BWA PRESIDENT DAVID COFFEY CONCLUDES TERM OF SERVICE
David Coffey, president of the Baptist World Alliance since 2005, ended his term of service at the conclusion of the
20th Baptist World Congress in Honolulu, Hawai‘i, held July 28 to August 1.
Coffey was elected during the congress in Birmingham, England, in July 2005, which marked the 100th anniversary of
the founding of the BWA. The first congress was held in London in 1905.
During his tenure as BWA president, Coffey has visited many countries and represented the BWA in a number of meetings
with government leaders, including presidents, prime ministers and other leaders in Israel, Lebanon, and Cuba. He has led
BWA delegations to Vietnam, China and Jordan, and has preached to Baptists in a number of countries in various BWA
regions.
Among Coffey’s BWA initiatives was the formation of the BWA Emerging Leaders Network, formed to identify potential
Baptist leaders who, over the past several years, met during the BWA Annual Gathering.
Coffey was the driving force behind the formation of the Implementation Task Force which completed its work during
the period and made recommended changes to the BWA, including changes to the size and makeup of the BWA Executive
Committee and other constitutional reforms.
It was also during Coffey’s tenure that the BWA elected Neville Callam as BWA general secretary, succeeding Denton
Lotz who retired in 2007.
Prior to being elected BWA president, Coffey was general secretary of the Baptist Union of Great Britain (BUGB) for
15 years, and he is a former president of the BUGB and of the European Baptist Federation, one of six regional fellowships
of the BWA.
He is also a former Moderator of the Free Churches Group which represents 19 Free Church denominations in England;
and was one of the four presidents of the ecumenical group, Churches Together in England, serving alongside the Archbishop
of Canterbury, the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster and a representative of the Orthodox churches.
In 2008, Coffey was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to
inter-faith relations. He was also named to the Advisory Council of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation in 2008.
An author, Coffey’s books include Build That Bridge, a study in conflict and reconciliation in church life, and Joy to the
World, an Advent devotional guide.
“It has been an inestimable privilege to serve as the BWA president,” Coffey stated. “The opportunities for
international ministry have been immense and the capacity for personal spiritual development has gone beyond all
expectations. The prayers of those who have followed my global journeys have been a sustaining power for my ministry.”
NEW BWA LEADERS CONTINUED
of Chile, was a BWA vice president from 2005 to 2010 and is former president of the Union of Baptists in Latin
America. She succeeds Dorothy Selebano of South Africa who was elected president of the BWA Women’s
Department in 2005.
Owen Crooks, president of the Jamaica Baptist Union Brotherhood, is the new president of the BWA
Men’s Department, succeeding Forestal Lawton, president since 2005. Lawton, of Kansas City, Missouri, in
the United States, is now the new director of the Men’s Department, taking over from Doyle Pennington of
Colorado in the US.
Everton Jackson, elected by the Caribbean Baptist Fellowship (CBF) as its executive secretary/treasurer
during the CBF General Assembly in March, was confirmed by the BWA General Council as BWA regional
secretary for the Caribbean. He succeeds Bahamian Peter Pinder who was CBF executive secretary/treasurer
and BWA regional secretary since 1995.
The CBF also chose a new president during its March General Assembly. William Thompson, outgoing
BWA vice president and former president of the Bahamas National Baptist Missionary and Education
Convention, succeeds Burchell Taylor from Jamaica, a newly elected vice president of the BWA.
In addition to the new leadership elected or confirmed during the congress, the incoming BWA General
Council, consisting of member body representatives, department representatives, committee leaders and
others, met before the start of the congress in Hawai´i. The new Executive Committee will not convene until
March 2011.

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