Callam Nominated to Succeed Lotz

Neville Callam was announced as the nominee March 7 during a meeting of the BWA Executive Committee at the group's Falls Church, Va., headquarters to succeed Denton Lotz, the organization's retiring general secretary. The BWA Executive Committee responded by giving the nominee a standing ovation and symbolically affirming the candidate.

During John Sundquist’s presentation of the next GS, the chairman of the search committee said that the, "Rev. Callam is a seminal theological thinker … and he is an articulate statesman. I was so impressed by his capacity to listen -- the way he is able to take any question, any inquiry, and begin to exegete it biblically."

Baptist World Alliance General Secretary Denton Lotz responded with enthusiasm to the announcement of Neville Callam as the nominee to be the next BWA General Secretary. Lotz pledges his support during the transition.

Lotz states, “I am particularly pleased that the nominee is from the Southern Hemisphere. This sends a clear message that Baptists worldwide recognize the growth of the church has moved to the Southern Hemisphere. The fact that 60 percent of Christians are in the Two-thirds World necessitates that Baptists open their hearts and minds to the new things God is doing in mission worldwide. I look forward to working with Neville Callam as he assumes leadership at the end of this year.”

Lotz speaks highly of Callam’s love for the poor. “Neville has a pastor’s heart. He pastors two Jamaican churches, one affluent, the other from a poor community in Kingston.”
Pastor of Tarrant Baptist Church in Kingston, Jamaica, Callam has been heavily involved in BWA life for more than 20 years. He has served on BWA governing bodies and on several other committees and work groups for the organization. He currently belongs to BWA's Implementation Task Force, which is charged with restructuring the organization for the future. To read more about Neville Callam, see the link provided. http://www.bwanet.org/default.aspx?pid=456

If elected in July, the 55-year-old Jamaican pastor will represent approximately 110 million Baptists in national and regional bodies. He would also be the first general secretary in the group's 102-year history to hail from somewhere other than the United States or Europe. The position will not become formal until the organization's larger governing body, the BWA General Council, votes on Callam's nomination during its July meeting in Accra, Ghana.

Callam, in response, said he would offer only one sentence: "All I have to say is, if this is how the Lord is leading us, I am willing to follow."