Fellowship of black churches urges gifts to support first paid director

ST. LOUIS -- Leaders of the National African American Fellowship, an organization within the Southern Baptist Convention, urged churches to increase the amount of money they give to the fellowship to make up the budget difference as the group hires its first paid executive director.


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The fellowship held its annual meeting Monday in St. Louis in advance of the Southern Baptist Convention's yearly gathering. The 15.3 million-member denomination's two-day conference, a mix of business and worship, begins this morning.

In the past, the executive director of the fellowship has been a volunteer, said Elgia Wells, outgoing executive director.

Wells said that hiring a director would increase black involvement in the Southern Baptist Convention.

"The fellowship has made unprecedented marks upon our convention and it will continue to do so," Wells said.

Outgoing fellowship President K. Marshall Williams said that having someone whose focus is not split between pastoring a church and serving the African American Fellowship would give the group "uncommon opportunities."

Dennis Mitchell, the newly hired executive director, said that when he begins working for the fellowship, he will leave his position as lead pastor at Green Forest Community Baptist Church in Georgia.

Mitchell was a Black Church Extension associate director with the Home Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention and has worked at churches in Texas and Alabama. (The Home Mission Board was incorporated into what is now known as the North American Mission Board.) He is originally from California, according to his church's website.

He said his parents now live in the south Arkansas city of Camden.

He said he is looking forward to "the opportunity to facilitate partnerships and relationships within the entire Southern Baptist Convention family."

Mitchell will be tasked with working with the president to plan fellowship meetings, helping state presidents conduct training sessions, supervising staff and serving the fellowship churches, according to the job description.

He will start work in July.

The fellowship's plan has been to eventually have a paid executive director since members established the job, according to the funding strategy document.

In addition to providing more opportunities for focused leadership and a stronger voice within the convention, leaders hope the director will be able to get more churches involved.

Despite the opportunities leaders said the new director will provide, the $12,000 stipend and $7,000 increase in his travel budget will leave the group $13,500 in the red, according to the 2016-17 budget.

The fellowship's objective is for the salary to gradually increase as more churches "perceive a greater sense of value and benefit from their NAAF affiliation and therefore be more inclined to give," according to the funding strategy document.

Contribution estimates were figured conservatively, because even though there was an increase in the amount of money given this year, there is no guarantee that trend will continue, said Frank Williams, outgoing treasurer.

"I didn't want to give the illusion that, 'Hey our budget is great,' because it's not," Frank Williams said.

The deficit could be closed by the $44,840 in the bank, but the group would prefer that churches give more money to account for the difference, he said.

K. Marshall Williams encouraged church leaders to consider dedicating their congregations to monthly giving.

The meeting information packet included suggested amounts of money for churches to give based on congregation size. It ranged from churches of 0-100 members, which were recommended to give $250 per year, and churches of more than 1,000 members, which were encouraged to give $3,000 per year.

Blacks represent the largest minority group within the Southern Baptist Convention, at 6 percent of the almost 2,000 people surveyed in a 2014 Pew Research Center study.

The denomination has emphasized the need for increased diversity in recent years. Ronnie Floyd, president of the Southern Baptist Convention and senior pastor of Cross Church in Northwest Arkansas, will lead a "National Conversation on Racial Unity in America" during today's morning session.

Metro on 06/14/2016

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