State Board of Missions taps Madison as ‘ministries’ head

Ron Madison, pastor of First Baptist Church, Opelika, and chairman of the State Board of Missions (SBOM), was elected as Cooperative Ministries team leader at the board’s meeting on Jan. 24 at First Baptist Church, Dothan.

The SBOM met prior to the state Baptist convention’s evangelism conference, which was held at the Dothan Civic Center.

Madison’s election followed the announcement of the retirement of Billy Nutt. Nutt, who Executive Director Rick Lance called the “Alan Greenspan of the Board of Missions” and “a servant-minded individual,” has served 33 years for the convention and has worked alongside four executive directors.

The personnel committee recommended Madison work alongside Nutt in order to fill the position upon Nutt’s Aug. 1 retirement.

The vote was unanimous in support of Madison, and all board members stood in a gesture of support as he returned to the room.

Madison is a graduate of Henderson State College in Arkadelphia, Ark., and New Orleans Seminary. He has served as pastor of churches in New Jersey and Texas. Madison served as pastor of First Baptist Church, Decatur, before assuming the Opelika pastorate. He and his wife, Charlotte, have a daughter in high school and two grown children.

Madison said he is looking forward to “the overall opportunity of working with directors of missions and churches across the state in further partnership of starting new churches and strengthening work of Ala­bama Baptists as Great Commission Christians.”

Madison expressed support of the leadership and vision of Lance but said he was “somewhat awed by the responsibility of following behind Billy Nutt.”

Lance described Madison as a “good family man” who was qualified for the position spiritually, domestically, academically and relationally.

Madison “will have years of experience in only a few months” of partnering with Nutt, Lance said.

Following the announcement of Madison as director-elect, the personnel committee recommended Nutt be named special assistant to the executive director at least through the end of the year. After the measure was approved, Lance called the arrangement a “dream team.”

Lance discussed the topic of mission partnership, including both Impact Northeast and the Vene­zuela partnership.

According to Lance, goals for the Northeast partnership include starting new work, impacting students, developing better leadership and revitalizing existing churches.

Venezuelan goals include disaster relief, prayer ministry development, evangelism, discipleship and new work in the area.

In other business, board members heard reports of the 1999 state Cooperative Program (CP) causes. Money received was $442,542, up $89,847 over the previous year. State CP causes finished the year $92,542 over budget. The Executive Committee recommended that the 2001 CP budget for Great Commission Ministries be increased approximately 2 percent more than the 2000 budget figure.

Buddy Gray, president of the SBOM, said the early announcement “gives everybody some goals and guidelines as they make their own plans.”

Upon recemmendation of the Committee on Boards and Commissions, the SBOM elected Ron Horton, pastor of New Prospect Baptist Church, Haleyville, to serve on the board. He fills a seat vacated when Michael Goforth moved out of the association.