October 23, 2024
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (KT) – Bill Mackey, who faithfully served as the executive director-treasurer of the Kentucky Baptist Convention for more than a dozen years, is being remembered as a true servant of God and the “epitome of a Christian gentleman.”
Mackey died Thursday morning after a year and a half battle with cancer. He was 81.
Besides leading the KBC from 1998 to 2011, Mackey graduated from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, served as an associate pastor in Middlesboro and a pastor in Whitesburg, Kentucky.
Mackey’s tenure at the KBC included a strong emphasis on evangelism, missions and church planting. Under his leadership, Kentucky Baptists developed partnerships with Baptists in Tanzania, Poland, and Brazil, as well as with the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware. The KBC also began developing “high impact” churches started with the intention that they, in turn, would begin other churches.
Mackey, a South Carolina native, had been director of the South Carolina Baptist Convention's leadership development and evangelism growth team before coming to the KBC. From 1979-92, he was the South Carolina convention's evangelism director.
He and his wife, Kay, moved to Raleigh, N.C., to be near grandchildren upon his retirement in 2011.
“Brother Bill led through a historic relocation of our Baptist Building, a renewed effort for church planting, and a much-needed increased focus on caring well for those pastors and leaders who care well for Kentucky Baptist churches,” said Todd Gray, executive director-treasurer of the KBC. “One example of Bro. Bill’s lasting legacy is seen in the ongoing popularity of our Shepherding Conference, formerly known as Shepherding the Shepherd, where pastors and their spouse are provided a time away where they can be ministered to and cared for faithfully.”
Gray said when he became the KBC executive director, he scheduled an hour to call Mackey for any advice he had to offer.
“We talked at length and Dr. Mackey offered kind advice and generous encouragement,” Gray said. “What stood out to me, however, was not so much the advice but his incredible energy in his later years and how excited he was about what he was learning and how he was using it to serve others in ministry.
“Bro. Bill led well through what could have been a very divisive time in our state. Others have said that God used his irenic disposition to help Kentucky Baptists continue working together to reach Kentucky and the world for Christ.”
Buck Run Pastor Hershael York worked closely with Mackey as president of the KBC in 2005. It was a time of transition in both the KBC and the Southern Baptist convention.
“In some ways, I was the first president in the KBC elected as part of the conservative movement,” York said. “He was very, very embracing of me and he did not have to be. He could have made it awkward and difficult. He learned to trust my heart and I learned to trust his. We went through difficult things together in my time as president. I knew he wanted to honor the Lord in everything he did. There was never a conversation we had that was awkward or uncomfortable. I just grew to love him.”
Later in Mackey’s time at the KBC, other difficult decisions were made through the Great Commission Taskforce with the realignment of where Cooperative Program dollars would go, York said. “He, more than anybody, had to bear the brunt of enforcing those decisions. The state convention gave up quite a bit to go to the mission field. He was completely onboard, very receptive of that. He cared for the lost.”
Even during those times, York said that Mackey was a blessing to him.
“The relationship that he and I gained in that time was one of the most precious friendships the Lord ever blessed me with,” he said. “He sought to live a godly, holy life. He was as burdened for lost people as anyone I ever knew.”
Dan Summerlin, the pastor of Lone Oak Baptist Church, said Mackey provided guidance for him from his first day in Kentucky.
“Twenty years ago, when I came to Lone Oak, he was here,” Summerlin said. “He talked to me about Kentucky life and Kentucky Baptists, things I needed to know. Through the years, he reached out, just to check on me and he put me on various committees even though I was serving in far western Kentucky.”
Summerlin marveled at Mackey’s presence in committee meetings where he brought a peace over the group no matter the tenseness.
“It was a joy watching him in a committee meeting,” Summerlin said. “His presence brought a calmness to the room. He was a peacekeeper in committees. People would have differences of opinions, but he had a way of saying what was needed to be said. He understood the roles. He had a quiet knowledge of how things operated and how things moved in the state.”
Mackey had a love for the convention even before becoming part of it.
He said at the time of his hiring with the KBC, that the staff of the KBC executive board mentored him when he was a young pastor in Whitesburg. “That colored my attitude toward convention staff and the possibilities” of the state convention's ministry, he said.
Mackey assured the board he was aware of the heritage of Kentucky Baptists. “I think there is a rich heritage on which to build a great future,” he said.
He cited two words that were “very important” to him: relationship and service.
“We can’t control the issues and challenges that come,” he said. “But we can control the relationships in which we confront those issues and challenges.”
International Mission Board President Paul Chitwood, who succeeded Mackey as KBC executive director, called him “the epitome of a Christian gentleman.”
“He was the first person to invite me to be involved in the work of our denomination,” Chitwood said. “As a Kentucky Baptist pastor, I was grateful for his leadership in our state when he served as the executive director. When I stepped into that role after Dr. Mackey’s retirement, I was privileged to follow a man who modeled integrity, had a genuine walk with the Lord, loved the local church, was passionate about reaching the lost. I thank God for the impact of his life and ministry upon me and countless others.”
Mackey had the KBC involved in several monumental opportunities in Louisville.
The KBC was a key partner with the Tony Evans Crusade in Louisville in 2000 and the Billy Graham Crusade in Louisville in 2001. In 2009, the convention was instrumental in the success of the “Crossover ’09” evangelistic emphasis just ahead of the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Louisville.
The KBC was an active partner in the “Find it Here” evangelistic campaign that saw Kentucky Baptists deliver a gospel message to more than 1.3 million Kentucky homes in 2010.
Kentucky Baptists also engaged in numerous major disaster relief responses during Mackey’s tenure including the World Trade Center attack in 2001, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the Kentucky ice storm of 2009 and the Haiti earthquake in 2010.
“We are praying for Kay and the family and want to join all Kentucky Baptists in expressing our great appreciation for Dr. Bill Mackey and for the legacy he has left in our state,” Gray said. “The portrait of Dr. Mackey in the Baptist building is a lasting reminder of how God used him in Kentucky. He will be missed but he will be remembered fondly.”
