Al Phillips, former associate pastor of First North Spartanburg Baptist Church, has been called as director of missions for Greenville Baptist Association.

Phillips, who was elected at a called meeting of the association on Jan. 27, succeeds Ron Davis, who retired in December 2013. Eddie Howard, pastor of Hillside Baptist Church and chairman of the DOM search committee, said the committee “made an intentional effort to find God’s man.”

“I have no doubt that when we get our wants and self out of the way, God gives direction to his man that he has raised up to lead our association,” said Howard.

Phillips has served churches in and around Spartanburg since graduating from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1983. Prior to joining the staff of First North Spartanburg in 1992, he served as pastor of Arcadia First Baptist Church from 1987-1992 and Ben Avon Baptist Church from 1983-1987.

“I love missions,” said Phillips. “It is what lights my fire.” He has led missions work and church-planting efforts on five continents. He also led his church in planting 11 churches in seven states and recently helped organize a network of five Upstate churches that will plant a church near Boston.

“All this is what I envision a director of missions doing — serving the pastors, mobilizing churches, building teams to do together the kingdom work that individual churches can’t do alone,” he said.

Phillips pointed to the need for sharing the gospel in Greenville County, where nearly 500,000 people live but only 11,000 attend a Greenville Baptist Association-related church on any given Sunday. “There is access to the gospel here,” he said, “but here are thousands of lost people, and it is our job to reach them.”

In addition to reaching individuals, Phillips said he wants to mobilize efforts to revitalize existing churches and produce new churches. “We will never overtake the population growth of Greenville County by adding people to our churches,” he said. “The addition principle won’t work. We must operate on the multiplication principle. We must multiply disciples and churches.”

Phillips is a 1979 graduate of the University of South Carolina. He and his wife, Rose Marie, are the parents of three adult children (their two sons are pastors) and seven grandchildren.

He has served the South Carolina Baptist Convention as a member of the Executive Board and as a member of the Nominations Committee. He also has served as a trustee for Charleston Southern University and the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention.