Lindsay’s Retirement Recognition Central In Annual Meeting
By Eva Wilson
November 2009
Kansas-Nebraska Southern Baptists were urged during their annual meeting to prepare themselves to “pass on the baton.”
The meeting was held Oct. 12-13 at Country Acres Baptist Church, Wichita, Kan. It honored R. Rex (Peck) Lindsay, who is stepping down on Dec. 31 after serving nearly 40 years with the convention. Lindsay has served as KNCSB executive director since 1977. He joined the convention staff in 1971 as director of missions.
Sharing the spotlight with Lindsay was his wife, Sue. She helped develop the KNCSB church library ministry into a nationally recognized program. She also has worked tirelessly in the KNCSB archives preserving the convention’s history.
A reception after the opening session on Monday night, Oct. 12, honored the Lindsays and their family. Before the meeting session ended, they were presented with an array of gifts. Among the gifts were two books of memories compiled by Nancy Cokely, pastor’s wife in Iola, Kan.
The Lindsays’ children and their families were recognized. Natalee Beck and her husband, Todd, and their four children live in Eudora, Kan. Nate Lindsay and his wife, Marla, live in Overland Park, Kan. Marla Lindsay’s father, Mike McKinney, is pastor of Leawood Baptist Church, Leawood, Kan.
Peck Lindsay is passing the leadership baton to his successor Bob Mills. In the same way, annual-meeting participants were urged to prepare themselves to “finish well.”
The challenge came during the presidential address by Steve Holdaway. He is senior pastor of LifeSpring Church, Bellevue, Neb.
Holdaway also issued a strong call for cooperation. “I believe in cooperation,” he said.
Meeting participants included 391 messengers and 231 registered visitors.
Messengers approved the 2010 KNCSB budget of $5,752,476. This is down about 1 percent from 2009. Cooperative Program gifts from Kansas-Nebraska Southern Baptist churches are anticipated to be $3,246,000. This is the same as 2009. Gifts to the national Cooperative Program will remain at 32 percent.
Officers elected were:
President: Ron Pracht, pastor of Olivet Baptist Church, Wichita, Kan.
Vice president: John Shields, pastor of Parkview Baptist Church, Lexington, Neb.
Officers re-elected were:
Recording secretary: Bryan Jones, pastor of Tyler Road Southern Baptist Church, Wichita, Kan.
Assistant recording secretary: Gloria Garner, member of First Baptist Church, Burlington, Kan.
Historian: Tony Mattia, pastor of Trinity Baptist Church, Wamego, Kan.
Only one resolution was approved. It expressed appreciation to the host church and everyone involved in making the meeting a success.
An effort failed on amending the KNCSB bylaws to abolish the Resolutions Committee. Later in the meeting, the Committee on Committees named Blake Orr of Winfield, Kan., to the Resolutions Committee. The existing members are David VanBebber, Riley, Kan., and Dale Donnelly, Tekamah, Neb. (Al Fransen of Bellevue, Neb., rotated off.)
In other activity, numerous people were recognized for their service in missions, chaplaincy and disaster relief.
Wayne and Ruth Ann Kittelson of Omaha, Neb., received the Kelley Shelton Memorial Award for Mission Service Corps missionaries. The Kittelsons are directors of volunteers for Nebraska. MSC is the long-term volunteer program of the North American Mission Board.
Gordon Herb of Wichita, Kan., received the 2009 KNCSB Chaplaincy Award. He was an Army chaplain from 1979 to 1999. He has been a disaster-relief chaplain since 1995. His wife, Vi, serves at his side. They have served in such places as New York City after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, along the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina, and in Kentucky after the severe ice storm early in 2009.
A disaster-relief award was set up this year in memory of James L. “Jim” Jones, who died in December 2008. The award will be presented to his wife, Janet, during the Western Kansas Baptist Association annual meeting.
The 2010 annual meeting will be held Oct. 11-12 at the Ramada Inn Convention Center in Kearney, Neb.
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