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The Southern Baptist Convention's North American Mission Board narrowed its list of candidates for the next agency head.
Nearly a year after former NAMB president Dr. Bob Reccord resigned, the presidential search committee hopes to have a recommendation by late March or early April, according to the Baptist Press.
The committee has been taking its time, according to chairman Greg Faulls, pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Owensboro, Ky., in search for "God's man and as of now does not know who the next president will be.
"We are waiting to hear from God," said Faulls, the Baptist Press reported.
The search began after Reccord decided to step down following a critical report released in February of 2006 that questioned his leadership and the NAMB's effectiveness. The mission agency responded immediately with the appointment of a Board of Trustees and further investigation into the issue. Policy recommendations were published in a follow-up report to provide increased accountability within the NAMB.
Southern Baptists affirmed that such criticism is welcomed and that it provides an opportunity for them to come out stronger. Many leaders also signed a statement to support Reccord and his "uncompromising integrity."
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The prominent mission agency is now looking at increased revenues of up to $127.8 million, a $3 million increase from 2005. Southern Baptists attribute the higher gains to the record Annie Armstrong Easter Offering of $58.5 million and the decreased expenses from under-run budgets. The $3 million will be directed to strategic ministry needs.
Misspending allegations were made in a new book written by a former NAMB employee, Mary Kinney Branson. While she cited "extravagance" and "misuse," namely by Reccord, the NAMB responded, saying many of the claims she made represent only one side of the story and cannot be substantiated. And many of the allegations were also based on hearsay, the NAMB stated.
Nevertheless, the events are in the past. The NAMB now looks toward the future and a new president.
Although NAMB-sponsored church plants decreased in 2006, recent studies revealed a positive note among Southern Baptists' new churches. Results showed that 68 percent of Southern Baptist church plants survived beyond their fourth year and awareness of church planting at the denomination's seminaries is one the rise, according to the Baptist Press. New church plants averaged 1,602 over the past four years and more than half of them in 2006 were ethnic or African American churches.
Roy Fish is currently serving as interim president while the search committee looks for someone "chosen by God to be a catalyst for spiritual awakening in this nation," Faulls said.
