February 3, 2016
By Aaron Weaver
DECATUR, Ga. — The Tennessee Cooperative Baptist Fellowship has named veteran pastor, Gene Wilder, to serve as its interim field coordinator. Wilder succeeds Terry Maples who was selected in December to serve as field coordinator of CBF Virginia.
Wilder previously served as senior minister of First Baptist Church in Jefferson City, Tenn., from 2002 until his retirement in December 2015. He is a past member of the former CBF Coordinating Council (2004-2007) and was part of the council’s Global Missions Initiative Team from 2006-2007. A graduate of Carson-Newman University, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Wilder is the author of several books. He and his wife, Pat, have two adult children.
Stephen Cook, pastor of Second Baptist Church in Memphis, Tenn., and chair of the TCBF field coordinator search committee, expressed his excitement that Wilder agreed to take on this interim role.
“As TCBF enters this interim season on the heels of five-plus years of outstanding leadership from Terry Maples, we are delighted to have Gene Wilder stepping into the role of interim field coordinator,” Cook said. “Gene comes to us at a time when we are energized by active engagement with ministry partners across our state, region and globe.
“We have strong continuity of leadership in our Coordinating Council and as healthy a financial base as we have seen in quite some time. Gene’s vision of pastoral leadership in our state and his deep commitment to CBF’s core values makes him a terrific fit for this time of transition.”
Other members of the TCBF field coordinator search committee include: Melissa Willis (Central Baptist Bearden, Knoxville), Scott Claybrook (First Baptist Church, Knoxville), Brittany Krebs (First Baptist Church, Memphis), Phillip Moody (Kings Cross Church, Tullahoma) and former CBF Moderator Bill McConnell (Central Baptist Bearden, Knoxville).
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CBF is a Christian Network that helps people put their faith to practice through ministry efforts, global missions and a broad community of support.The Fellowship’s mission is to serve Christians and churches as they discover and fulfill their God-given mission.
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