W a s h i n g t o n – A Baptist theologian stemming from Jamaica, Neville Callam (Kingston), is nominated to become the new General-Secretary of the Baptist World Alliance (BWA). At the close of a meeting of the BWA’s Executive in Falls Church near Washington on 7 March, the 55-year-old pastor of Kingston’s Tarrant Baptist Church was introduced as the successor to Denton Lotz (age 68, Falls Church). Lotz will retire in December. Callam is the sole candidate for the position. He is to be offically voted in at the BWA-Council sessions in Accra, Ghana in July. Callam studied at Harvard in the USA and is regarded as a Christian specialist on questions of ethics and of the media. He was active in numerous World Alliance commissions and working groups, including the Commission for Christian Ethics and the Commission for Evangelisation and Education. He has been President of Jamaica’s Baptist Union  twice: 1985-1987 and 2000-2002. He was a BWA-Vice President from 2000 to 2005. Callam founded the Christian radio station “Breath of Change” and is also the Founding Director of Jamaica’s National Religious Media Company. He has also been active as an instructor and visiting lecturer at various theological institutions and seminaries in the Caribbean region. He stated at his introduction: “Living for Jesus is what my life is about.” Callam is married to Dulcie, the couple has two adult children. Jamaica has 300 Baptist congregations with 40.000 members; the entire Caribbean region has 1.700 congregations and 256.000 members.

The European Baptist Federation’s (EBF) General-Secretary, Tony Peck (Prague), welcomed Callam’s candidacy. He is “a noted preacher, outstanding theologian and gifted leader”. Peck recalled that the EBF’s Executive Committee had suggested that the BWA’s new General-Secretary be from the Two-Thirds World, “where Baptists are seeing significant growth”. In personal dialgue with Callam, Peck had noted “his incisive mind, his zeal for communicating the Christian faith and his lively sense of humour”.

Regina Claas (Elstal near Berlin), General-Secretary of Germany’s “Federation of Evangelical-Free Churches” and head of BWA Freedom and Justice Commission, expressed her joy regarding the candidacy of Callam. He is seen in the World Federation as a “very experienced and spiritually profound person who thanks to his background can build bridges to the Southern Hemisphere”. This is a vital factor for the BWA’s future well-being.