Six men were added to the Southern Baptist Evangelists’ Hall of Faith June 10 at the Westin hotel, across the street from the Indiana Convention Center.
The recognition took place during the annual meeting of the Conference of Southern Baptist Evangelists (COSBE). COSBE was organized in 1958 and the Hall of Faith was established in 2008.
Typically, two evangelists are honored every other year, but because of the pandemic, none had been honored for six years, the group’s secretary Amy Stockwell explained.
Two of the six have “gone to their reward,” President Keith Cook of Springfield, Tennessee, told the perhaps 200 people at the group’s no cost “Finish Well Cookout” timed to be part of the 2024 SBC annual meeting.
Honorees included Jerry Drace of Tennessee, Gary Bowlin of Mississippi, and Texas evangelists Sammy Tippet and Charles Massagee. Ron Herrod and Darrell Robinson were honored posthumously.
Others honored
During the COSBE meeting, several evangelists were recognized for 50 years’ service in evangelism: Keith and Joan Cook, Keith Fordham, Beverly Massegee, Betty Moni and Kay Cox, who died this spring.
Daniel Howard was also recognized for 25 years in evangelism.
New officers of COSBE are: New officers were elected for the Southern Baptist Evangelists are: Royce Williams, president; Derek Keiser, vice president; Amy Stockwell, secretary-treasurer; Russell and Kristi Johnson, music directors; Jerry Drace, parliamentarian; Becky Drace, recording secretary; Sammy Tippit, digital evangelism advisor; and Gary Bowlin, financial advisor.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Karen Willoughby and originally published by Baptist and Reflector.
