New Kentucky convention exec tells Southern Seminary his 'burning vision'

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP)--Ignited by a "burning vision" from God, Kentucky Baptists can seize a historic opportunity for the gospel of Christ, said Bill Mackey, the Kentucky Baptist Convention's new executive director, to a chapel service at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Preaching on the faith of Moses recounted in Hebrews 11:24-29, Mackey outlined the characteristics necessary for visionary leadership in uncertain times.

Even as a postmodern society seems to be increasingly directionless and chaotic, Mackey told the seminarians he is optimistic about the role of Kentucky Baptists in confronting the culture with the solid foundations of biblical truth.

"Only the second generation to live through a millennium transition, the last on the heels of the dark ages, what an opportunity we have!" Mackey declared.

Introducing Mackey to the seminary community for the first time in his post, President R. Albert Mohler Jr., praised the new executive director as "a man who firmly believes in the gospel and has a heart for evangelism and a passion for growing churches."

"I firmly believe that the Lord has brought Dr. Bill Mackey to this post for this hour," he said. "I believe we will see the fruit of his ministry for years to come."

Mohler pledged to Mackey the wholehearted backing of the seminary community as Mackey begins his service to Kentucky Baptists.

"We want to state publicly that we want to be with you and behind you," Mohler told Mackey. "We want Southern Seminary, our faculty, our students and staff to be on the front lines of every good thing in the work of the Kentucky Baptist Convention and the expansion of the gospel in this state under your leadership.

"It is with very great pride that we note that the Kentucky Baptist Convention has turned to a two-time alumnus of Southern Seminary for this most strategic and important leadership post," Mohler said of Mackey, who received both the bachelor of divinity and doctor of ministry degrees from the seminary.

Mackey pointed to God's dramatic self-revelation from a burning bush to the reluctant Moses whom he had chosen to lead the Israelites from servitude in Egypt to illustrate the urgency of a "clear and contagious vision from God" necessary to lead God's people in proclaiming the gospel of Christ to a new generation of unbelievers. Methodology and timing may be optional, Mackey counseled, but a captivation with God's purposes is crucial.

The relationships between believers is also of paramount concern, Mackey said. He told seminarians that he is beginning his tenure in the Bluegrass State with a conviction that God will heal whatever rifts may exist between Kentucky Baptists.

"God showed me that he was going to bring Kentucky Baptists together," Mackey said, recalling a morning of prayer as he prepared to accept the call to the executive director's position. "I don't understand how he's going to do it, but I believe he's going to do it in his timing."

Mackey said he believes building a "fabric of relationships" is imperative as the convention faces the issues and challenges that inevitably will come. Mackey said he believes with such relationships are necessary to enable Kentucky Baptists "to stay together through all the tension and the conflict and the issues that may come."

Alluding to Moses' rejection of the pleasures of sin available to him in Pharaoh's court, Mackey contended that a Christlike character, forged by God in the adversities of life, is a vital facet of godly leadership. He recalled his own period of extended fasting and prayer several years ago as a humbling and life-transforming experience as Mackey, then evangelism director for the South Carolina Baptist Convention, came to a renewed awareness of his own depravity, God's holiness and the preciousness of the atoning work of the cross of Christ.

"God will use the circumstances of your life and mine to shape us into the kind of instrument that he can use to accomplish his purposes," he said.

The courage Moses exemplified in his defying the power of Pharaoh and trusting the providence of God is also necessary for visionary, God-directed leadership, Mackey noted.

"It takes courage to be a seminary president. It takes courage to be a pastor. It takes courage to provide leadership in your family. It takes courage to obey the call of God in your life," he said. "But God will bless you if you're willing to venture with him."

The chapel service also served as a time of prayer for the seminary community following the death of longtime childhood education professor Kathryn Chapman. Mohler described her death as a "loss for the children of our churches."

Mohler differentiated the deep grief evidenced by the prayerful tears of students and faculty members in the chapel from the hopeless grieving of those without Christ.

"We really mourn our own loss," he said. "Of this we are certain, our sister is with the Lord she knew and loved and served."

Marsha Ellis Smith, associate vice president for academic administration and one of Chapman's closest friends, led the chapel service in praying for the family, colleagues, students and churches across the nation who were blessed by Chapman's ministry.