GuideStone trustees unanimously elected Stephen B. Allen as the enterprise’s new chief legal officer during their regular meetings in Dallas on March 4–5. Allen succeeds Harold R. Loftin, Jr., who will retire later this year.
Allen is the former senior vice president, general counsel and assistant secretary for ONEOK, a publicly traded Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Fortune 500 company where he worked nearly 18 years. He will oversee the Legal and Government Affairs teams within GuideStone as chief legal officer.
Allen is the son of a Southern Baptist Home Mission Board church planter in New England; he earned his bachelor’s degree from Oklahoma Baptist University and his law degree from Vanderbilt University School of Law. He is licensed to practice law in Texas and Oklahoma.
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Reach strategy
Both GuideStone President Hance Dilbeck and Chief Operating Officer Chu Soh commented on GuideStone’s Reach strategy, which is focused on growing the ministry’s already robust relationship with Southern Baptists.
Everything the enterprise does is built to come alongside members and ministry partners to help in living out the mission to “enhance financial security and resilience for those who serve the Lord,” Dilbeck said.
“We’ve spent a lot of time working on the simple language of our mission and vision, which led to our strategy,” he said. “It is very connected to language from the past. Financial security is the lane we run in. The reason we do that is so that people who are serving Christ can be financially secure and can put their focus on their calling. Financial security has a real impact and affects how you feel, impacting how you lead.”
Mission:Dignity
Dilbeck also affirmed the work of Mission:Dignity. This relief ministry provides financial assistance to more than 2,800 retirement-age Southern Baptist ministers, workers and their widows every year with extra money needed for housing, food and vital medications.
“Last year, 2,908 individuals and 2,164 households were served,” he said. “As we serve, 60% of the time, it’s the widow of a minister, missionary or church worker. The neediest couples we serve through Mission:Dignity receive $750 per month.”
Dilbeck celebrated the 13th check arrangements Mission:Dignity had with 20 state conventions and foundations in 2023, including South Carolina, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Oklahoma, Texas (SBTC), New Mexico, Tennessee, California, Nevada, North Carolina, Virginia (SBCV), Michigan, Minnesota-Wisconsin, Arizona, Pennsylvania-South Jersey, Ohio, Indiana and the Dakotas. Separate long-standing arrangements are also available in Louisiana and Georgia, serving Mission:Dignity recipients in those states.
Other business
In other business, the Board honored four trustees whose terms of service concluded with the March meeting — Robert Bachman (Colorado), Randall Blackmon (District of Columbia/Maryland-Delaware), Kevin Cummings (Virginia) and John (Johnny) Hoychick (Louisiana). New trustees to replace those rolling off the Board will be elected in June by messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Indianapolis.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Roy Hayhurst and originally published by GuideStone.
