June 12, 2002

JEFFERSON CITY – A handful of candidates, vying for the executive director’s job with the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC), were interviewed June 3-4, in Kansas City by the MBC’s Executive Director Search Committee.

MBC First Vice President Kenny Qualls, search committee chairman and pastor of Springhill Baptist Church, Springfield, called the meetings productive and even uplifting.

"Any of the individuals we interviewed would do a great job," Qualls said. "Now, we are just looking to find that one that God has chosen for this position."

No time frame for hiring an executive director has been set, but committee members have said they hope to have the new executive director in place before the MBC’s annual meeting in Springfield, Oct. 28-30.

Qualls and the committee are calling for Sunday, June 23, to be set aside as a day of prayer and fasting for the work of the committee and the MBC. The committee is asking Missouri Baptists and Missouri Baptist churches across the state to spend specific and special time in prayer that day for the search committee, the individual committee members, any prospective candidates for the position and the MBC staff.

The MBC has been without an executive director since Jim Hill resigned in October. The MBC Executive Board appointed Larry Thomas, MBC ministry support group leader, and David Waganer, MBC ministry resource group leader, as interim leaders after accepting Hill’s resignation.