by Keith Bassham
Last year, Fellowship pastors made a constitutional change that made our summer more interesting. The change moved the national officers’ election from September to early summer and eliminated the mailed-out ballots. Ballots were distributed in the May Fellowship meeting and were made available only upon request to those qualified to vote. The deadline for the election was moved to July 1. The election has given us these officers who will serve through 2012:
President – Linzy Slayden
1st Vice President (Missions) – Mike Frazier
2nd Vice President (Education) – Keith Gillming
3rd Vice President (Church Planting) – Dan Lamb
Secretary – Jim Goodman
Treasurer – Howard Braymer
These men will assume office in September, but an early election and announcement helps with continuity. All men are pastors with considerable experience. Mike Frazier was raised on the mission field. Keith Gillming is a Missouri church planter and the son of well-known Fellowship leaders Ken and Norma Gillming. Jim Goodman and Howard Braymer are from Arkansas; Mike Frazier and Dan Lamb are from Ohio; Linzy Slayden is from Oklahoma. All are highly committed to missions, church planting, and evangelism, and all that is necessary for these to be accomplished in a Fellowship — cooperation, participation, spirituality, respect for one another’s calling and ministry, and rigorous training.
As current president Mark Hodges makes plain in his column this month, these are challenging times for our Fellowship. My opinion is that the election of any combination of officers represented on the ballot would serve us well, but having known men on this slate in a variety of ways for more than 30 years, knowing their gifts and temperaments, and having covered their ministries in the Tribune these past 15 years, I could not be more pleased or more optimistic about the leadership team God has placed among us.
Let us give them our wholehearted support and prayers now and in the days ahead.
As we move toward fall, our local, state, and national governments are having their own elections. What President Hodges says in his column applies here as well. In the apologetics article this month, I talk about worldview and make the case that nothing in this world lies outside the sphere of God’s interests. While this world is temporal, it is still God’s, and until His Son comes to reign physically He has placed humans in charge of administration. We are fortunate, unlike the early Christians, to have quite a lot of say in that administration in the form of participation and voting.
Given that opportunity, I believe Christians should participate and vote. For a full exposition of the topic, Noel Smith’s sermon on Christian Citizenship is posted on this website.