,
pastor of Highview Baptist Church in Louisville, Ky., was elected president of
the North American Mission Board (NAMB) in a special called meeting of NAMB
trustees Sept. 14.
“I am honored and humbled
that the trustees put this confidence in me,” Ezell said immediately following
his interview and election by a 37-12 vote, all conducted in executive session.
“I will do everything I possibly can to honor the Lord in this and to lead the
board to a place where it is as effective as it possibly can be.”
Ezell’s selection had become
controversial in the weeks after his nomination was announced Aug. 31. David
Hankins, executive director of the Louisiana Baptist Convention, urged trustees
to continue searching for a candidate whose church exhibited a greater
commitment to the two primary funding streams of NAMB work: the Cooperative
Program and the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions.
North Carolina NAMB trustees
Todd Garren and Bruce Franklin both confessed to having some concerns going
into the meeting, but both were emphatically positive when contacted
afterwards.
“I had some concerns, but I’m
proud to have a new president,” said Garren, pastor of Piney Grove Baptist
Church in South Fork Association. “He’ll do a fantastic job … the hand of God
is on him.”
Franklin, a lay leader at
New Sandy Creek Baptist Church in Henderson, confirmed Garren’s assessment and
said, “I can’t say enough about how God’s Spirit moved among us,” during the
meeting.
A third trustee, Bud
Parrish, had a family funeral and was unavailable for comment Sept. 15.
North Carolina’s trustees
said the concerns raised by Hankins earlier prompted questions in the board
meeting and Ezell thanked those who asked the questions, saying they needed to
be asked.
What “sealed the deal” for
Franklin, he said, was the transparent, tearful statement Ezell made when the
questioning was complete. According to Franklin, Ezell said he wasn’t running
for the NAMB presidency but was concerned with reaching North America for
Christ because he knew that’s what God was concerned with.
“The board represented the
bulk of the Convention,” Garren said. “They raised the questions the people in
the pew would have raised, which was good, because he’s going to be dealing
with those questions.”
Garren said it is “not fair
to categorize (Ezell) as an independent or a maverick” because of missions work
and church planting conducted outside the traditional avenues of the Southern
Baptist Convention. As a local pastor, Ezell was just trying to do what he saw
to be most effective, Garren said.
Franklin and Garren both
said Ezell’s election is a step toward fulfilling Great Commission Resurgence
Task Force goals that will eventually see 50 percent of NAMB resources
dedicated to church planting.
“What’s happening is going
to be good for the Kingdom,” Garren said. “Will it be good for those who work
at NAMB or at the International Mission Board under the former model? Maybe not
so much.”
Ezell said he sensed God’s
call to the role partly because of what can be accomplished through the North
American Mission Board.
“I see the potential NAMB
has if its energies and resources are focused in the right direction,” Ezell
said. “I am looking forward to being able to give a very clear vision for it.
You rarely have the opportunity to have this big of a Kingdom impact.”
Tim Dowdy, chairman of NAMB’s
trustees and pastor of Eagle’s Landing First Baptist Church in McDonough, Ga.,
said Ezell’s leadership abilities, integrity and passion for church planting
and missions are what led trustees to him.
“He has demonstrated
faithful leadership and character and he has a passion for reaching the world,”
Dowdy said. “One banner he will consistently wave is that our greatest resource
in the SBC is not money, but people. We want to help mobilize our people and
partner with them to reach North America for Christ.”
Ezell has been pastor of
Highview Baptist Church since 1996 and was president of the Southern Baptist
Convention Pastors’ Conference in Orlando in June.
Ezell said one of his first
priorities as North American Mission Board president will be to spend time with
church planters.
“They are on the front lines
and I want to do everything I possibly can to free resources and direct
resources to them and help them succeed,” Ezell said. “I love church planters.
I like being around people who get in the ditch and do the work. That’s who I
operate best with. So I look forward to connecting and investing in them.”
(EDITOR’S NOTE — Ebert
is team leader of communications for the North American Mission Board.)