Michigan Baptists elect new executive director
By Karen L. Willoughby
HOLT, Mich. — Messengers to the Nov. 1 annual meeting of the State Baptist Convention of Michigan elected Ed Emmerling as its new executive director.
They also honored retiring Executive Director Tim Patterson, heard exciting reports of church planting and other ministry areas, and were encouraged by Jeff Iorg, new Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) Executive Committee president and CEO.
“I’m super honored and a little overwhelmed to be asked to serve Michigan in this way,” Ed Emmerling told Baptist Press. A Flint, Mich., native, he’s been pastor since 2002 of Westside Baptist Church in Flushing, a church his grandfather started in 1956. “I’m excited at the opportunity to serve alongside Michigan pastors and churches to help start and strengthen churches and people in our state.”
Emmerling said his church knows he plans to resign from Westside Flushing Dec. 31 and to start at BSCM Jan. 1, 2025.
Michigan’s 67th annual meeting took place Nov. 1 at Chapel Pointe Holt Campus church in Holt, with 159 messengers and eight guests from 71 of the state’s 257 churches, which together reported 1,066 baptisms over the last year.
The meeting’s theme was “Praise Him” from Psalm 145. The worship team was from Chapel Pointe Holt, assisted by Chapel Pointe Hudsonville.
Along with the excitement generated by good news statewide was the “sweet and sorrowful” final report by outgoing Executive Director Tim Patterson. He used Shakespeare’s words as he expressed the sweetness of ministering in Michigan for 10 years, and the sorrow of perhaps not seeing many “wonderful” Michiganders again before eternity. He and his wife Sabrina plan to return to Florida.
“No place of service has given us greater joy and fulfillment than our time here surrounded by the Great Lakes and great love,” Patterson told messengers. “The pain of parting is indeed hurtful, but it is softened and soothed by the reality that God is still on His throne and sovereign in nature and attributes. He is in control! Not only will we leave you in good hands, but we will leave you in God’s hands.”
Celebrating ministry
Mixed in with reports from the state convention staff and national entities were nine testimonies from Michigan pastors and leaders describing the speakers’ experiences in church starting, church strengthening and missions. Business consisted of electing Emmerling, approving the budget and electing a new slate of officers. Iorg preached.
Matt Thompson, Michigan’s lead church planting catalyst, reported 109 out of the state’s 257 Southern Baptist churches in the state engaged in planting churches and the Send Network church mobilization pathway.
“We live in a state of 10 million people with roughly 6 million people that still need Jesus,” Thompson told the messengers. “If we are going to reach 1 percent of the lost in Michigan, this means we will need to reach 60,000 people with the good news of Jesus.”
He spoke of churches being mobilized, maturing and multiplying. The state’s 42 churches under five years old saw 323 professions of faith and 187 baptisms over the last year. Fifteen new churches were planted last year, and this year, another 15.
Wayne Parker, the Send City Missionary in Detroit, spoke of 64 churches planted over the last 10 years. The goal was 72. The new goal is “perhaps 150 churches” started over the next 10 years.
Tony Lynn, Send Network’s Language/Ethnic church planting catalyst, described for messengers the ways Michigan churches are reaching out in several languages, including Arabic, Romanian, Spanish, Japanese, Korean and the multiple languages spoken by people from the Philippines, Myanmar and Africa.
Business
Messengers approved a $2,065,000 budget, same as last year, including $1,335,600 anticipated from Michigan churches, of which $467,460 (35 percent) is to be forwarded for the SBC’s national and global mission causes. That percentage is also unchanged from last year.
New officers are President Josh Tovey, pastor of Redemption Church, for eight years in a “set-up/tear-down” location in Hudsonville, which recently acquired its own building in Grandville; First Vice President Cornelius Roberson, pastor of Heart and Soul Community Church in West Bloomfield and in Detroit, and director of the Michigan African American Fellowship; Second Vice President Michele White, a member at Middlebelt Baptist Church in Inkster; Recording Secretary Chris Peoples, pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in Adrian; and Assistant Recording Secretary Nate Click, pastor of Heritage Baptist Church in Monroe. All officers are in their first, one-year term.
“The best part of our annual meeting was the election of our new executive director treasurer, Ed Emmerling,” Patterson told Baptist Press. “I know that I will be leaving the leadership of this wonderful family called the Baptist State Convention of Michigan in great hands.”
Patterson said he was “amazed at what is happening in our campus ministry church plants and the impact they are having on the students and communities in which they minister.” He also noted the “great diversity” of Southern Baptist churches across the state, and the revitalization taking place among many.
“There is no doubt in my mind that without the genius of the Cooperative Program, our ‘non-South’ state convention could not impact our state with the Gospel at the level we experience now,” Patterson said. “And church planting would be almost non-existent.”
The 68th annual meeting of the Baptist State Convention of Michigan is set for Friday, Nov. 7, 2025, at Ekklesia Church in Grand Blanc.
Mississippi Baptists see largest gathering since 2016
By Tony Martin, Baptist Record
JACKSON, Miss. (BP) — The Mississippi Baptist Convention held its annual meeting Oct. 29-30 at First Baptist Church in Jackson under the theme “Impact: Mississippi.” The 803 messengers and 70 guests made for the largest attendance since 2016.
The convention celebrated the upcoming 100th anniversary of the Cooperative Program, Southern Baptists’ way of funding national and international missions and ministry, during a morning session as well as by passing a resolution.
Messengers also heard from Ben Mandrell, president of Lifeway Christian Resources, and Jeff Iorg, president and CEO of the SBC Executive Committee.
MBCB Executive Director Shawn Parker preached a sermon from Revelation 7:9 titled “The Big Picture.”
Business
Officers elected include President Bill Hurt, pastor of Pleasant Hill Church, Columbus; First Vice President David Hayes, senior pastor of First Church Senatobia; Second Vice President Shane Freeman, pastor of Macedonia Church, Petal; Recording Secretary Michael Weeks, pastor of Pleasant Hill Church, Olive Branch; Associate Recording Secretary Will McNeese, Pastor, First Church, Polkville.
The Cooperative Program budget for 2025 totaled $30,890,325, which was unchanged from 2024. The portion allocated for national Southern Baptist Convention missions and ministries is 39.5 percent, a slight increase from last year.
Messenger Jacob Vollm, pastor of Grace Memorial Church in Gulfport, made a motion that the Mississippi Baptist Convention authorize a new method of cooperative giving for its churches, allowing churches the option to withhold funds from selected Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) entities without withdrawing from Cooperative Program support altogether. It was seconded from the floor.
After discussion, another messenger made a motion to refer the original motion to the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board’s Executive Committee. That motion was approved by a two-thirds vote, which means the state’s executive committee will present a report on the issue at next year’s meeting.
Congregational music was led by Kristopher Smith, director of worship ministries for the MBCB, with a mass choir from several churches, as well as Worship Collective of Mississippi College.
Anthony George, senior pastor of First Baptist Church Atlanta, Ga., delivered a message entitled “The Impact We Make Through Prayer,” using Ephesians 6:17-19 as his text.
The 2025 MBCB annual meeting will be Oct. 28-29 at Broadmoor Church in Madison.
