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Keith Collier elected as TEXAN’s editor


GRAPEVINE, Texas (BP) — The Southern Baptists of Texas Convention’s Executive Board has elected Keith Collier as communications associate and editor of the SBTC’s Southern Baptist TEXAN newsjournal.

Collier has served since 2007 as director of news and information at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, managing the writing team in the communications office and serving as editor of Southwestern News magazine, The Scroll and other publications. Collier’s writing has appeared in Baptist Press, International Mission Board publications and numerous newspapers.

Collier succeeds Jerry Pierce, who has accepted a position with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association as editor of Decision magazine. Pierce served with the TEXAN for 10 years.

The SBTC was formed in 1998 and initially published the TEXAN in 2002. Since that time it has grown to more than 42,000 subscribers, ranking as the fourth-largest state Baptist publication in the Southern Baptist Convention.

Collier earned a master of divinity degree at Southwestern in 2010 and is completing a Ph.D. in preaching and church history at Southwestern. He earned an undergraduate degree in communication from Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas, in 1999.

He and his wife Amy have two sons and a daughter and are members of Normandale Baptist Church in Fort Worth. Called to the ministry at 19, Collier has served as a youth pastor in Bridge City, associate pastor and church planter in Superior, Colo., and supply preacher in addition to teaching church history and preaching as a teaching assistant at Southwestern.

In his new role as communications associate beginning mid-August, Collier will serve as editor of the monthly TEXAN newsjournal and as managing editor of TEXAN Digital, the SBTC’s twice-monthly electronic magazine.

In introducing Collier to the board, Gary Ledbetter, communications director and TEXAN editor in chief, said Collier fits the profile of an editor with strong newswriting skills, praising his tenure at Southwestern Seminary. “Keith Collier is already doing well at Southwestern the ministry we need an editor to do at SBTC,” Ledbetter said.

Board member Scott Moody of Silsbee spoke well of the new editor’s father, Bill Collier, pastor of Liberty Baptist Church in Bridge City, as an indicator of a good upbringing.

Collier also drew praise from Thomas White, president of Cedarville University in Cedarville, Ohio, and former vice president of communications at Southwestern.

White noted Collier’s desire to “please the Lord in all he does” and his devotion as a husband and father, adding, “He writes well and edits well, but Keith brings the intangible of understanding how to write with an eternal perspective that demonstrates the importance of the Gospel, and I think this skill will serve you well.”

Missouri Pathway associate editor Benjamin Hawkins referenced working under Collier while at Southwestern, stating he is “theologically well-informed, believes wholeheartedly in the inerrancy of Scripture, and wants God’s Word to transform both his life and the lives of those with whom he interacts.”

Weston Nichols, his former pastor at Liberty Baptist in Bridge City and the Denver area church plant, said Collier is “a man of exceptional integrity and admirable work ethic,” with “a tremendous heart for people” and “love for God in his daily actions.”
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Reported by the staff of the Southern Baptist TEXAN.

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