Samford University administrator Kevin Blackwell has been elected to lead Mobile Baptist Association. He also will join the University of Mobile faculty, launching what UM President Charles Smith called an “innovative partnership” between a Baptist association and the university.
“I am deeply honored to be called to serve as the next executive director of missions of the Mobile Baptist Association,” Blackwell said. “The MBA has been resourcing Southern Baptist churches to share the good news to the people of Mobile County since 1855, and to have the opportunity to lead it is remarkable. The 110 churches of the Mobile Baptist Association are serving with a gospel-centered passion, and it will be my aim to provide leadership to further cooperation, strengthen churches, make disciples and encourage ministers for the glory of Christ. I am grateful to the search committee and the executive committee for their trust in me to lead the MBA to a fruitful future.”
Blackwell was elected at a March 6 special-called evening meeting of the MBA executive committee. Alabama Baptists have known Blackwell as both assistant to the president for church relations at Samford and a leader of the Alabama Baptist State Convention’s Calling Out the Called initiative to raise up a new generation of ministers.
Mack Morris, chair of the association’s personnel committee, which led the search for a new associational leader, said Blackwell’s election followed a year-long nationwide search as they sought “someone who would be a leader among leaders.”
“In the Alabama Baptist State Convention there are several names who have instant name recognition,” Morris said. “When we talked to people who knew Dr. Kevin Blackwell, we heard these descriptions: Visionary, level-headed, bridge-builder, impactful, difference maker, creative, contagious, Kingdom strategist, powerful preacher, pastor’s heart, strong business traits, family man, authentic, humble, wise, rooted in the Bible, integrity, disciple maker and connected between generations.”
‘Thrilled to join the faculty’
At UM, Blackwell will serve as special assistant to the president for institutional relations and assistant professor of disciple making.
“We are thrilled to see Dr. Blackwell joining the Mobile Baptist Association in our Great Commission work of making disciples of Jesus Christ,” Smith said. “All of us here at the University of Mobile share in this high calling and look forward to partnering with Dr. Blackwell not only as our associational leader, but also in his new roles here at the university. He has served our friends at Samford University so well, and I have no doubt he will make a similar impact through the University of Mobile.”
The expanding relationship between the Mobile Association and UM “reinforces UM’s longstanding commitment to equipping the next generation of ministry leaders and sets the stage for years of partnership between our university and regional SBC churches,” Smith said.
Blackwell said “Christ-centered schools like the University of Mobile” buttress the work of local churches.
“The Mobile Baptist Association was integral to the university’s founding in 1961, so it makes sense that UM and the MBA should work cooperatively for Christ,” Blackwell said. “For over six decades, the University of Mobile has provided quality higher education for a higher purpose, and it is truly one of the greatest honors of my life to contribute to the future of UM.”
Pastor, author, disciple maker
Blackwell has served in church ministry for 31 years and was senior pastor of Valley Creek Baptist Church in Hueytown, Alabama, prior to arriving at Samford in 2014, where he served as director of the Ministry Training Institute in addition to his duties as assistant to the president.
A former president of the Alabama Baptist Pastors Conference, he is author of “Repairing the Missional Breach: Why the Church Isn’t Making Disciples and What We Can Do About It,” co-author of “Cultivate Disciplemaking: Growing Disciples Who Make Disciples” and a member of the Evangelical Missiological Society.
Blackwell holds doctor of philosophy and master of theology degrees from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, doctor of ministry and master of divinity degrees from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and a bachelor’s degree from Samford.
He and his wife, Lorrie, have four children: Maggie LeeAnn, Andie Grace, Averie Hope and Brodie James.
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