ATLANTA (ABP) -- Don Durham, president of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Foundation since 2002, is stepping down from the post at the conclusion of the 2010 General Assembly June 23-26 in Charlotte, N.C.

After working for institutions his entire adult life, Don Durham is stepping down as president of the CBF Foundation to minister in a local church.

Durham, 40, who previously held development posts with United Methodist Family Services, Albright Care Foundation and Gardner-Webb University, said he has known for 20 years the day would come for him to leave an institutional setting for ministry in a local church.

A 1994 graduate of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Durham said over a year ago he decided he wanted to move closer to his daughters in central North Carolina and pursue a bi-vocational ministry with people "for whom traditional church doesn't typically work."

Durham, who announced his plans to the CBF Coordinating Council Feb. 18, said he has been working with the foundation's board toward a smooth transition since July 2009. A national search for his replacement is underway, and board members hope to fill the position by the middle of 2010.

"Don's leadership has allowed the foundation to provide meaningful support to the work of the Fellowship into the 21st century," said Rebecca Wiggs, a Mississippi attorney and current chair of the foundation's board. "He has helped create a genuine partnership between Baptist agencies, churches and families who want to be effective stewards of their money so that the ministry of CBF will be ongoing."

The CBF Foundation exists to raise endowments and offer endowment management and promotional services for all ministries of CBF and its partners, including local churches. While closely linked to the Atlanta-based Fellowship, the foundation is autonomous and governed by a separate board of trustees.

In more than seven years as president, Durham increased the number of CBF Foundation clients by more than double from 17 to 43, and he attracted the first multi-million-dollar clients for the foundation. He secured more than $10 million in fund-management accounts and realized estate gifts including the foundation's largest realized estate gift to date -- over $1.2 million to endow CBF Global Missions field personnel salaries.

He also led the CBF Foundation to offer churches a way to invest a portion of their endowment principal in micro-enterprise development loans to entrepreneurial borrowers in poor countries who use the loans to start or expand businesses to support their families. The foundation has just over $1 million committed to microfinance investments so far.

"I've spent the last 15-20 years helping pay for an awful lot of good ministry as a fund raiser," Durham said. "However, I believe it's time for me to transition to a more direct expression of local ministry with my sleeves rolled up as one seeking to be the presence of Christ."

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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. Lance Wallace of CBF communications contributed to this story.

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