ANCHORAGE, Alaska (BP) — Michael Procter is retiring effective May 2016 after more than five years as executive director/treasurer of the Alaska Baptist Convention and as executive director of the Alaska Baptist Foundation, he announced May 4.
He has held the posts since January 2011 and has served in Southern Baptist ministry for 45 years, 30 of them in Alaska.
“Over the 45 years the Lord has allowed me to serve Him in ministry, there have been so many blessings that they are innumerable but one that rises to the top is His blessing me with the privilege of serving Him in Alaska,” Procter said in his resignation letter. “… Over the years, there have been challenges and disagreements however there has also been victories and blessings as we witnessed God working in our midst.”
Among the former posts Procter referenced in his letter are his “pastorate at Glacier Valley Baptist Church in Juneau and the church planting ‘circuit riding’ in Southeast Alaska, to moving to Anchorage to become the Director of Missions for the Chugach Baptist Association, to becoming a part of our State staff, first as the Director of Missions and Church Planting and, for the past 5 plus years, as your Executive Director-Treasurer.”
Procter will turn 66 in 2016, as well as celebrate his 40th wedding anniversary to his wife Rebecca.
“I remember when I was young and submitting my resume for ministry opportunities, only to be told that I needed more experience and that a person who was older was called. It was a frustrating experience and I must admit that I wondered why those ‘old guys’ just did not retire and make room for the younger guys who had ‘new ideas,'” Procter wrote. “Now I am one those ‘older guys’ and there are those who, while it has not been voiced to me, are probably thinking, why doesn’t that ‘old guy’ retire and make room for the next generation?”
Procter holds doctorate and master’s degrees from International Theological Seminary in El Monte, Calif., and a bachelor’s degree from California Baptist University in Riverside. In addition to pastoral positions in Alaska, Nevada, California and Germany, he has served as an adjunct professor at Alaska Baptist Native School of Theology and Alaska Baptist College.
