Fermín A. Whittaker, the longest-tenured executive director of California Southern Baptist Convention, died (Friday) Feb. 7, at his Nashville home after a lengthy illness. He was 83.
Services are pending but are expected to be in Southern California, where the Panama native immigrated to the United States.
Whittaker served 22 years, from February 1995 until his retirement in March 2017, as the CEO of the largest state Baptist convention in the Western United States. Whittaker never saw himself as the convention’s chief executive officer, but rather the chief encouraging officer to pastors and leaders in CSBC and throughout the SBC.
One of those whom he encouraged was Pete Ramirez, a young CSBC pastor who now serves as CSBC executive director. He said, “Dr. Whittaker dedicated 36 years of his life to serving California Baptists — first as a pastor, then, for 22 years as CSBC’s executive director. His leadership was marked by grace, vision and a steadfast commitment to the Great Commission. One of his greatest gifts was his ability to make every person feel valued and loved, regardless of their background or ethnicity.”
Championing language missions
When elected to serve CSBC, Whittaker was the first Hispanic elected to lead a state Baptist convention in the SBC. In his new role, he continued to champion language missions as he had during his service at the Home Mission Board (now North American Mission Board).
In his retirement announcement to the CSBC Executive Board in May 2016, Whittaker said since his early call to ministry, “I have known the blessings of being a servant of God. I find it amazing that God could take a stuttering kid like me and be a pastor of His church.
“I’ve served Him in Panama, Canada and Georgia. But for the past 21 years He has allowed me to lift His name and proclaim ‘every man, woman, boy and girl’ as a rallying cry for California Southern Baptists to reach our state and world for Jesus. I have been blessed by our God.”
Even though he spent most of his career serving the Southern Baptist Convention in denominational roles, Whittaker was always a cheerleader for the local church. In his farewell address, he challenged the Board to call a new executive director “who will lead California Baptists to fulfill our purpose of serving churches as they fulfill their mission of winning their communities and the world to Jesus.”
He also encouraged the Board to call a “man who will keep the `main thing the main thing’ as he leads our great Convention to new frontiers.”
Whittaker is survived by Carmen, his wife of 53 years, two sons – Carlos and Eddie – and their wives, two granddaughters and three grandsons.
Read full story on Whittaker’s life and ministry impact.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Terry Barone and originally published by the California Southern Baptist Convention.
