Vestal to lead new center for Baptist leadership at Mercer

By Shelia M. Poole

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Daniel Vestal has been named director of the new Eula Mae and John Baugh Center for Baptist Leadership at Mercer University.

The center is being endowed with a $2.5 million grant from the Eula Mae and John Baugh Foundation. Vestal will also serve as distinguished university professor.

Vestal is the longtime executive coordinator of  the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.  His Mercer appointments are effective July 1.

The Baugh Center will  promote research and learning in Baptist history, theology, ethics and missiology, partnering several organizations including Mercer’s James and Carolyn McAfee School of Theology, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, the American Baptist Historical Society and Mercer’s Center for Theology and Public Life . The center will initiate a doctoral program in religion focused on Baptist studies.