Rogers Announced as New Executive Director Candidate at June VLC

CMBA

The CMBA Visionary Leadership Community (VLC) met Tuesday, June 21, at Mt. Elon Baptist in Hopkins to conduct business and share ministry updates. Pastor Charles Wilson welcomed the group along with member Buck Williams, who was previewed in CMBA’s VLC Member Spotlight last week.


The Executive Director Search Team presented VLC members with a report of their work and the recommendation that Rev. Jamie Rogers be named CMBA Executive Director. Chair Ryan Dupree calls Rogers a relational leader active in denominational work who “has been a local church pastor, a church planter and has a passion for our churches to focus on discipleship. Jamie has a burden for the lost in Columbia, a passion for engaging and reaching ethnic groups in the Columbia area, and a love of global and local missions. He also loves pastors, has a servant’s heart, and sees the local association as a true family.”

Rogers has served as the Columbia Baptist Collegiate Ministry Director since 2018. In that role he led the campus ministry to adopt an outreach-focused strategy to reach lost students with the gospel, partnered with CMBA churches to engage local and international students, and saw the ministry almost triple in student participation during his tenure. Rogers was a church planter in New York from 2014-2018. He has served on staff with six South Carolina Baptist churches, including as senior pastor of Kershaw Second Baptist, Solid Rock Baptist in Aiken, Redd’s Branch Baptist in Aiken, and Union Baptist in Creedmoor, N.C. Read additional information about Rogers and his family here.

A special called meeting will be held Tuesday, July 19, at 1:30 p.m. in the St. Andrews Baptist Fellowship Hall for CMBA pastors and church delegates to hear from the team, meet Rogers, and cast an official vote. Rogers anticipates starting in the new role September 1. VLC members endorsed the team’s recommendation regarding Rogers, and affirmed CMBA Moderator Craig Bailey to serve as interim Executive Director beginning June 24 until August 31. Current Executive Director George Bullard will officially retire June 30.

In other news, VLC members heard Team Huddle reports from its subgroups regarding ongoing work with CMBA churches. These targeted ministry area reports included news on church planters for new congregational expressions, Impacting Communities work and current Our Family Stories. An update was also shared about the Denominee process, which is entering the next phase of progress toward crafting CMBA’s focus on future missions and ministry.

Bylaws Revision Team Chair David Waganer shared a preliminary presentation of the new document in a report to VLC. The team is working to have a draft ready for the new Executive Director to give input prior to it being presented for an official vote by messengers during the CMBA Annual Meeting in October.

CMBA accountant Harry Langley shared a positive financial report, in place of Treasurer Brenda Sheets who was absent. Several transitional legal issues were also addressed during the business session, including transferring corporate officer responsibilities to Bailey during the interim time between acting Executive Directors.  

In his final meeting with VLC members, Bullard cited benchmarks of progress during his tenure including the assembly of Team Huddle staff members, creating deeper church engagements, and launching new ministries. He also expressed excitement about his upcoming season of retirement, which will begin with a relocation to Simpsonville in July.

“I have appreciated my five years here. I am proud of the changed philosophy to having churches take ownership of missions and ministries while asking ‘how can we strengthen churches in their engagement in missions, ministry and evangelism,’” Bullard said. “The association is family. It’s about relationships and when we are in relationship with one another, we can figure out how to handle our diversity.”

VLC will reconvene August 16.

About the author 

Julia Bell