Editor’s note: Bill Mackey, who grew up in Lancaster, was director of the leadership development and evangelism growth team for the South Carolina Baptist Convention before becoming executive director-treasurer of the Kentucky Baptist Convention in 1998.
Kentucky Baptist Convention executive director-treasurer Bill Mackey enjoys a laugh while sharing his retirement plans with KBC Mission Board staff members Oct. 12.Bill Mackey, executive director-treasurer of the Kentucky Baptist Convention, has announced his retirement, effective May 31, 2011. Mackey, 69, has served in the position since February 1998.
Following Mackey’s announcement, which came during the KBC administrative committee’s Oct. 12 meeting in Louisville, convention president Don Mathis appointed a 15-member search committee to seek his successor.
“It has been one of the greatest privileges of my life and ministry to serve our Lord Jesus Christ by serving the Kentucky Baptist Convention Mission Board and Kentucky Baptists as executive director-treasurer for almost 13 years,” Mackey stated in a letter informing Administrative Committee members of his decision. Calling it a gratifying experience, Mackey added, “I have long admired the willingness of Kentucky Baptists to really stretch in order to cooperate in the mission of our Lord Jesus Christ.
“It has been a joy to serve with a staff that has been unified and totally committed to the mission that God has provided,” Mackey said.
Mackey’s tenure has been one marked by a strong emphasis on evangelism, missions and church planting. Under his leadership, Kentucky Baptists developed partnerships with Baptists in Tanzania, Poland and Brazil, as well as with the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware. The KBC also began developing “High Impact” churches that were started with the intention that they, in turn, would begin other churches.
Following his retirement, Mackey and his wife Kay plan to move to Raleigh, N.C., to be near their children and grandchildren.
– Deaton is editor of the Western Recorder, newsjournal of the Kentucky Baptist Convention. He also is former managing editor of The Baptist Courier.