Annual Meeting

By Eva Wilson
Kansas-Nebraska Southern Baptists were urged to seek heart renewal and proclaim Jesus Christ with boldness during their 75th anniversary annual meeting.

The meeting was held Oct. 11-12, 2021, at Webster Conference Center, Salina, Kan. It drew 228 registered messengers and 40 visitors.

Hance Dilbeck, president-elect of Guidestone Financial Resources, was the keynote speaker. Using Psalm 2 and Acts 4 as his texts, Dilbeck urged the crowd:

Be prepared for opposition
Don’t despair in the face of opposition
Proclaim Jesus with boldness

“In churches today, we are spending more time cursing the dark than we are preaching the light,” Dilbeck said. “Church, let’s don’t lose our gospel confidence.”

Before he presented the 2022 KNCSB budget, KNCSB Executive Director David Manner thanked Kansas-Nebraska Southern Baptists for their faithful giving to the Cooperative Program.

“We are in good shape because of your faithfulness.”

Messengers approved the 2022 KNCSB budget which totals $4,323,660. This is an increase of 9.24 percent above the 2021 budget. Giving to the national Cooperative Program will be increased by one half of 1 percent to 30.5 percent.

Cooperative Program receipts in 2022 are anticipated to be $3 million. This is $200,000 more than the 2021 budget.

Kevin Ezell, president of the North American Mission Board, contacted Manner to thank Kansas-Nebraska Southern Baptists for their part in a record Annie Armstrong Easter Offering® of $66.5 million in 2021.

Each meeting session featured a presentation on the convention’s 75th anniversary.

During the opening session on Monday afternoon, Oct. 11, current and past KNCSB executive directors were interviewed. KNCSB has had only five executive directors in its 75-year history.

Peck Lindsay was executive director from 1977 to Dec. 31, 2009. Bob Mills succeeded Lindsay and retired Feb. 28, 2021. He was honored during a celebration during dinner in the WCC dining hall later Monday afternoon, Oct. 11.

Mills joined the KNCSB staff in 1998 as director of missions. After retiring as executive director he became the part-time KNCSB director of church health.

David Manner succeeded Mills and became executive director on March 1, 2021. He joined the KNCSB staff in 2000 and became associate executive director in 2012.

In other activity, two new officers were elected:

President: Doyle Pryor, pastor of First Southern Baptist Church, Topeka, Kan.

Vice President: David Gibbs, pastor of First Baptist Church, Towanda, Kan.

The other officers were all reelected by acclamation:

Recording Secretary: Bryan Jones, pastor of Tyler Road Southern Baptist Church, Topeka, Kan.

Assistant Recording Secretary: Susan Pedersen, member of Prairie Hills Southern Baptist Church, Augusta, Kan.

Historian: Tony Mattia, pastor of Trinity Baptist Church, Wamego, Kan.

Manner also recognized the outgoing officers — President Voyt Lynn and Vice President David Martinez. Lynn is director of missions in South Central Baptist Association in Kansas. Martinez is lead ethnic church planter strategist for both KNCSB and the North American Mission Board. He is associate pastor of Northern Heights Baptist Church, Norfolk, Neb.

In other activity, messengers voted to replace the current KNCSB Constitution and Bylaws with a new Constitution and Bylaws developed by a committee chaired by Sandy Peterson, KNCSB parliamentarian.

KNCSB has developed a process for churches to petition to join the convention year around instead of waiting to be voted in at the annual meeting. Churches that joined KNCSB in 2021 were: