Mark Bethea was named Aug. 2 as the search committee’s choice to become pastor of First Baptist Church, Montgomery. Bethea currently serves as the church’s associate minister of evangelism and outreach.
If approved by church vote, he will follow retiring pastor Jay Wolf, who served in that role for nearly 30 years. Wolf became pastor in 1991 after also serving as the church’s associate pastor from 1981 to 1984.
A Montgomery native, Bethea earned a bachelor’s degree from Auburn University and an M.Div. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He served as a summer youth intern at First, Montgomery, in 2007 and 2008 before going on to serve as student and media pastor at Christ Community Church in Montgomery, acquisitions and digital editor at New Hope Publishers, and pastor of Argo Baptist Church. He and his wife, Brittany, have three children—Micah, Helen Ann and Nora.
Douglas McElvy, chairman of the search committee, reported that the group had prayerfully considered between 80 and 90 candidates over a period of nine months before feeling that God had “chiseled that choice for us in stone.”
Church members will vote online from noon on Aug. 2 until 5 p.m. on Aug. 9, with results announced the following week.
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