CICERO, New York (BP) — Frank Williams has been voted the next executive director/treasurer (ED/T) of the Baptist Convention of New York (BCNY), the group announced in a press release today (March 27).

Williams, 52, who will continue serving as pastor of Wake-Eden Community Baptist Church and Bronx Baptist Church for the foreseeable future, begins his role on April 2. He succeeds Terry Robertson, who is retiring after serving in the role for 20 years.

“Rev. Williams brings extensive leadership experience and a deep commitment to discipleship,” said the statement. “He has pastored Wake-Eden Community Baptist Church and Bronx Baptist Church, overseen academic and community institutions and served in key leadership positions at the local, state and national levels.”

Williams earned a degree in computer information science from Iona University before attaining a master of divinity degree from New York Theological Seminary and a master of theology degree from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (NOBTS). He is currently pursuing a doctorate in Christian apologetics at NOBTS.

He has served as the president of the National African American Fellowship (2022-23) and remains an at-large member of the group. Williams will be the sixth executive director in the convention’s history and fourth out of the Metropolitan Baptist Association of New York.

“I have been a part of the Baptist Convention of New York since 1993, when I was baptized and joined the Bronx Baptist Church,” Williams told Baptist Press (BP). “I am grateful to God, my family, my mentor — the Late Rev. Dr. Samuel G. Simpson — and my church families for their investments in me over the years. We believe that this new assignment is the Lord’s leading, and with the prayer support of my church families and many others, I endeavor to provide collaborative leadership that is both strategic and revitalizing for the over 500 churches of the Baptist Convention of New York.

“I look forward to connecting with associational missionaries and moderators across the territory to learn from them and key pastors about their respective communities, their cultures, their challenges and their hopes for the future. God is at work in the BCNY, and each executive director/treasurer has had to discern that and come alongside associations and churches in ways that were relevant and rejuvenating.”

In keeping with the BCNY’s past, he further expressed the desire to continue, renew and establish partnerships with national Southern Baptist entities and state conventions “in ways that are mutually beneficial.”

“Dr. Terry Robertson has served faithfully as our ED/T for the past 20 years, and as he passes the baton of leadership, I hold on to these words from Zechariah 4:6 that were spoken to Zerubbabel as he entered his assignment: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.’”

Williams further thanked the search team and executive board, led by Gale Dingwell, “for their diligent work.” He will continue in varying levels of pastoral work at his churches over the next year as his workload increases toward the BCNY.

Dingwell, BCNY president and pastor of Ridgecrest Baptist Church in New Windsor, reciprocated the sentiment.

“After an unhurried, deliberate search for the next executive director of the Baptist Convention of New York, the executive board and myself came to realize that Reverend Frank Williams uniquely possessed the requisite skills, experiences, character and personality needed to lead our network of churches in this next season,” he said. “We are grateful that Reverend Williams similarly recognized God’s call and accepted our invitation to serve in this capacity.”

An emphasis on “equipping pastors and lay leaders, fostering church collaboration and cultivating strategic partnerships to advance the Gospel” will accompany Williams’ leadership, said the statement, alongside a vision of the BCNY as “a vibrant disciple-producing network of churches, of all sizes and compositions, that reflect the love of Christ for their community.”

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Scott Barkley is chief national correspondent for Baptist Press.)