Northwest Baptist Convention’s Randy Adams announces retirement plans

Randy Adams, the Northwest Baptist Convention’s executive director-treasurer since May 2013, has asked the convention’s executive board to begin an executive transition plan to find his successor and allow him in the next year to move toward retirement.

“To say that I am most grateful to have been entrusted by Northwest Baptists to lead our
convention is a huge understatement,” Adams, 63, told the board during its regular June meeting.

“(My wife) Paula and I have thoroughly enjoyed serving you and working with you.”

In his statement to the board, Adams noted his willingness to serve until a successor is in place
and then work alongside him for a period that the board and new executive director deem
helpful.

Adams said he anticipates a new executive director being in place next spring.

“Even as I transition away from convention leadership, Paula and I will continue to live in the
Northwest and hope to continue serving with Northwest Baptists for many years to come, as God
enables us to do so,” he said.

With Adams’ announcement, NWBC officers will recommend an executive director search
committee to the NWBC Executive Board in the coming weeks. In addition to Bernard, the
convention officers include Michael Crisp (first vice president), pastor of Chehalem Valley Baptist
Church, Newberg, Oregon, and Chad Harms (second vice president), pastor of Pathway Church in
Gresham, Oregon.

Once approved by the board, a search committee will identify a potential candidate to then
recommend to the full board. If affirmed, the board will recommend the candidate for election by
NWBC messengers, either during the convention’s annual meeting or at a special called meeting.

Prior to his NWBC leadership role, Adams was on staff at the Baptist General Convention of
Oklahoma for eight years, leading that convention’s evangelism and missions team. Before that,
he served as pastor of several churches in Texas and Oklahoma.

In 2021, he was among four men nominated to serve a one-year term as president of the Southern Baptist Convention. Ed Litton, pastor of Redemption Church, Saraland, Alabama, would go on to serve as president for one term. Adams first became involved in Baptist ministries as a student at Montana Technical University in Butte, where he was asked to serve as the Baptist Student Union director during his senior year.

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This story was written by Cameron Crabtree and originally published by the Northwest Baptist Witness.