Dear Birmingham Baptists,
God gave us a dream to revitalize, replant, and plant churches in the Birmingham Metro area. In preparation for realizing this vision, the BMBA Personnel Committee created a new staff position to lead the way in church revitalization. Immediately, the team began to pray for God to provide leadership for this vital role. The BMBA is excited to announce Mark Clifton as Interim Director of Church Revitalization for the Birmingham Metro Baptist Association beginning March 16th. During his time with us, Mark will also serve as Transitional Pastor of McElwain Baptist Church in their revitalization efforts.
We look forward to Mark’s leadership in Birmingham and Bessemer to encourage, equip, and engage our churches in the Great Commission!
The Birmingham Metro Baptist Executive and Personnel Committees had met and prayerfully considered how to begin this new position in church revitalization. When Mark Clifton’s name came up as a viable candidate, the committees became excited about the possibilities. “What an incredible opportunity has come to the BMBA churches and greater metro Birmingham area with the hire of Mark Clifton to be the Interim Director of Church Revitalization. With Mark’s passion and expertise, local churches and pastors will have first-hand guidance and coaching for the challenge to turn declining and even dying churches into thriving churches under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
I look forward to having Mark on board and gleaning from his years of study and experience,” expressed Pastor Ric Camp, BMBA Chair of Personnel and Lead Pastor of Ridgecrest Church.
Mark will continue to serve as a team leader for the North American Mission Board. He will be giving us time in Birmingham each week to begin the revitalization work, help recruit a permanent specialist in church revitalization for the BMBA, and train this individual for the role. Over the next several months, we believe Mark Clifton will be used by God to help shape a new spiritual trajectory for plateaued and declining churches in Birmingham. Please pray for Mark’s stamina as he takes on this important and groundbreaking work here in Birmingham.
Thank you for your gifts and support. We cannot do the difficult work of revitalizing dying churches without you! With sincere gratitude, Chris Crain, Executive Director of BMBA
Bio for Mark Clifton
Mark Clifton is the senior director of replanting at the North American Mission Board. Mark has served as a pastor, church planter, church revitalizer, mission strategist, coach, and mentor to young leaders. He has planted and replanted numerous churches and has also served as a national and regional leader for church planting and missions. You can hear Mark and Thom Rainer on the “Revitalize and Replant” Podcast. You can watch him on his weekly Facebook broadcast titled “Mondays with Mark.”
His experience includes serving as the lead mission strategist for the Kansas/Nebraska Southern Baptist Convention, leading church planting efforts in the regions of north metro Atlanta, Georgia, serving as a church planter in Montreal, Quebec, as a Southern Baptist National Church Planting Missionary for eastern Canada, and has lead Southern Baptist church planting projects west of the Mississippi. Mark has been planting, replanting, and providing strategic mission leadership since 1978. Mark and his wife, Jill, have two sons, two daughters-in-law, and three grandsons.
Mark Clifton to Lead Pastors Cohort Group at BMBA Beginning March 16th
Beginning March 16th, at 8:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m., Mark Clifton, BMBA’s new Interim Director of Church Revitalization, will be leading our Cohort group of pastors through Anatomy of a Revived Church: Seven Findings of How Congregations Avoided Death written by Thom Rainer.
This class will meet every Monday in the Birmingham Metro Baptist Association Chapel. All Birmingham Metro Baptist Association pastors and Bessemer Baptist Association pastors are invited to attend this special training. Please RSVP to Marisa Taylor at marisat@bmbaonline.org or call her at (205)599-3245. When you RSVP, please make sure you reserve a book for this class. We hope to see you there!