June 5, 2017

By Carrie McGuffin and Aaron Weaver

DECATUR, Ga. — A nationally-recognized nonprofit leader and former executive is set to become the next Moderator-Elect for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship at the 2017 General Assembly in Atlanta.

The CBF Nominating Committee has selected Gary Dollar to serve as Moderator-Elect in 2017-2018. Dollar is a partner with St. Louis-based EMD Consulting, which assists nonprofit groups in fundraising, leadership development and building organizational strength. He retired in 2013 as CEO of the United Way of Greater St. Louis after leading the organization for 12 years and building it into the nation’s fifth largest United Way chapter. During Dollar’s tenure, the United Way of Greater St. Louis raised more than $1 billion and grew its annual revenue to more than $70 million.

Dollar is a graduate of North Central College in Naperville, Ill., and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. For more than 20 years, Dollar has served both as a full-time and bi-vocational pastor and associate pastor for CBF churches in the Heartland region.

He has served on numerous boards of faith-based and other nonprofit organizations. Dollar is a former member of the CBF Governing Board and an adjunct professor at Washington University’s Brown School of Social Work in St. Louis, where he teaches a graduate course in marketing, resource development and community relations.

Dollar resides in Glen Carbon, Ill., with his wife, Gale, a CBF-endorsed chaplain serving at St. Luke’s Hospital in St. Louis. The Dollars are members of Dayspring Baptist Church in St. Louis, and have two adult sons: Jordan, a CBF-endorsed hospice chaplain, and Nathanael, an adjunct professor of anthropology. They are proud grandparents to Callum (5) and Aidan (3).

Dollar expressed his excitement to begin his term as Moderator-Elect.

“This is an exhilarating, dynamic and challenging time for CBF as we seek how God will use our unique Baptist witness in the 21st century,” Dollar said. “CBF can be and should be a leading, clear voice as we share the broad and all-encompassing love of God with a diverse and rapidly changing world. I look forward to working with Suzii Paynter and her team. Suzii’s energy and passion offers the leadership CBF needs to move us forward in fulfilling our mission.”

The CBF Nominating Committee, chaired by Bruce Gourley of Nurturing Faith, will also present for approval from the Assembly additional nominees to serve on the Fellowship’s Governing Board, Missions Council and Ministries Council.

Additionally, the Governing Board, led by CBF Moderator Doug Dortch, will bring forward nominees to serve on the Nominating Committee, Council on Endorsement, as well as the boards of the CBF Foundation and CBF Church Benefits. The Governing Board is also recommending Katie Sciba, a medical social worker in Stafford, Texas, to serve alongside CBF officers for a third one-year term as Recorder.

At the conclusion of the upcoming week-long annual General Assembly, June 26-30, CBF Moderator-Elect Shauw Chin Capps will assume the role of Moderator, the Fellowship’s highest-ranking office. Capps will succeed Dortch, who will transition to the position of Past Moderator and serve as an ex-officio member of the Nominating Committee in 2017-2018.

The slate of nominees to be submitted for approval at the Atlanta Assembly are listed below. These nominees will be voted on by members of the Fellowship during the June 30 morning business session.

Nominating Committee Report

Governance

• Moderator-Elect – Gary Dollar, Partner, EMD Consulting Group, Glen Carbon, Ill.
• Nominating Committee Chair-Elect – Greg Warner, Journalist (Retired), Jacksonville, Fla.

Governing Board

• Stephen Cook, Senior Pastor, Second Baptist Church, Memphis, Tenn.
• Maria Monterio, Assistant Professor of Music, Baptist University of the Americas, San Antonio, Texas
• Carol McEntyre, Senior Minister, First Baptist Church, Columbia, Mo.
• William L. Coates, Jr., Senior Minister, First Baptist Church, Gainesville, Ga.

Ministries Council

• Matt Johnson, Pastor, Ridgewood Baptist Church, Louisville, Ky
• Chris O’Rear, Licensed Clinical Pastoral Therapist, Sage Hill Counseling Center, Nashville, Tenn.
• Kyle Reese, Senior Pastor, Hendricks Avenue Baptist Church, Jacksonville, Fla.
• Dave Roberts, Interim Pastor, Calvary Baptist Church, Emporia, Va.
• Kristin Rogers, Minister of Administration and Children, First Baptist Church, Oklahoma City, Okla.
• Molly Brummett Wudel, Co-Pastor, Emmaus Way, Durham, N.C
• Scott Stearman, Pastor, Metro Baptist Church, New York, N.Y
• Cassandra Wilson, Chaplain, Mt. Carmel Health Systems, Columbus, Ohio

Missions Council

• Scott Miles, Vice-President, Haverty’s Corporation, Johns Creek Baptist Church, Alpharetta, Ga.
• Diane Lipsett, Minister of Faith Formation and Education, Knollwood Baptist Church, Winston-Salem, N.C
• Jesus Garcia, Pastor, Iglesia Bautista de Metropolis, Carolina, Puerto Rico
• Sharon Felton, Minister of Youth and Students, Faith Baptist Church, Georgetown, Ky.
• Melanie Claypool, Executive, Passport Health Plan, Crescent Hill Baptist Church, Louisville, Ky.

Governing Board Recommendations

Governance

• Recorder – Katie Sciba, Medical Social Worker, AARN Health Services, Stafford, Texas

Council on Endorsement

• David W. Johnson, Pastor, Overland Baptist Church, St. Louis, Mo.
• Ansia P. Chahoy, Correctional Chaplain, New York Department of Juvenile Justice, Rensselaer, N.Y.
• Stephanie McLeskey, Campus Minister, Mars Hill University, Mars Hill, N.C.

Nominating Committee

• Rusty Edwards, Pastor, University Baptist Church, Hattiesburg, Miss.
• David Turner, Pastor, Central Baptist Church, Richmond, Va.
• Dennis Tucker, Professor of Christian Scriptures, Truett Seminary, Baylor University, Waco, Texas
• Lauren McDuffie, Associate Pastor, First Baptist Church, Morehead, Ky.

CBF Foundation

• Camille Allen Snyder, Managing Director, Allen Financial Group, Jackson, Miss.
• Doug Jewett, Minister of Music, North Stuart Baptist Church, Jensen Beach, Fla.

CBF Church Benefits

• Charles Moates, Pastor of Congregational Ministries, First Presbyterian Church, Greenwood, S.C.

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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.