Paynter named interim CLC director

Posted: 3/06/06

Paynter named interim CLC director

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

DALLAS – Suzii Paynter, director of citizenship and public policy for the Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission, has been named interim director of the CLC.

Paynter was named interim director effective March 2. She assumes leadership of the commission weeks after the death of Phil Strickland, longtime CLC director. Her appointment was made by Charles Wade, BGCT executive director, with the assistance of Ron Gunter, BGCT associate executive director/chief operating officer.

Wade praised Paynter’s advocacy efforts in Austin and thanked her for her willingness to lead the CLC in a time of transition. She has led the CLC’s recent efforts to improve the lives of children and consistently led the charge to ward off the expansion of gambling in Texas.

“Texas Baptists are fortunate that we are able to call on Suzii Paynter to be our interirm director,” Wade said. “She has proven herself to be highly effective in advocating in the state legislature for the issues that Christians and Baptists hold dear.”

Paynter is the first woman to lead the CLC for any amount of time in the group’s history.

Paynter will continue serving as interim director until a permanent director is named. Seven people experienced in Baptist life were named to a search committee the same day Paynter was named CLC interim director.

Search committee members are: Jim Nelson, vice chairman of the BGCT Executive Board and member of Hyde Park Baptist Church in Austin; Ken Hugghins, chairman of the CLC and pastor of Elkins Lake Baptist Church in Huntsville; George Mason, pastor of Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas; Michael Bell, BGCT president and pastor of Greater St. Stephen First Baptist Church; Patsy Ayres, member of First Baptist Church in Austin and former member of the CLC; Janie Sellers, member of First Baptist Church in Abilene and a member of the CLC; and Ellis Orozco, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in McAllen and a former member of the CLC. Nelson will serve as the chairman of the committee.

The search committee will be building a profile of the ideal director and will work with “all deliberate speed” to name a new director, Wade said.

Paynter has served as the CLC citizenship and public policy director for five years. She served as a national literacy professional, professor and consultant for 25 years. In these roles she advocated for state and federal policy to provide systemic remedies for hard-to- teach populations.

Previously on the faculty at Stephen F. Austin University and Baylor University, she has been an advocate for religious liberty issues, literacy and early intervention for high-risk children.

Paynter has served in leadership in many Baptist groups and institutions. Currently, Suzii serves on the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Coordinating Council and is a recent board member and officer of the Baptist Joint Committee, Religious Liberty Council and Whittsett Baptist Heritage Society.

In the Austin community, Paynter has served as president of the Samaritan Counseling Center Austin and is a board member of Texas Impact and the Literacy Coalition of Central Texas.

Her husband, Roger Paynter, is senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Austin, where Suzii is a frequent teacher and ordained deacon.

Paynter earned a bachelor’s degree from Baylor University and master’s degrees from Stephen F. Austin University and the University of Louisville.