ATLANTA (ABP) -- James Smith, president and treasurer of the Missouri Baptist Foundation, will retire from his position and will assume a similar post with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Foundation. CBF officials announced the hire Aug. 19.

James Smith (CBF photo)

Smith, who has headed the Missouri foundation since 1993, announced the decision to the institution’s executive committee on Aug. 13.

“He has done an outstanding job. We are sorry to lose him but wish him the best in this transition,” MBF Chair Tom Ogle said by phone on Aug. 19. “He has had a long and very successful career ... and has made great progress with the Foundation.”

He will begin duties with the CBF Foundation on Oct. 1. Less than 20 years old, the CBF Foundation has assets of around $38 million and serves mission and ministry causes around the world.

“The opportunity to lead the foundation effort of CBF during a critical time for funding mission and ministry efforts is a great challenge,” Smith said. “CBF is a community of faith that is rich in commitment to global missions and faithfulness to Baptist heritage.

Since Smith took its helm, the Missouri foundation's assets have grown from $54 million to nearly $170 million and currently stand at about $140 million, with almost 1,200 actively managed accounts. The foundation also has distributed more than $102.2 million in income to mission and ministry causes since 1993, with Cooperative Program distribution exceeding CP receipts.

The foundation has not received CP funds through the Missouri Baptist Convention since 2002. It was among five formerly MBC-affiliated entities that changed their charters in 2000 and 2001 to elect their own trustees. The convention withdrew CP funding in 2002 and filed legal action against the MBF, Word & Way, Windermere Baptist Conference Center, The Baptist Home and Missouri Baptist University. Only Word & Way, the historic Missouri Baptist newspaper and a publishing partner of Associated Baptist Press, has been completely removed from ongoing litigation.

In addition to his work with the foundation, Smith, an ordained Baptist minister, has served as interim pastor of several Missouri churches. He currently is serving as interim at Memorial Baptist Church in Columbia, Mo.

Before accepting the Missouri post, he served as executive vice president of the Oklahoma Baptist Foundation.

At the CBF Foundation, Smith will replace Don Durham, who departed his position in late June after announcing a transition in February. Durham said at the time that he felt a call to local-church ministry, possibly in a bivocational setting.

In July, the Columbia Partnership -- a South Carolina-based church consulting group -- announced that Durham had joined the group as a fundraising consultant. Durham is living in Denton, N.C., where he is starting a church.

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Vicki Brown is associate editor of Word & Way. ABP Managing Editor Robert Marus contributed to this story.

Previous ABP story:

Don Durham announces transition plan for leadership of CBF Foundation (2/22/2010)

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