Jim Austin, executive director-treasurer of the South Carolina Baptist Convention since April 2007, has announced that he will retire on Oct. 7 of this year.
Dwight Easler, chairman of the SCBC Executive Board, confirmed to The Courier that Austin, 60, told the Executive Board of his decision on May 28. Easler provided a copy of Austin’s announcement (below) to The Courier.
In his retirement announcement, Austin said he wanted to “pass the baton of leadership” to a new executive director who will “assume the challenge of … fleshing out” the initiatives of the Great Commission Resurgence and Seeking the Kingdom task forces. The reports of both task forces were adopted by South Carolina Baptists during Austin’s tenure.
Austin noted that his arrival in South Carolina in 2007 coincided with the “most severe economic recession since the Great Depression” but that South Carolina Baptists “continued to enthusiastically embrace our Lord’s Great Commission and model sacrificial living and giving.”
Easler said Austin’s tenure will be “remembered and celebrated … because of his love for pastors and his heart for missions.”
“His prayer-filled phone calls to pastors in our state as they celebrated their greatest joys or suffered through their deepest pain will always be remembered by those that he touched,” Easler said.
Easler credited Austin for providing “positive change in the way we view pastoral health, forced terminations, and the reality of suicide in the pastorate.”
Prior to coming to South Carolina, Austin served as an associate executive director for the Missouri Baptist Convention for 18 months. Austin succeeded Carlisle Driggers, who retired February 2007 after 15 years as executive director-treasurer.
Austin is a graduate of Jacksonville State University in Alabama, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Fuller Seminary in Pasadena, Calif. He received an honorary doctorate from Emmanuel Bible College and Seminary in Kota, India.
He formerly was pastor of Morganton (Ga.) Baptist Church, Blackshear Place Baptist Church in Gainesville, Ga., and First Baptist Church, Roanoke, Va. He and his wife are parents of five children.
Following is the full text of Austin’s announcement to the SCBC Executive Board:
Dear Executive Board Members,
Since 2007 it has been my great privilege to serve South Carolina Baptists as the Executive Director-Treasurer. When Debbie and I and our two youngest daughters, Hannah-Marie and Leah, moved to South Carolina we (along with everyone else) had no idea that our time here would be greeted by our nation’s most severe economic recession since the Great Depression. Through the economic uncertainty, accompanied by much denominational transition, South Carolina Baptists have continued to enthusiastically embrace our Lord’s Great Commission and model sacrificial living and giving.
Now that both the Great Commission Resurgence recommendations and the Seeking the Kingdom initiatives have been adopted by our convention, God is leading me to pass the baton of leadership to a new Executive Director. He will assume the challenge of not only fleshing out adopted recommendations and initiatives, but also continue to guide the implementation process.
My retirement from formal service with the South Carolina Baptist Convention will be effective October 7, 2014. I am grateful to our executive board and the convention for allowing me the honor to serve South Carolina Baptists. Additionally, I sincerely thank our convention staff for the special opportunity that has been mine to serve alongside each of you. Finally, I thank the pastors of this great state, who serve as both the champions and stewards of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
My constant prayers are with you all as you continue in your faithful service to our Risen Savior!
Sincerely,
Jim Austin
Executive Director-Treasurer
South Carolina Baptist Convention
Following is the full text of Dwight Easler’s statement:
Dr. Austin’s tenure as Executive Director of the South Carolina Baptist Convention will be remembered and celebrated by me personally because of his love for pastors and his heart for missions. His faithful ministry to me and my family immediately after the darkest moments of our lives on March 19, 2011, will never be forgotten. His prayer-filled phone calls to pastors in our state as they celebrated their greatest joys or suffered through their deepest pain will always be remembered by those that he touched. His heart for pastors in South Carolina has brought about positive change in the way we view pastoral health, forced terminations, and the reality of suicide in the pastorate. In addition, the emphasis on the Acts 1:8 strategy and his implementation of the GCR initiatives are building mission partnerships that are showing positive results that will go on into the future and around the globe. We celebrate these things and ask that the churches of South Carolina continue to pray for the Executive Board ministries as we make this transition and seek God’s finest future for our convention and the cooperating churches of South Carolina Baptist Convention.
Dr. Dwight Easler
Executive Board Chair