Naming of next LBC executive director on track for May 7

By Message Staff

ALEXANDRIA (LBM) — The search committee seeking the next executive director for the Louisiana Baptist Convention has narrowed its list of candi­dates, and hopes to have a nominee to present at the next LBC Executive Board meeting, search committee chair­man Waylon Bailey told the Baptist Message March 18.

“As you know, our committee has been given the challenging task of making a recommendation that will affect the work of Louisi­ana Baptists for decades to come,” Bailey, pastor of the First Baptist Church in Coving­ton and also chair­man of the LBC Executive Board, said in an e-mail statement. “We have not taken this task lightly.

“When we learned of our responsibil­ity at the state convention in November, we immediately set a goal of having a candidate to present at the next Execu­tive Board meeting, May 7, 2019,” he continued. “We have been working diligently to meet that self-imposed deadline.

“Our committee of 15 individuals from around the state has been fully engaged in this process,” he said. “I am deeply appreciative of their prayerful participation and hard work.”

The 15-member search committee first met Nov. 27 to begin the process to nominate a successor to LBC Executive Director David Hankins, who announced Nov. 2 his plans to retire June 30. The LBC Executive Board will vote on the nominee, as stated in the state convention’s Articles of Incorporation.

Search committee member Jason Hoychick, pastor of the Westview Baptist Church in DeRidder, told the Baptist Message that a spirit of humbleness has prevailed in every meeting, with members huddled together in prayer and then gathered together corporately to lay before God the task at hand.

“When I got into the very first meeting, it was evident from the beginning there was no one in the room who had an idea, mindset or personality that they were bigger or better than anyone else,” he said. “There were no politics. There were no one-sided opinions. It was a group of believers together seeking God’s will and laying out all options and praying through the process to this point.

“From the beginning we wanted to avoid making this a popularity contest,” he continued. “Our primary objective was to ask, ‘God, Who do you want in this position?’ That’s where it’s been from the start of the process to now. When the time comes that someone is elected and appointed to the position of executive director, I can say with 100 percent confidence this was a process of prayer and God’s direction. It truly will be in my opinion the person God has selected for it.”