BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (BP) — Michael Wood, lead pastor of First West church in West Monroe, La., will be nominated for vice president of the Southern Baptist Pastors’ Conference, Tennessee pastor Jordan Easley has announced.
Wood has “a love for the local church and our convention,” said Easley, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Cleveland, Tenn. “He has a passion for lost people and a personal conviction to preach the Gospel, make disciples and mobilize people to live on mission.”
Wood has led First West since 2014, serving the congregation as student pastor the previous five years.
He served on the 2017-2018 Young Leaders Advisory Council of the SBC Executive Committee, which Easley chaired, and is co-founder of the Louisiana Young Pastors Network. Also in the SBC, he has been a member of the Committee on Committees in 2016 and 2019.
Wood additionally is executive director of Multiply NELA, a church multiplication and revitalization initiative in northeast Louisiana.
First West, with a total membership of 8,626, recorded 93 baptisms in 2018 and average worship attendance of 2,487, according to the SBC’s Annual Church Profile data.
The church’s Cooperative Program giving of $279,996 was 5.4 percent of $5,984,287 from 2018’s undesignated receipts. Its Great Commission Giving toward all Southern Baptist causes (state, national and international) totaled $805,000.
Easley said First West is a sponsor church for multi-ethnic churches in New Orleans and northeast Louisiana and has mission partners in Slovenia, Greece, Thailand, Germany, Wales and Tanzania.
Wood, who has been in ministry nearly 20 years, is in doctor of ministry studies through Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C. He holds a master of arts in Christian education from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, and an undergraduate degree from Oklahoma Baptist University.
He and his wife Abby met at OBU and have four children.
The June 9-10 Pastors’ Conference precedes the SBC’s June 11-12 annual meeting in Birmingham, Ala. To date, Wood is the lone nominee for vice president and David Uth, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Orlando, Fla., is the lone nominee for president.
