Gary Hollingsworth, senior pastor of First Baptist Church, Trussville, is the new executive director for evangelism resources at the North American Mission Board (NAMB).
Hollingsworth’s last day at First, Trussville, is Oct. 16. He will start his new position Oct. 17.
“I am very excited about the opportunity, but I am not excited about leaving a congregation I love dearly and who has loved me and my family dearly,” said Hollingsworth, pastor of First, Trussville, for the past nine years.
Hollingsworth, who has served as a NAMB trustee since 2002, said, “This opportunity came totally out of the blue for me.”
“As a trustee of NAMB, I certainly never saw myself in a staff role,” he said. But the opportunity to work with younger church leaders across the United States and Canada puts him on the frontline of evangelism in North America and is something Hollingsworth likens to a missionary calling.
At NAMB, Hollingsworth will be responsible for collegiate evangelism, ethnic and international evangelism and the evangelism resource center, which organizes NAMB’s call center used for various evangelism events advertising a number to call.
John Avant, NAMB’s vice president of evangelism, said, “I can’t express how thrilled I am to have a man of Dr. Hollingsworth’s experience and leadership gifts to lead us in some evangelism directions we have never gone before.
“He is one of the convention’s finest pastors, a personal soul winner and has a proven track record of leading evangelistic churches,” Avant said. “We look forward to what God will do in and through him to help Southern Baptists make evangelism good news again.”
Hollingsworth, an Anniston native, has served in church ministry positions in Alabama and other states since 1979. He is currently second vice president of the Alabama Baptist State Convention and has also served as president of the Alabama Baptist Pastors Conference and as State Board of Missions chairman.
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