By Aaron Weaver and Lauren Lamb

The CBF Nominating Committee has selected former Slovakia-based field personnel Rev. Tanya Parks to serve as Moderator-Elect in 2024-2025. Parks currently serves as the co-pastor of University Baptist Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. 

A Kentucky native, Parks has a Bachelor’s degree in church music from Samford University in Birmingham, Ala., and a Master of Divinity degree from Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond. She began her ministry journey as a youth minister at Crosscreek Baptist Church in Pelham, Ala. and later served various congregations in the southside of Virginia. 

In 2012, Parks and her husband, Jon, were commissioned as CBF field personnel in Košice, Slovakia. Her service to the Roma people included teaching English, supporting and ministering alongside a local Roma congregation, planning and facilitating on-the-field visits by short-term teams from partner churches in the United States and more. After nine years as field personnel, Parks accepted a call to serve as minister of children and retirees at University Baptist Church in Baton Rouge, La. In 2023, she and Jon were named as co-pastors of University Baptist. They have two children, Abigail and Kaitlyn.  

Parks expressed her excitement to serve Cooperative Baptists as Moderator-Elect in 2024-2025.  

“It is an honor to be considered for the Moderator-Elect position,” she said. “As a woman pastor from the new and growing Great Rivers Fellowship region, I am proud to represent those who have not always had a voice. I have been encouraged by my brothers and sisters of CBF and consider it a great honor to serve the Fellowship in this capacity. I do not take the responsibility lightly. CBF has always been my denominational home. I hope to use my experience in ministry and missions to grow the work that God is doing in the Fellowship. God has called us to great things, and I look forward to working toward that together!” 

CBF Executive Coordinator Paul Baxley expressed his support to the Nominating Committee for their work and selection of Parks.  

“CBF’s Nominating Committee has done a wonderful job recommending leaders for all of our Fellowship’s governance bodies,” Baxley said. “I am grateful for their prayerful, committed and outstanding work. I am also grateful to all who said yes to serve in volunteer leadership for us in the years to come. Tanya Parks will be a wonderful moderator for our Fellowship. She brings years of experience as a congregational minister, having served as a minister to children and now as pastor of University Baptist Church in Baton Rouge. She also served for years as CBF field personnel in Slovakia, and she will bring important experiences and convictions from those years that will shape her leadership and benefit our entire Fellowship. I’m grateful already for her gifts and look forward to serving with her.” 

CBF Nominating Committee Chair Courtney Stamey also shared her gratefulness to Nominating Committee members in choosing Parks and the many other leaders to serve on CBF’s governance bodies. 

“Through listening to the needs of our greater Fellowship, and the specific needs of the Governing Board, Ministries Council and Missions Council, the Nominating Committee is pleased to present this slate for consideration. It is a priority of the Nominating Committee to ask leaders to serve in these bodies representing the wide swath of our Fellowship. While no process is perfect, our committee is deliberate in soliciting names for nominees, gauging individual’s experience and interest, and finding the place for their God-given giftedness to flourish,” Stamey said. 

Mindful of the distinctives of our Fellowship, this year it was important for us to lift up the gifts of women ministers, particularly Senior Pastors on Governing Board, as well as lay leaders, and racial and ethnic diversity. This slate of nominees represents approximately one-third of our governance bodies, and they join wonderful leaders already serving from all across our Fellowship.  

With an eye toward CBF’s commitment to aspirational diversity, we solicit nominees from all our states and regions, Familia, PAK and other networks. This year we are asking individuals to join more intentionally in our process and submit leaders for us to consider in the coming years. If you attend the General Assembly there will be QR codes you can scan to nominate someone (even yourself). If you know of a great leader submit their name here. 

The CBF Nominating Committee will present Parks for approval from the General Assembly, June 19-21, in Greensboro, N.C., along with additional nominees to serve on the Fellowship’s Governing Board, Missions Council and Ministries Council. 

Additionally, the CBF Governing Board will present nominee recommendations to serve on the Nominating Committee, Council on Endorsement, as well as the board of the CBF Foundation. 

