By Morgan Mizell

NATCHEZ — The Rev. Doug Broome, the senior pastor at First Baptist Church in Natchez was nominated and elected as the President of the Mississippi Baptist Convention in October of this past year.

The roots of Baptists in Mississippi run deep in this area. Natchez and Woodville are essentially the birthplace of the state’s Baptist religion, Broome said.

“This area is where Mississippi Baptist began,” Broome said. “Essentially for this geographical area, Southwest Mississippi, we are the birthplace, and if you want to know about the history of Baptists in the state, you can travel to Jefferson County and read the markers that were placed there telling the story.”

Currently Mississippi has more than 21,000 Baptist churches in all 82 counties. There are more than 700,000 Baptists in Mississippi.

Broome, while seasoned as a pastor, is not new to the rigors of serving on the Convention Board.

“For the past two years I served as the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board,” Doug Broome said. “I have done many things for them but now I will have more oversight as I will be working very closely with out executive director, Dr. Jim Futreal.”

Broome began his journey to this position of service more than thirty years ago when he began pastoring.

“I started serving as a pastor in 1983,” Dr. Broome said. “I served in part time positions during my educational years. In this time, I served at different times as an interim pastor and working with youth.”

After he finished school he went into his first position immediately.

“I graduated with my Master’s degree from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in 1983 and went to work, full-time as the senior pastor at a church in Brookhaven, Mississippi,” Dr. Broome said. “I was there for three years and then I moved to Waynesboro, Mississippi for fifteen years. I then went to a church in Yazoo City, Mississippi for seven years and now I have been in Natchez these past eight years.”

Dr. Broome also holds a Doctorate from the same university in New Orleans, Louisiana. His positions at different churches in Mississippi have kept him, for the most part, in the southern part of the state and eventually brought him back home.

“I was born here in Natchez and we moved when I was just a baby,” Dr. Broome said. “I thought it was unique that the Lord would allow me to come back and serve in the city where I was born.”

Dr. Broome did not receive his calling to ministry at a young age. In fact, he was in dentistry before he decided to go to seminary.

“I was actually working at the Mississippi School of Dentistry when I felt called,” Dr. Broome said. “I really had a general dissatisfaction with church at the time because I did not feel it was really relevant to daily life and it was just something that I did and was not an important part of who I was; however, I recognized it should be important in my life and I felt God leading me into the ministry though that dissatisfaction I was having.”

Dr. Broome believed, as did his peers, the sermons in church should be relevant to daily life and that is what his journey into ministry was about – being impactful.

His intention has always been to preach sermons that were designed to address practical issues of daily life. He did not only want to help others understand what the Bible said, but what the Bible was saying.

He has served the Mississippi Baptist Convention in various capacities and he did not seek out the position of President, but there were those across the state who thought he would be great for the job.

“There were people who thought I had been set aside for this position,” Dr. Broome said. “After prayerful thought and consideration, I allowed my name to be nominated and I was elected without opposition.”

His term in office is one year with the possibility of an additional year if re-elected.

Dr. Broome does have some goals he would like to accomplish while in office.

“One thing I hope to do is bridge the generational gap between younger and older ministers,” Dr. Broome said. “I want to see the young ministers play a more active role in Mississippi Baptist life as we seek to share the Gospel both locally and globally.”

The Mississippi Baptist Convention owns and operates three colleges as well as the Baptist Health Care System. The colleges are Blue Mountain College, Mississippi College and William Carey University and there are several hospitals and clinics across the state under their system.

“I just want to be sensitive to the needs of Baptist’s across the state,” Dr. Broome said. “I want to show them support and minister to them and with them.”

While he has already seen an increase in travel and time management in his life, he hopes to maintain balance in his life as he pastors his church and perform the duties required of him in his new position as well.

The position of president is as high as someone can go in the convention. Dr. Broome said he has no idea what God has in store for him and so he will remain open to whatever he is called to do in the future.