Rev. Dr. Gary V. Nelson, General Secretary

Gary Nelson was appointed General Secretary of CBM in 2000 after serving in pastoral and teaching roles for over 20 years. He provides vision and leadership to the national and international role that CBM plays in helping local churches to find their missional voice. At the 2004 Baptist World Alliance Congress Gary accepted a Vice Presidency in the BWA.

Gary has served in a number of congregations both in staff roles and senior roles. Most recently he served as Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church, Edmonton. During that time, they witnessed a significant work of God in revitalizing and renewing this historic downtown congregation into a creative and dynamic contemporary congregation. He was the founding director of an urban leadership training initiative in the late 80’s called BUILD (Baptist Involvement in Leadership Development) in Toronto.

Gary finds passion around creating ways in which local churches can impact their local communities and the global world. He is the co-author of a book with Don Posterski entitled Future Faith Churches published by Woodlake Books. His upcoming book introduces the challenge of missional living for the church at the congregational level. Published by Chalice Press, it will be out in December 2008 and is entitled, Borderland Churches: A Congregation’s Introduction to Missional Living.

He continues to teach at the seminary level, serving as Adjunct Professor at Carey Theological College in Vancouver and Tyndale Seminary in Toronto. Speaking and teaching around the topics of urban ministry, evangelism and church renewal has taken him throughout Canada, the United States and overseas.

  Rev. Blair Clark, Associate General Secretary

Blair Clark is the Associate General Secretary for CBM. He oversees CBM’s work in a number of countries, works with major donors, as well as manages some of CBM’s Canadian ministries. He has been working in the head office of CBM since 1993, but he and his wife, Janet began their work with CBM in West Kalimantan (Borneo), Indonesia in 1983. Blair taught at the seminary in Pontianak, and was also involved in evangelism, church planting and leadership training in Dayak villages in the interior.

Blair’s interest in missions has been long-standing. After completing a degree in Economics at Gordon College, Blair spent a summer in ministry with North America Indian Mission in British Columbia. Following that, he studied for one year at Ontario Bible College and two years at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Blair and Janet then spent 14 months in 1977-78 backpacking around the world to learn more about missions. He graduated from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in 1980 (M.Div.), and then pastored Claremont Baptist Church from 1980-1983. He has also studied missiology in a doctoral program at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, Illinois.

 Rev. Terry Smith, Director, Partnerships and Initiatives

After 20 years on the field with CBM in France, Terry joined the team of the Canadian office in 2003 as the Director of Partnerships and Initiatives. His responsibilities include mission strategy, partnership building and supervision of global field staff.

From 1984 to 2003, Terry was involved in ministries ranging from inner-city youth work, church planting, outreach programs for Muslims in the francophone world, theological education and leadership development. Most recently, he was the Principal of the European Bible Institute in Lamorlaye, France, an interdenominational centre for the study of Theology, Mission and the Arts.

He is a graduate of the University of Ottawa (B.Soc.Sc. in Sociology), the Faculté Libre de Théologie Réformée (Aix en Provence, France) and the Faculté de Théologie (Vaux sur Seine, France) where he completed his DEA. He continued Doctoral studies in Missiology at the International Baptist Theological Seminary in Prague.

Terry is also Adjunct Professor at Tyndale University College and Seminary. His courses include Global Christianity, Church & Culture and Work, Ministry and Vocation.

Rev. Gordon King, Director, The Sharing Way (CBM’s relief and development department)

Gordon King became The Director of The Sharing Way in 2005 after being the Director of Support services for over 3 years. Gord brings passion and dedication to The Sharing Way as he works on behalf of the poor. He has had the privilege of working with CBM partners in a number of countries including Kenya, Rwanda, El Salvador and Bolivia.

Before Gord came to work for CBM, he was the Director of Corporate Development at World Vision Canada. Previously, Gord has served as a member of the Federal Government’s Immigration and Refugee Board, and has worked with the Bolivian Baptist Union as a CBM missionary teaching at the seminary in Cochabamba.

Gord has a background in both education and theology. He has his M. Div. from Acadia and his M.Th. from Princeton.

Sharlene Craig, Director, Member Care and Human Resources

Sharlene joined CBM in 2005. In her role as Director, Sharlene is responsible for the well-being and care of all CBM overseas and office staff. She provides leadership in the development, delivery, and provision of a full range of human resource functions and services.

Sharlene has a strong background in social work where she focused on mental health and medical social work issues. She comes from Edmonton, Alberta where she was the leader of the Social Work Department at the University of Alberta Hospital. There she coordinated the orientation and certification for health care staff. She was also an educator in the Edmonton Regional Patient Concerns Department where she often handled difficult issues.

Jennifer Lau, Director, Communications and Resource Development

In her role as Director, Jennifer is responsible for managing the strategy and direction for all of CBM’s endeavors which relate to the educating and resourcing of Canadian Baptist churches across the country. She is also responsible for managing CBM’s fundraising efforts and church and donor relations. Jennifer created CBM’s quarterly magazine, mosaic, and continues to serve as its Managing Editor.

Prior to joining CBM in 2002, she worked as the Manager of Communications and Public Relations at the Yee Hong Community Development Foundation in Scarborough where she helped run several major special events and develop media relations for the organization. Previous to that experience, Jennifer worked for several years in the film and television industry in the United States, in project development and public relations.

Rob Jackett, Director of Administrative Services

Photo and Biography coming soon.