Lifeway Christian Resources, the Nashville-based publishing arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, has selected Joe Walker as interim president and CEO.
Walker, who has been serving as the organization’s executive vice president and chief operating officer since March, will assume his new role until a successor is named for outgoing President and CEO Ben Mandrell.
Mandrell, who became Lifeway’s 10th president and CEO in 2019, is leaving the post to serve as senior pastor at Bellevue Baptist Church in Cordova, Tennessee, where he is expected to lead his first Sunday service as pastor on Aug. 10.
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Reacting to the decision of Lifeway’s Board of Trustees on Tuesday, Walker said in a statement to The Christian Post that he intends to build on the work Mandrell started.
“I’m so grateful to have served with Ben for the past six years,” he said. “During this time of transition, I will work closely with our leadership team and our trustees to continue the strong culture and financial results Ben led us to achieve.”
Walker, who is a CPA, studied accounting at the University of Tennessee before dedicating 39 years of service to Lifeway.
“During my 39 years of service at Lifeway, I have seen God’s hand and provision as He carried Lifeway through some difficult seasons,” Walker explained. “That was especially true as He brought Lifeway through the pandemic when revenue plummeted as many churches were not meeting for several months. Since that time, God has brought us back to a place of strength as we continue to strive to serve churches in the days ahead.”
Before he began serving as the organization’s chief operating officer in March, Walker had been chief financial officer for 6.5 years and corporate controller for an additional 12 years.
Chairman of Lifeway’s Board of Trustees James Carroll said Walker’s selection to serve in the interim role was “unanimous.”
“Selecting Joe Walker to lead was an easy and unanimous decision. Because we have served closely with him and watched him lead in a variety of capacities, we have the utmost confidence in him and his ability,” Carroll said. “In fact, I believe God has equipped him through his four decades with Lifeway and placed him in his current role for the purpose of raising him up to serve as interim president during this season of transition.”
Lifeway’s board of trustees also named an eight-person search committee to find the next leader of the almost 134-year-old organization. The committee will be led by Billy Stewart, a retired community college president and executive pastor for administration at First Baptist Church in Jackson, Mississippi.
Carroll will serve as an ex-officio member due to his role as board chairman. Other members of the search committee are Beth Greene from Knoxville, Tennessee; Madeline Harris from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Caleb Iorg from Portland, Oregon; Michael Schmidt from Reno, Nevada; Rob Sumrall from Elizabethtown, Kentucky; and Matt Surber from San Antonio, Texas.
“The selection of Lifeway’s next president is an enormous responsibility, first to the Lord and then to our fellow Southern Baptists,” Carroll said in a statement. “We will seek God’s help at every step of the process to move with wisdom, prudence, and appropriate swiftness as we fill this important vacancy.”
Carroll said the team will lead sessions with the full board and executive leadership team during its August meeting.
In 2019, the search committee took 10 months to settle on Mandrell as their 10th president.
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