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Mayfield Pastor to be Nominated as KBC 2nd VP
10/07/2009
Rick Hatley
Hatley, 48, is the first announced candidate for the post. He will be nominated by Alan Dodson, pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Lexington.
Dodson said in the nearly two decades he’s known Hatley, “I’ve been able to follow his ministry. Everywhere Rick has gone, … I’ve just been able to notice his devotion to the Cooperative Program and to evangelism.”
As a KBC elected official, Hatley would offer support for KBC leadership and the Kentucky Baptists Connect initiative, Dodson said, adding that Hatley’s commitment to Cooperative Program giving “is strong and he would bring that to the table of leadership.”
Hatley echoed that commitment to CP. He noted that every church he has served has given 10 percent or more to the Southern Baptists’ unified giving plan.
“I want to be a spokesperson to help rally folks around the Cooperative Program,” he said.
A Kentucky native, Hatley said he is concerned with the decline in CP gifts in recent years. He said he wants to encourage Kentucky Baptist churches to give more to accomplish more.
“Whether it’s a very small church or a megachurch, it takes all of us giving,” Hatley stressed. “I would just like to challenge every church to try to shoot for 10 percent no matter what the size of the budget is. Not equal gifts, but equal sacrifice.”
Hatley became pastor of High Point Baptist in May 2008. Before that, he served as pastor of First Baptist Church of Pinckneyville, Ill. He also spent more than a dozen years as a minister of education at Central Baptist Church in Winchester and Central Baptist Church in Corbin. He spent two years as church development director for the West Virginia Convention of Southern Baptists.
A KBC Mission Board member, Hatley serves on the Committee on Nominations. He also was a LifeWay Christian Resources trustee for four years. Hatley is a graduate of Murray State University and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville.
According to the KBC’s 2008 Annual Church Profile statistics, High Point Baptist gave 10 percent of its undesignated receipts to the Cooperative Program and reported 10 baptisms in 2007-08.
The Kentucky Baptist Convention is a cooperative missions and ministry organization made up of nearly 2.400 autonomous Baptist churches in Kentucky. A variety of state and worldwide ministries are coordinated through its administrative offices in Louisville, including: missions work, disaster relief, ministry training and support, church development, evangelism and more. For more, find us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.
