Unity, missions priorities for new EC head

ORLANDO, Fla.?Unity around the gospel and a new image before the world are priorities the next president of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee will pursue when he takes office in October.

"My hope is that we can have a unified voice at every level, hope that there will be a strong encouragement to do missions more than we've ever done before," Frank Page declared in a news conference on June 15.

Asked how he viewed receiving only 60 percent of the vote of Executive Committee members after several hours of closed-door discussion on June 14, Page responded, "It says to me that we're a very divided group of persons. I think that which we see on the Executive Committee is indicative of what's happening in our convention?that we have multiple opinions and are very free to voice those multiple opinions, sometimes very vocally, very strongly."

Knowing that trust comes over time, Page said he is hopeful that a consistently positive and unified vision will build confidence in others.

"I think I have a track record of encouraging people in 'followship'?that's a part of leadership. I would hope those that may not have been initially voting for me realize that I can be a partner with whom they can work."

Calling it a "mostly civil meeting," Page said EC members realized they were able to express their opinions, be honest and receive answers to their questions.

Page, 57, most recently served as vice president of evangelization for the North American Mission Board, was pastor of First Baptist Church in Taylors, S.C., for nine years, and SBC president from 2006-08.

The pastorate gave him experience with "a complicated church filled with multiple subgroups of agendas much like the Southern Baptist Convention." Having seen God bring about a transformation in a local church context, Page said in his new role of working with EC members, "I would work hard to bring about unity within that body."

Having only been in the North American Mission Board role since October 2009, Page told Baptist Press he is puzzled somewhat by God moving him so quickly to the Executive Committee, but he identified three possible reasons for the short tenure.

"Number one, I think God gave me that time to see the inside of a denomination better than I would have as a pastor," Page said. "I think he let me go to NAMB to let me see some of the inside, which I like some of it, some of it I don't as I've looked on the inside of the denomination.

"Secondly, I think being a part of the GCR at the same time helped me provide a perspective to say NAMB has a unique missiological need, and I think that was an encouragement to some on the committee to see that NAMB does have a place separately than IMB," Page said.

"Third, I would have to say the biggest reason I think God brought me to NAMB was to help legitimize and motivate and encourage people in the GPS strategy," Page said, referring to the God's Plan for Sharing national evangelistic initiative he advanced while president of the SBC.

Evangelism will be encouraged as Southern Baptists unite around the common cause of reaching the world for the Lord Jesus Christ, he said in addressing his priorities.

"It is my goal that if God were to allow me to serve for 10 to 15 years, that our nation particularly and our world generally would be able to