NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) -- Morris Chapman, president and CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee, announced plans Sept. 21 to retire at the end of September 2010.

Chapman, 68, a former pastor who this year celebrates his 50th anniversary in the ministry, called his election to the post both "one of the greatest honors of my life" and "one of the most humbling challenges I have ever faced."

Chapman's announcement comes just a week after a similar one by another SBC agency head, International Mission Board President Jerry Rankin, who announced he is retiring after 17 years at the end of next July. The CEO spot at a third SBC entity, the North American Mission Board, is also vacant, since President Geoff Hammond and three top associates resigned under pressure Aug. 11.

Morris Chapman announces retirement plans to the SBC Executive Committee.

Chapman, who was pastor of First Baptist Church in Wichita Falls, Texas, before coming to the Executive Committee in 1992, said he has been discussing his retirement plans with committee officers for several years and announced his decision to that group Sept. 20.

The Executive Committee authorized chairman Randall James, president of First Orlando Foundation in Orlando, Fla., to appoint a search committee to nominate Chapman's successor.

Saying he does "not want to spend the entire year preparing to vacate my office," Chapman said he would launch an initiative to support a "Great Commission resurgence," urging agency heads to publicly challenge denominational workers to commit themselves to sharing the gospel with individuals.

Chapman was serving his second one-year term as SBC president when he was elected in February 1992, at age 51, to succeed Harold Bennett as fifth president of the Executive Committee. He oversaw significant change in the denomination, including conservatives' consolidation of power at SBC agencies and a major restructuring in 1995. The reorganization of SBC agencies assigned new responsibilities to the Executive Committee, including stewardship promotion and managing denominational funds.

A native of Jackson, Miss., Chapman began his ministry in 1959 as a minister of youth. He served seven churches in New Mexico and Texas, each marked by emphasis on personal evangelism and mission support.

In comments to the Executive Committee Sept. 22, Chapman opposed any effort to replace Southern Baptists' unified funding plan with designated giving.

"I believe deeply that if the Cooperative Program is ever tossed aside to be replaced by a strong promotion of societal giving or if both undesignated and designated funds from our churches are counted as Cooperative Program gifts, we will have abandoned the greatest vehicle for supporting missions and theological education in the history of Christendom," he said.

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This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it  is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.

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