FORT WORTH -- As the 22nd annual Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly meets here this week, attendees will hear a farewell sermon from the Rev. Daniel Vestal, who is retiring as executive coordinator.
The son of a Texas evangelist, Vestal grew up in Fort Worth. His mother has been a member of Gambrell Street Baptist Church since 1947, and he was married and ordained there."Fort Worth is home for me," Vestal said.Vestal was pastor at Meadow Lane Baptist Church in Arlington in 1970-72 and Southcliff Baptist Church in Fort Worth in 1972-76. He said he has preached in "25 to 30 Baptist churches in the area through the years."The assembly, which last convened in Fort Worth in 2002 and was held in Grapevine in 2005, runs through Friday. More than 1,500 people are expected to attend."Anyone involved in local church ministry knows the difference between those events that are important because of an attractive program or charismatic personality and those events that are strategic for the future," Vestal said. "This is one of those times when our annual assembly is very strategic for CBF's future mission. In fact, I believe it is one of the most significant gatherings we have had in a number of years. ... We will be discerning and deciding how to be more effective in our shared ministry."The assembly is the largest annual meeting of moderate Baptists in the United States. Based in Atlanta, the fellowship emerged from the Southern Baptist Convention in 1991 and says it now has more than 1,800 partnering congregations and 3,000 individual members nationwide. It supports 15 schools of theology. has 635 endorsed chaplains and pastoral counselors, and has a global missions effort with 135 field personnel.The assembly will vote on a proposed $12.4 million budget for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, and on a slate of officers that includes Bill McConnell, a businessman and lay leader at Central Baptist Church in Knoxville, Tenn., as moderator-elect. This year's moderator is Keith Herron, a Kansas City, Mo., pastor.The assembly will meet at the Fort Worth Convention Center with auxiliary meetings at the Omni Fort Worth Hotel and elsewhere. Broadway Baptist Church will host a concert at 7:30 tonight featuring singer-songwriter Carrie Newcomer.Marty Sabota, 817-390-7367Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
