Ezell named Stan Albright as NAMB"s national director for associations and Micah Millican as director of church planter relations at the mission entity in Alpharetta, Ga., both effective June 1.
In his new position, Albright will be NAMB"s principal interface connecting and coordinating the mission board with state directors of missions and associational directors of missions across North America. He is coming to NAMB following a five-year role as state director of missions and missions mobilization team leader for the Baptist Convention of New Mexico in Albuquerque.
"Stan Albright has great experience and qualifications, and I¹m looking forward to his being on our team," Ezell said. "Associations are an important part of Southern Baptist life. Stan will do a great job helping NAMB serve and work with these key partners.
"I know our job of mobilizing more Southern Baptist churches to the North American mission field will be better off with Stan in this role," Ezell said. "Stan is a team player who truly has a heart for seeing Southern Baptists partner in more effective ways to reach people for Christ in North America."
Albright, an Alabama native, said, "I have a heavy heart in leaving New Mexico because my wife Joanie and I love it. But we feel a definite calling to come back and serve in this position at NAMB.
"My new role is an opportunity for NAMB to have an individual connecting to SDOMs, associations and local DOMs," he said. "It"s a chance to pull together the best of what a DOM is and what an association is for the overall goal of reaching North America through an intentional, evangelistic, reproducing strategy," said Albright, referring to NAMB"s new "Send North America" initiative.
"We"ll accomplish this by helping DOMs engage with their local churches to reach their communities for Christ by looking at how to reproduce new works," Albright said. "The state DOMs, the leaders in this, will be our partners. I want to be an advocate to get these guys together to find God"s will and how we can be most effective to overcome lostness."
Albright, 57, served as associate executive director of the Northwest Baptist Convention; associate director of missions in Anniston, Ala., and a minister of education and evangelism in local Anniston churches; church planter/pastor of a church in Meridianville, Ala.; pastor of churches in Weatherford and Fairview, Texas; a minister of recreation and youth in Monroeville, Ala.; and a US-2 missionary and missionary associate for the Home Mission Board (NAMB prior to 1997) in Gatlinburg, Tenn. Since 1998, Albright also has served as a national consultant for associational strategy for NAMB.
He holds a B.S. degree from Auburn University, Auburn, Ala.; an M.S. degree in education from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville; an M.Div. degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas; and a doctorate of practical ministries from Trinity Theological Seminary in Newburgh, Ind.
Albright and Joanie, his wife of 30 years, are the parents of two grown children: Laurel Taylor, who -- with husband Bryan -- are NAMB church planters in Jacksonville, Ala., and Josh, a student at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. Josh"s wife Jamie is a special education teacher in the Louisville school system.
Millican, 29, is joining NAMB"s staff after serving as pastor for middle school, high school and college students at Westwood Baptist Church in Alabaster, Ala.
In his new position, Ezell said Millican will be NAMB"s "pastor" to its church planters -- "investing in them, resourcing them and helping them develop a network among each other."
"I"ll try to help NAMB"s church planters with the issues all church planters experience -- isolation, lack of peer-to-peer contact and influence, mentoring and training," Millican said. "I look forward to networking with them and treating them like heroes."
Prior to Westwood Baptist Church, Millican worked as associate pastor of administration and associate pastor of student ministry at Aloma Baptist Church in Winter Park, Fla. He previously served as minister of discipleship and minister to college students at Highview Baptist Church, Louisville, Ky.
Millican earned a bachelor of business administration degree in management at the University of Kentucky in Lexington and an M.Div. in missions at Southern Seminary.
He and his wife Laurie are the parents of two sons, Daniel and Luke.
Mickey Noah writes for the North American Mission Board. John Loudat, editor of the Baptist New Mexican, contributed to this story.
Copyright (c) 2011 Southern Baptist Convention, Baptist Press www.BPNews.net