Hollifield to lead N.C. convention
In nearly a full house at one of their largest churches, North Carolina Baptists elected Milton Hollifield Jr. as their executive director-treasurer during an April 11 special meeting. Hollifield, 55, will lead North Carolina’s largest religious body, the 1.2 million members of the 4,028 churches of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina. Hollifield succeeds Jim Royston, who retired in July 2005 to assume the pastorate of First Baptist Church in Mooresville, N.C. Calvary Baptist Church in Winston-Salem hosted the 1,066 messengers who registered for the meeting, the first special session since the convention was formed in 1830. Hollifield, executive leader for the convention’s mission growth evangelism group since 1993, is a former pastor in Texas and Stanley, N.C., and a former director of missions for Gaston (N.C.) Baptist Association. He grew up in Swannanoa, N.C.
Conference features breakout sessions
Attendees at this year’s SBC Pastors’ Conference in Greensboro, N.C., will experience something different – breakout sessions. The sessions – covering more than 10 topics – will take place June 12 at the Sheraton Hotel from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. There will be no preaching on Monday morning. There will be three blocks of breakout sessions, and each session plays off the Pastors’ Conference theme: “Reaching Today’s World for Jesus Christ.” One of the most popular sessions figures to be the one titled “Reaching Today’s World Through Differing Views of Election” – a dialogue between Southern Baptist Seminary president Al Mohler and Southwestern Baptist Seminary president Paige Patterson. Other topics include The Da Vinci Code, church discipline, apologetics, small-town evangelism and global outreach. Session leaders include Thom Rainer, president, LifeWay Christian Resources; William Lane Craig, professor, Talbot School of Theology; Philip Roberts, president, Midwestern Baptist Seminary; and Ben Witherington, professor, Asbury Theological Seminary.
Patterson building gets go-ahead
A three-story, 36,050-square-foot academic building is on the horizon at Southeastern Baptist Seminary. The building will be named the Paige and Dorothy Patterson Hall for the former SEBTS president and first lady. The seminary’s trustees approved the concept and construction of the building during their April 10-11 spring meeting at the Wake Forest, N.C., campus. The building will house the L. Russ Bush Center for Faith and Culture, the Ph.D., D.Min. and Ed.D. offices, six large classrooms and 19 faculty offices. There will be no debt on the building because the $5.9 million construction cost is either in hand or pledged. Bush, who has served as dean of the faculty and senior professor of philosophy and religion, will begin his new role as center director June 1.