Frank Page, pastor of Taylors First Baptist Church since 2001 and past president of the Southern Baptist Convention, has accepted a senior-level position with the North American Mission Board.
NAMB trustees voted Oct. 7 to approve Page as vice president of the mission agency’s evangelization group. He will work with state and associational partners and churches to evangelize the North American continent.
Frank PagePage will begin serving toward the end of October. His last day at Taylors First Baptist will be Oct. 25.
“The people of Taylors are just the greatest people in the world,” Page told the Courier. “To leave has embarked me and my family on a grieving experience. I go with a deep sadness and yet excitement at God’s call in my life.”
Page’s election comes two months after the unexpected resignations of former NAMB president Geoff Hammond and his executive leadership team over issues of leadership style.
Cleatus Blackmon, director of missions for Greer Baptist Association and a trustee for NAMB, said Page could help the agency move past any negative repercussions from the resignations. “NAMB’s reputation maybe had a few smudges on it,” he said, “but for a person of his stature to say, I’m going to invest my life here, really is a very positive thing for those who work there day by day and for the image of NAMB.”
Page will work under interim president Richard Harris at NAMB’s headquarters in Alpharetta, Ga.
“Frank’s coming to NAMB is one of the most significant happenings in recent years,” said Harris. “He brings expertise, experience; he brings visionary leadership; and he brings relationships that few have throughout this convention. There are few leaders in this convention who have as much vision and passion to see the Great Commission fulfilled in North America, and ultimately the world, as Frank Page.”
“The only hope for our continent is Christ,” Page said. “Serving as I do on President Obama’s advisory council and having served as SBC president, I am well aware of the anarchy in our nation and our only hope is Jesus, and that’s why I am here. For the rest of my life I want to do what I can to touch lostness on this continent.”
It was during his tenure as SBC president from 2006-2008 that Page called upon NAMB to lead the convention in a new evangelism initiative that would involve all Southern Baptists in an effort to sweep the continent with the gospel. That initiative became GPS: God’s Plan for Sharing, which launches in the United States and Canada in the spring of 2010.
Page will now lead in NAMB’s effort to accomplish that task.
“It’s almost a surreal feeling to me, because God brought that to my heart right after being elected as SBC president. I felt God just kept saying, ‘We have got to get a nationwide evangelistic emphasis going.’ So I kept pushing for that and pushing for that. I knew that our churches were hungry for somebody to step forward and say, ‘Here’s where we’re headed.’?”
Page has made evangelism and missions a hallmark at Taylors First Baptist. The church ranks in the top 95th percentile of SBC churches for number of baptisms, with 144 reported in 2008. Taylors is a leading giver among South Carolina Baptist churches in gifts through the Cooperative Program as well as national and state missions offerings. In addition, Taylors plants a new church a year.
NAMB trustee chairman Tim Patterson, pastor of Hillcrest Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Fla., said Page “will be one of the leaders at NAMB who will help propel us into the next two or three decades keeping NAMB at the point in reaching and impacting lostness in North America.”
Blackmon said Page’s departure from the leadership scene in South Carolina will “create a void” that will be hard to fill. “But I’m sure that Frank feels the kingdom is bigger than he is, and that’s the reality for us all. We’ll move on.”
Page said his “prayers will continue to be with the people of South Carolina.” “I truly love this state and want to stay closely connected. I want to work with the people of South Carolina in this new role I have, and I hope that our fellowship will be sweet in the days ahead.”
Rudy Gray, president of the South Carolina Baptist Convention, said state Baptists will be praying for Page, whom he described as a friend whose insight and leadership he has come to appreciate during his year as SCBC president. “We will ask God to bless him and work through him as he gives leadership to the evangelization of North America,” Gray said.
Page holds a Ph.D. in Christian ethics with a focus on moral, social and ethical issues from Southwestern Baptist Seminary, along with a master of divinity degree from Southwestern. He earned a bachelor of science degree with honors from Gardner-Webb University in North Carolina, majoring in psychology with minors in sociology and Greek.
– Mike Ebert is communications team leader for the North American Mission Board.