Concern

The vote has been taken, and Dr. Ezell is the new president of the North American Mission Board (NAMB). I congratulate him and will pray for his leadership in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). However, my concern is that as a pastor, his Cooperative Program (CP) giving went down every year he was at his church. It seems to me the committee would have wanted someone that had been faithful in giving to the unified plan of the SBC.

Let me state that I have nothing against him. So far as I know, he is a godly man and loves the Lord. I do not question his character.

I had the privilege of serving on the Home Mission Board, as well as NAMB. Dr. Larry Lewis was president. He had been a missionary and was passionate about the CP. My fear is that in another generation, we will see the demise of the CP and a return to each church doing it own missions programs. We Southern Baptists have always prided ourselves on having the best missions program of any denomination. Will that be true in the future?

The so-called megachurches can certainly give money to their own missions projects, but the average church cannot do that, or if they do, it is very little. If our missions program is only supported by the megachurches, there will be little missions work going on.

I will support Dr. Ezell as president of NAMB and hope that his position will lead him to a greater commitment to the CP.

Ken Cheek
Tuscaloosa, Ala.