At the conclusion of the 2024 General Assembly, current Moderator-Elect Juan García will assume the role of Moderator, the Fellowship’s highest-ranking office held in 2023 by David Hull. 

Nominating Committee Report 

Governance 

• Moderator Elect- Tanya Parks, Co-Pastor, University Baptist Church, Baton Rouge, La. 
• Nominating Committee Chair-Elect – Kristen Adkins Whitesides, Senior Pastor, First Baptist Church, Winchester, Va.

Governing Board 

• Henrietta Anderson, Minister to Young Adults, Mount Calvary Baptist Church, Hopewell, Va. 
• Ruth Cuellar, Senior Pastor, Iglesia Bautista El Buen Pastor, Newnan, Ga. 
• Jeff Hayes, Senior Pastor, Oakland Baptist Church, Rock Hill, S.C. 
• Crissy Tatum Williamson, Senior Pastor, Greystone Baptist Church, Raleigh, N.C. 

Missions Council 

• Alex Lockridge, Senior Pastor, First Baptist Church, Corbin, Ky. 
• Waylan Upchego, Mayor, Pastor, All Tribes Baptist Church, Geary, Ok. 
• Marisol Mendez, Laity, Process Order Lead, Iglesia Bautista El Buen Pastor, Newnan, Ga. 
• Aaron Glenn, Pastor of Serving Ministries, University Baptist Church, Houston, Texas 
• Joyce Glover, Laity, Retired Doctor, Providence Baptist Church, Cookeville, Tenn. 
• Scott McGinnis, Laity, Professor, Vestavia Hills Baptist Church, Vestavia, Ala. 

Ministries Council 

• John Parker, Laity, Retired Financial Advisor, First Baptist Church, Middlesboro, Ky. 
• Phyllis Boozer, Laity, Retired Educator and Denominational Leader, Wilton, Ct. 
• Sarah Marie Lui, Laity, Change Analyst for Space Telescope Science Institute, University Baptist Church, Baltimore, Md. 
• Emmitt Drumgoole, Senior Pastor, Montgomery Hills Baptist Church, Silver Springs, Md. 
• Megan Strollo, Laity, Professor, Fredericksburg Baptist Church, Fredericksburg, Va.
• Sara Turpin, Senior Pastor, Buechel Park Baptist Church, Louisville, Ky. 
• Kristen Mathis, Minister of Faith Development, First Baptist Church, Rome, Ga. 
• Wayne Smith, Laity, Samaritan Ministries Director, Central Bearden Baptist Church, Knoxville, Tenn. 

Governance Board Recommendations 

Nominating Committee 

• Ali Chappell DeHay, Minister of Youth and Communications, Calvary Baptist Church, Waco, Texas 
• J Livingston, Pastor, Remnant Fellowship, Morrow, Ga. 
• Maggie Quisenberry, Member, FBC Chattanooga, Tenn. 
• Elaine C. Reales, Member, First Baptist Church, Mount Airy, N.C. 
• Natasha Nedrick Adzudzor, Minister of Discipleship, Central Baptist Church, St. Louis, Mo. 
• Robert “Rob” Wilson, Non-profit Organization Leader & Client Development Specialist, Bayshore Baptist Church, Tampa, Fla. 

Recorder 

•  Marnie Fisher-Ingram, member, CBF Governing Board; member, Youth Ministry Network; Minister of Students, River Road Church, Baptist, Richmond, Va. 

CBF Church Benefits 

• Tommy Hiebert, Laity, Southland Baptist Church, Insurance Professional, San Angelo, Texas 
• Lynn Holmes, J.D. and Associate Minister, Clergy, First Baptist Church, Wilmington Street, Raleigh, N.C. 

CBF Council on Endorsement 

• Rhonda James-Jones, Manager of Spiritual Health, Wellstar Paulding Hospital & Nursing Center, Pastoral Counselor, Spiritwork Development Group, Hiram, Ga. 
• Ben Sandford, U.S. Navy Chaplain Director of Strategic Communications, U.S. Navy Chaplain Corps, Washington, D.C. 

CBF Foundation 

• William J. (B.J.) Hutto, Senior Pastor of Hendricks Avenue Baptist Church, Jacksonville, Fla. 

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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.