NAMB appoints couple with Alabama ties

A couple with Alabama ties was among 102 missionaries commissioned by the North American Mission Board (NAMB) during an Oct. 2 service at Eagle’s Landing First Baptist Church, McDonough, Ga.
   
Joseph Savage, appointed as a special ministries missionary, will serve with his wife, Suzanne, in Alpharetta, Ga. 
   
Savage, a native of Alabama, earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Mobile. 
   
While in school, he served as summer youth minister for Harmony Baptist Church, Andalusia, and ministerial intern for the college ministry at Cottage Hill Baptist Church, Mobile.
   
Savage later earned his master of divinity degree from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C., and his doctorate in ministry from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.
   
Prior to his NAMB appointment, he served as pastor of Turning Point Baptist Church, Mulberry, Fla. He also served as pastor of North Cary Baptist Church, Cary, N.C.
   
Suzanne Savage attended the University of Alabama and earned her Bachelor of Science degree in education from the University of South Alabama.
   
She will be serving alongside her husband in his new role.
   
In the commissioning service at Eagle’s Landing First Baptist, NAMB commissioned 24 husband-and-wife teams and six individuals. 
   
The new missionaries will serve in 27 states and five Canada locations — Alberta, Toronto, Ontario, British Columbia and Montreal. 
   
Another eight hold other assignments.
   
In his charge to the new missionaries, Chuck Allen, NAMB executive vice president, told them and the 2,000-person congregation that “we make God’s simplistic plan of salvation complicated when it’s really not.”
   
“For instance, there are only three true colors, but look what great artists do with those three colors. There are only seven true notes of music, but we’ve all heard the beautiful melodies those seven notes can produce,” Allen said. 
   
“It’s not what we have but what we give back to God that counts.”
   
NAMB partners with state Baptist conventions, associations and Southern Baptist churches to support more than 5,200 missionaries in the United States, Canada and their territories. (TAB)