Campbell, McBride, Vernon to be nominated at BGCT

DALLAS – Three veteran Texas Baptist pastors will be nominated for president and vice presidents of the Baptist General Convention of Texas during the 2001 annual meeting, Oct. 29- 30, in Dallas.

Bob Campbell, pastor of Westbury Baptist Church of Houston, will be nominated for president by Phil Lineberger, pastor of Williams Trace Baptist Church in Sugar Land.

Paul McBride, pastor of Friendship Baptist Church in The Colony, will be nominated for first vice president by Howard Anderson, pastor of Singing Hills Baptist Church of Dallas.

Steve Vernon, pastor of First Baptist Church in Levelland, will be proposed as second vice president by Milton Cunningham, chaplain of Baylor University athletics.

All three of the nominees are active in BGCT affairs.

Campbell has been pastor of Westbury Baptist Church since 1991. He was chairman of the BGCT Executive Board in 1996 and 1997. Most recently, he was chairman of the BGCT Seminary Study Committee in 2000.

In announcing his intent to nominate Campbell, Lineberger, a former president of the BGCT, called the Houston pastor “a statesman and proven leader. At this time in Texas Baptist life we need a strong leader – one who is committed to the Baptist General Convention of Texas.”

McBride is past president of the BGCT African- American Fellowship and is a member of the BGCT Black Advisory Board. He was a member of the BGCT Effectiveness/Efficiency Committee, and has served on various state and associational committees.

Anderson called McBride “a great leader … a man of integrity and honesty. He is familiar with Texas Baptists” and can help strengthen the state convention.

Vernon has been vice chairman of the BGCT Christian Life Commission and serves on the commission’s board of consultants. He has been trustee of Wayland Baptist University and moderator of the South Plains, Amarillo and Staked Plains Baptist associations.

“Steve Vernon has demonstrated his support for the Baptist General Convention of Texas and his willingness to be part of the goals the convention has established,” Cunningham said. “His record as a pastor and his cooperation with other Baptists on the local and state levels make him very knowledgeable of Baptist life in Texas and what we are trying to do.”

Campbell said he feels honored “to even be considered for such an office. We’ve had such great leaders – for a long time. To think you might be included in that group is an honor. I would look forward to trying to keep up that track record.”

He said he thinks he can “bring some skills and ideas and thinking that would help churches in Texas. We need to keep focused on missions. The new church starts are so very important. Our work with Hispanics is vital, since that represents such a growing part of our state.

“I still have a deep interest in theological education for our Texas students – not just at the seminaries and Hispanic Baptist Theological School. But the graduate schools at some of our universities certainly also need to be held up.”

Campbell said his experience as Executive Board chairman would be helpful if he were elected president. “It gave me an opportunity to see the wide variety of ministries through the BGCT and our institutions. Being able to help facilitate that kind of ministry is exciting.”

He noted he is interested in Texas Partnership missions work, and said he believes “Texas Baptists should not only be interested in ourselves, but we should have a strong base to reach out beyond our borders.”

Westbury Baptist Church has 1,374 resident members and averaged 504 in Sunday school attendance last year, when it baptized 35 new Christians. The church contributed $40,452 to the Cooperative Program unified budget, which was 5 percent of budget receipts.

Before becoming pastor at Westbury, Campbell was pastor at Calvary Baptist Church in Garland; Northwest Baptist Church in Ardmore, Okla.; Salt Creek Baptist Church in Brownwood; Plum Grove Baptist Church in Markley; and Calvary Baptist Church in Forest Hill, La.

He also was assistant professor of Bible and Greek and director of religious activities at Howard Payne Baptist University in Brownwood. He has been an adjunct professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.

He is a graduate of Louisiana Collage in Pineville, and Southwestern Seminary, where he earned a doctorate in New Testament.

In addition to his BGCT positions, he has been a member of the Oklahoma Baptist Student Union Advisory Board and the Southern Baptist Convention committee on boards and national student work committee. He also has served in various associational, community and civic capacities.

He and his wife, Judith Ann, have two adult children, Michael Andrew Campbell and Michelle Andrea Zimmerman.

McBride is the founding pastor of Friendship Baptist Church, which was begun as a mission in 1983 and constituted as a church in 1984. It now has 1,350 members.

“If I am elected, I want to be able to show that there is a unified body of believers working together” in the convention, he said. “I would like to see our churches over Texas be as we were eight to 10 years ago – how we were so unified, and there was no battling between the families of believers.”

He has been affiliated with the BGCT since 1983, and said he has “seen the convention grow and change.” He cited an unprecedented “opportunity to reach out to the unchurched, to bring people who don’t know Jesus Christ into the body of believers.”

McBride is a graduate of Eastvale Junior College, Southern Bible Institute of Dallas, Trinity Valley Baptist Seminary and Andersonville Baptist Seminary. He is retired from GTE.

He and his wife, Ida, have three children and five grandchildren.

Vernon has been pastor of the 3,218- member First Baptist Church of Levelland, since 1991. Previously, he was pastor of First Baptist Church in Panhandle, First Baptist Church in Kress, and First Baptist Church of Ames, Okla.

Cunningham said Vernon’s character and demeanor form the foundation of an exemplary life. “He has been a role model for his family and community. He’s a man who has led his church to be supportive of the BGCT, and he’s demonstrated his leadership ability in the responsibilities given him over the years.”

Vernon has served on numerous BGCT and associational committees, and has participated in missions projects in Mexico, South Africa and Brazil. He has been active in community causes, and was named 2000 Man of the Year by the Levelland Area Chamber of Commerce.

He is a graduate of Baylor University and Southwestern seminary. He and his wife, Donna, have three children.

October 2001.