When Kevin Ezell invited Buff and Cissy McNickle on stage at the 2010 SBC Pastors Conference in Orlando with newborn son Jedidiah, it became an emotional highlight of the two-day event.
“They don’t know this,” Ezell said to the audience with his arm around the tearful couple, “but the generous sponsors that we have for the Pastors Conference are going to pay your adoption off in full.”
Ezell’s family has been greatly impacted by adoption. He and his wife, Lynette, have adopted three children, each from different nations. “It has made a huge impact on our biological children because it has made them more missions-minded,” he said.
And now the 48-year-old senior pastor of Highview Baptist Church, Louisville, Ky., will take his family to another level of being missions-minded.
On Sept. 14, trustees of the North American Mission Board (NAMB) will hold a special meeting to consider making Ezell the new president of the entity (see story, page 1).
Ezell said his excitement about NAMB’s new potential grew after passage of the Great Commission Resurgence recommendations at this year’s Southern Baptist Convention in June.
“The messengers really sent a message that they want NAMB to be focused on church planting. That really excited me — to look at North America and get as many people engaged in this as possible.”
Ezell first sensed God’s call to ministry when he was a high school sophomore.
That call was solidified during his time at Union University in Jackson, Tenn. “I thought at the time that I would go into student ministry,” Ezell said. He had served in student ministry at First Baptist Church, Paducah, Ky.
With financial help from First, Paducah, Ezell attended seminary at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. Nearing completion of seminary, God began turning Ezell toward senior pastor roles, although he said his first attempt at preaching was not exactly a success.
“It was a miserable experience,” he said, laughing. “My wife … said she was praying about what kind of work she could do to support us.”
But soon after that came a call from Hilltop Baptist Church, Fort Worth, Texas, and Ezell became pastor of the congregation of seven. He specifically reached out to the growing Hispanic community near the church and by the time he left in late 1988, half of the church’s 50 members were Hispanic.
Ezell served as pastor of First Baptist Church, Hartsville, Tenn., (1989–1991) and First Baptist Church, Marion, Ill., (1991–1996).
When Ezell came to Highview in 1996, the church met on a single campus and averaged 1,200 on Sunday mornings. Today Highview consists of seven campuses, two that meet across the Ohio River in southern Indiana. Two of the campuses consist of Hispanic congregations. One meets on campus at the University of Louisville.
“We realized we were not going to reach Louisville from where we were located,” Ezell said. “So we were faced with staying where we were or relocating. We decided to do both.”
Highview’s separate campuses each have their own teaching pastors, but weekly staff meetings and accountability from Ezell keep the Highview culture and standards present on each campus.
Highview’s 2010 missions giving goal is $1.4 million with $582,000 being spent locally, $150,000 nationally and $700,000 internationally. The church website includes a calendar with more than two-dozen missions events and trips scheduled for 2010. Last year more than 500 of Highview’s members participated in a missions trip.
Highview is currently funding eight church plants.
“All of our church plants are in major cities,” he said. “For too long Southern Baptists have put their churches in the same places while the Northeast, the West and Canada are underserved.” (BP)
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