NASHVILLE — Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) Executive Committee (EC) trustees recently elected a six-member presidential search committee.
While the committee does its work, D. August “Augie” Boto will serve as the organization’s interim president. EC officers selected Boto on April 4 following the March 27 retirement of former EC President Frank S. Page, who cited a “personal failing” in announcing his immediate departure.
Boto, an attorney, is a member of Forest Hills Baptist Church, Nashville, where he is a Sunday School teacher and regular Bible Study leader. Boto “brings more than 20 years of denominational service to this strategic task,” said EC chairman Stephen Rummage, pastor of Bell Shoals Baptist Church, Brandon, Florida. “The officers have confidence that Augie will provide stability in leadership for the Executive Committee during this interim period as the EC begins its search for a new president.”
On April 9, Boto named Jimmy Draper, former SBC president and president emeritus of LifeWay Christian Resources, “EC Ambassador.” Draper will assist Boto “in fulfilling the many representative functions that fall to the office of president,” Rummage said.
The full EC elected the presidential search committee during a special called plenary session in Nashville on April 17.
The committee is marked by racial and gender diversity as well as a mixture of clergy and laypeople.
The EC also voted to grant limited post-employment benefits to Page, which include money for marital counseling, five years of Medicare supplemental coverage and some EC-provided computer equipment he had used in his home. (BP)
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