WorldconneX mission network names leader_110303

Posted: 10/27/03

WorldconneX mission network names leader

By Ken Camp

Texas Baptist Communications

DALLAS–Nearly a year after the Baptist General Convention of Texas voted to create a new missions network, the previously unnamed entity has both an identity and a staff leader.

Meeting in Dallas Oct. 23, the network's board adopted "WorldconneX" as its corporate name and elected BGCT Associate Executive Director Bill Tinsley to lead the new entity, effective Dec. 1.

The 32-member board, with 27 present, met for more than three and a half hours in executive session before publicly announcing Tinsley as the inaugural leader of WorldconneX.

During the open portion of its meeting, the board of trustees formally approved the WorldconneX name, adopted articles of incorporation and bylaws and named a seven-member administrative committee to work with the new leader.

"WorldconneX reflects what we are about as a network, and that is connecting God's people with mission opportunities and resources both here in Texas and the world beyond. It also reflects the connection of Christ to the world," said Justice Anderson, board chairman.

Anderson will serve on the board's administrative committee with Albert Reyes of San Antonio, Keith Parks of Richardson, Carol Childress of Rockwall, Leon Miller of Kerrville, Frankie Harvey of Nacogdoches and Mike Stroope of Dublin.

Eschewing terms such as "chief executive officer" or "executive director," the board of trustees chose simply to describe Tinsley's role as "network leader."

"From the beginning, we have asked the Holy Spirit to be our CEO, and our search for a network leader could not have ended better," Anderson said. "Bill Tinsley is a deeply spiritual, mission-minded individual with leadership experience at every level of Baptist life. He is a superb choice."

In accepting the position, Tinsley said the challenge facing WorldconneX is "stepping beyond the traditional methods" of missions.

"God is moving in the emerging generation and among the laity with unprecedented power. Our task is to connect thousands of people in whose hearts and minds God is giving visions and dream to serve him around the world in bold and creative ways," Tinsley said.

"To say I have all the answers about how we will do this and where it will take us would be misleading. The only way we could have all the answers would be to do what we have done before. We are moving into new regions and new areas where we will be challenged to learn together."

Reyes, chairman of the board's search committee, said Tinsley possesses the characteristics, abilities, skills, experience and education the network needs in its inaugural leader.

"More importantly, we believe Bill has the vision and heart of a missional servant leader," said Reyes, president of Hispanic Baptist Theological School in San Antonio and vice chairman of the WorldconneX board.

"The increasing chaos of our world, its resulting mission opportunities and the rapidly changing Baptist environment are the context in which the new mission network must operate. We cannot do business as usual, yet neither can we abandon our heritage," Reyes said in the committee's official recommendation to the board.

"We believe Bill Tinsley and the team he will assemble can link the missions passion of Baptists that is inherent in our past with new approaches to connecting God's people in the cause of missions that will shape our future."

The search committee received more than 50 resumes and letters of recommendation for the leader's post before narrowing the field of candidates and recommending Tinsley. In addition to Reyes, other search committee members were Childress, Karen Hatley of Lorena, James Heflin of Abilene, Kyle Reese of San Angelo, Paul Swinney of Tyler and Dennis Young of Houston.

In presenting the recommendation of the search committee, Reyes characterized Tinsley as an "authentic spiritual leader," a "relational team leader" and a "lifelong missional leader."

Tinsley, 56, has been BGCT associate executive director for two years. Previously, he was executive director of the Minnesota-Wisconsin Baptist Convention from 1993 to 2001.

The committee's recommendation also noted that Tinsley is a product of Texas Baptist churches and institutions, having grown up as the son of a deacon at First Baptist Church of Corsicana, where he was licensed to the ministry. The committee also pointed to his "local, state and national connections with Baptist and other Christian leaders."

"He understands well the diversity, dynamics and changing landscape of Baptist life in the 21st century," the recommendation stated.

Tinsley graduated from Baylor University in Waco and earned master of divinity and doctor of ministry degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth.

He was pastor of churches in Bremond, Mexia and Franklin before becoming founding pastor of First Baptist Church in The Colony. He went on to serve four years on the BGCT church extension staff before accepting the director of missions post in Denton Baptist Association, where he served from 1986 to 1993.

Tinsley and his wife, Jacqueline, live in Rockwall, where they are members of Lake Pointe Church, a congregation dually aligned with the BGCT and the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention. They have three children and three grandchildren.

At a reception after the board meeting, representatives of Woman's Missionary Union of Texas, Texas Baptist Men and various BGCT-related missions ministries greeted the new leader. Tinsley told the group, "I believe this represents a fulfillment of God's missions call on my life."

"We do not intend to be a reactionary replacement of traditional Baptist missionary entities but want to offer an additional way to help churches who want to administer and support their own missions personnel and projects," Anderson said. "We're not trying to create another traditional missions agency to compete with the existing ones. We want to be a broker of missions relationships and resources."