One of the most daunting tasks I face as the President of the Southern Baptist Convention is the appointment of the persons who will serve on the Committee on Committees.
Since early fall, we have been working through this process diligently. The Committee on Committees has the responsibility to appoint the Committee on Nominations. The Committee on Nominations has far-reaching influence upon Southern Baptist life. They recommend the trustees of our eleven entities of the convention and our Executive Committee to the Southern Baptist Convention.
The Process
After receiving nominations from across our convention and working through our own processes of evaluating and examining candidates, it is with great privilege today that I announce the 2015 Committee on Committees. These persons are very representative of our convention. In fact, this committee is 20% multi-ethnic, which matches the percentage of churches that are multi-ethnic in our convention. This entire committee will work together to determine the very best two people at this time from their represented state or region, at least one of whom must not be employed full-time by or retired from a church, to serve on the Committee on Nominations. After working through this process between now and our 2015 Convention, they will meet together in Columbus on June 15 to determine their final recommendations. On Tuesday afternoon, June 16, they will recommend to our convention the Committee on Nominations. Then, after this process is voted upon by our convention and if the persons are affirmed, the Committee on Nominations will begin their work together to recommend trustees of our SBC entities and Executive Committee at the 2016 Southern Baptist Convention in St. Louis, Missouri.
Our Leaders
The 68 people who will serve on this year’s Committee on Committees will be led by Dr. Bryan Smith, Senior Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Roanoke, Virginia. Dr. Smith is highly gifted in every way not only as a pastor, but is also the former Chairman of the Executive Board of the Southern Baptist Convention of Virginia. He will be assisted as Vice-Chairman by Dr. Alex Himaya, Senior Pastor of theChurch.at in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Dr. Smith will chart the work of this Committee on Committees and both he and Dr. Himaya will lead exceptionally well. Pray for them and for our 2015 Committee on Committees.
Our 2015 Committee on Committees
Alabama – Marilyn Foley, Spring Hill Baptist Church, Mobile; Buddy Champion, First Baptist Church, Trussville
Alaska – Todd Burgess, First Baptist Church, Eagle River; Brent Williams, True North Church, Anchorage
Arizona – Scott Gourley, The Way Fellowship Church, Peoria; Brett Carlson, Mountain Ridge Church, Glendale
Arkansas – Tom Hatley, Immanuel Baptist Church, Rogers; Bill Elliff, The Summit Church, North Little Rock
California – Ryan Blackwell, First Baptist Church, San Francisco; Anthony Dockery, St. Stephen Missionary Baptist Church, La Puente
Colorado – Bryan Barley, The Summit Church, Denver; Missy Kintzel, Applewood Baptist Church, Wheat Ridge
Florida – Matt Crawford, First Baptist Church, Sebring; Trey Brunson, First Baptist Church, Jacksonville
Georgia – Fred Evers, Northside Baptist Church, Tifton; Jeremy Morton, First Baptist Church, Cartersville
Hawaii – Maria Ogle, Ocean View Baptist Church, Ocean View; Steve Gray, First Baptist Church, Wahiawa
Illinois – Adron Robinson, Hillcrest Baptist Church, Country Club Hills; Patrick Pajak, Tabernacle, Decatur
Indiana – Nathan Millican, Oak Park Baptist Church, Jeffersonville; Autumn Wall, Living Faith Church, Indianapolis
Kansas-Nebraska – Derrick Lynch, Blue Valley Baptist Church, Overland Park (KS); Faith McDonald, Lenexa Baptist Church, Lenexa (KS)
Kentucky – Garnetta Smith, Highview Baptist Church, Louisville; John Mark Toby, Hillvue Heights Church, Bowling Green
Louisiana – Stewart Holloway, First Baptist Church, Pineville; Diane Nix, First Baptist Church, Covington
Maryland-Delaware-DC – Bucas Sterling III, Kettering Baptist Church, Upper Marlboro (MD); Zach Schlegel, Capital Hill Baptist Church, Washington (DC)
Michigan – Nathaniel Bishop, Eastside Community Church, Harper Woods; Wayne Parker, Merriman Road Baptist Church, Garden City
Mississippi – Eric Hankins, First Baptist Church, Oxford; Chip Henderson, Pinelake Church, Brandon
Missouri – Malachi O’Brien, The Church at Pleasant Ridge, Harrisonville; Brad Graves, Calvary Baptist Church, Joplin
Nevada – Greg Fields, Nellis Baptist Church, Las Vegas; Kristie Pitman, Hope Baptist Church, Las Vegas
New England – Matt Chewning, Netcast Church, Beverly (MA); David Um, Antioch Baptist Church, Cambridge (MA)
New Mexico – Alan Stoddard, First Baptist Church, Ruidoso; Elio Barrios, Taylor Memorial Baptist Church, Hobbs
New York – George Russ, Ebenezer Mission Church, Oakland Gardens; Salomón Orellana, Iglesia Bautista El Buen Pastor Church, Hempstead
North Carolina – Mike Daniels, Hickory Grove Baptist, Charlotte; Brundi Crawford, Biltmore Baptist Church, Arden
Northwest – Brian Smith, Calvary Baptist Church, Burlington (WA); Mark Ford, First Baptist Church, Longview (WA)
Ohio – Travis Smalley, Lakota Hills Baptist Church, West Chester Township; Rich Halcombe, Jersey Baptist Church, Pataskala
Oklahoma – Felix Cebrera, Quail Springs Baptist, Oklahoma City; Alex Himaya, TheChurch.at, Tulsa
Pennsylvania/South Jersey – K. Marshall Williams, Nazarene Baptist Church, Philadelphia (PA); John Cope, Keystone Fellowship, North Wales (PA)
South Carolina – Paul Jimenez, First Baptist Church, Taylors; Karyn Wilton, First Bapist Church, Spartanburg
Tennessee – Kim Tucker, Bellevue Baptist Church, Cordova; Jonathan Akin, Fairview Church, Lebanon
Texas – Chuy Avila, El Encuentro Baptist Church, El Paso; Glynn Stone, Mobberly Baptist Church, Longview
Utah-Idaho – Paul Thompson, Eastside Baptist Church, Twin Falls (ID); Ray Sparkman, Central Valley Baptist Church, Meridian (ID)
Virginia – Bryan Smith, First Baptist Church, Roanoke; Tammy Ethridge, Liberty Baptist Church, Hampton
West Virginia – John Freeman, Calvary Baptist Church, Chapmanville; Will Basham, New Heights Church, Milton
Wyoming – Mark Porter, Happy Jack Country Church, Cheyenne; Zachary Edwards, Life Point Church, Cheyenne
Join me in praying for this committee as they work together over the next few months.
Yours for the Great Commission,
Ronnie W. Floyd
