RICHMOND, Va. — Trustees of the International Mission Board (IMB) have overwhelmingly approved the selection of prominent Southern Baptist pastor Tom Elliff as senior vice president for spiritual nurture and church relations.
In his new role, Elliff, pastor of First Southern Baptist Church, Del City, Okla., will teach and nurture missionaries, mentor IMB staff and relate to Southern Baptist pastors and churches. Elliff told the Del City congregation Aug. 7 of his decision to resign the pastorate to join the IMB leadership team. Board trustees will officially ratify his selection during their Sept. 12–14 meeting in Pensacola, Fla.
Elliff, 61, has been pastor of the Oklahoma church for the past 20 years. He served two terms as president of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), as president of the SBC Pastors Conference and as chairman of the Southern Baptist Council on Family Life, as well as leading in a variety of association and state convention responsibilities.
A third-generation Southern Baptist pastor, Elliff has been in the ministry 43 years and has been a pastor all but two of those years — when he and his wife served as IMB missionaries. The Elliffs were appointed to Zimbabwe in 1981, but after an automobile accident injured their eldest daughter, they returned to the United States. Two of the Elliffs’ three daughters have served as IMB missionaries. Another daughter is a member at First Southern Baptist, where her husband is a deacon and teacher. The Elliffs’ son also serves at First Southern as associate/teaching pastor and works with students. The Elliffs have 12 grandchildren, with another on the way.
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