GLENDALE, Ariz. — Monty Patton, associate executive director of the Arizona Mission Network (AZMN) of Southern Baptists, has been named executive director.

In a special-called meeting at First Southern Baptist Church at Sahuaro Ranch, Glendale, July 24, messengers voted 206-4 to approve Patton as executive director. He had been unanimously recommended by a search team and unanimously elected by the Convention Council on June 28.

Patton succeeds David Johnson, AZMN executive director since 2013, who announced in March his intention to retire after the election of his successor. Then, in early May, Gateway Seminary trustees approved Johnson as director of the school’s doctor of ministry program and professor of leadership formation. At that time, Johnson said he would start the new position this fall but he still planned to continue in his present position until his successor was elected.

In a question-and-answer session with AZMN president and search committee chairman Mark Mucklow, pastor of First Southern, Glendale, Patton shared his background, calling and vision.

He moved to Arizona in 1996 to plant Mountain Ridge Baptist Church in Glendale, which partnered with other churches in 22 church plants during his 22 years as pastor. For about four years while serving as pastor of Mountain Ridge, he also worked part time with the North American Mission Board (NAMB) as the Send City missionary for Phoenix. He resigned from Mountain Ridge in 2017 to continue as the Send City missionary in a full-time capacity.

In 2020, Patton became director of NAMB’s Send Network Arizona, with New Mexico added to his territory later. He held this post until joining the AZMN staff in 2023 as associate executive director.

Prior to moving to Arizona, Patton was pastor of churches in Oklahoma and Missouri.

He holds a bachelor of arts degree from Oklahoma Baptist University, master of Christian education degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and a doctor of ministry degree from Trinity Theological Seminary.

Patton presented a new vision for the Arizona Mission Network centered around four questions that relate to churches of all sizes and stages of health as well as to individuals. The answers lead us “to be aware of what the Great Commission has told us to do,” he said.

1. Who’s Your One?

“The North American Mission Board did a great job pushing that out as an initiative, and it resonated with me, because … all of us should have someone that we’re praying for, investing in, loving and praying that they would come to the kingdom,” he said.

2. Who’s Your Next?

Whether you’re a Sunday School teacher, deacon, elder or pastor, Patton said, “Every one of us should have a next person that we’re investing in.”

It’s becoming harder to bring in church planters and pastors from other states, he said. “We’ve got to raise up people from Arizona that understand Arizona culture.”

3. Where’s Your Next?

All of us need to be on mission, and that includes asking where the next place is we are going to invest in, he said.

“Where in our community is a church that is struggling that we can come alongside?” he asked. “Where is a church that needs revitalization or replanting? Where is an area that is underserved and needs to plant, and where is it internationally? We need the Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the uttermost parts of the world.”

4. How Can You Help?

Patton cited 1 Corinthians 12:6: “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.”

Out of humility, you could go to a struggling church and ask how you could serve and invest in it, he said. On the other side, a pastor in a church that is struggling or has a need or lacks expertise in an area could, out of humility, go to a church that is doing well and ask, “Can you help us with that?”

Patton told the messengers he was one of the final three candidates when Johnson was called as executive director. While acknowledging the sovereignty of God in the outcome, he said he concluded “there’s either a character issue or a competency issue” that kept him from being selected.

“So, I asked David to kind of disciple me and … talk to me through this,” he said. “That’s … led (to) him pouring into my life over the last 12 years.”

While serving as director of Send Network Arizona, Patton said he finally understood why God did not want him in the executive director position previously.

“The Father told me … it’s because I did not love Arizona,” he said. “I loved Phoenix. I did not love Arizona.”

But as he traveled throughout the state in his Send Network Arizona role, he said, “I began to just fall in love with this state, all areas of this state. And we have some wonderful areas of this state … (where) pastors are leading so well and multiplying and sharing the Gospel, and people are being baptized all over the place, and the Father just gave me a love for this place.”

After the overwhelmingly positive vote for Patton was announced, Johnson presented a shepherd’s staff to him “as a symbol of the responsibility that you’ve been entrusted with today.” Citing 1 Peter 5:2, he said, “While you’re not the pastor or the bishop of the churches, you have been chosen to lead this network of churches to accomplish the mission that God has given us by casting vision, inspiring evangelism and church planting, influencing pastors and calling people out to be on mission.”

Johnson also presented Patton with a Cooperative Program lapel pin “as a symbol that you are the face of the Cooperative Program, not just to promote and represent,” he said, “but to advocate for our missionaries, church planters, seminary students and ministries here in Arizona and around the world.

“I don’t want to be too dramatic, but they are counting on you and they’re counting on our churches to give generously, pray faithfully and send sacrificially for the sake of reaching people with the gospel around our state and to the uttermost parts of the world. Wear it as a reminder of the churches, that the churches of our convention are the backbone of this great work that God has given us.”

Steve Bass, executive director prior to Johnson, with his wife, Dottie, at his side, led in a prayer of dedication. Before the prayer, with Patton and his wife, Nancy, standing beside them, Bass said, “We have a state to win. We have disciples to be made. We have missionaries to be trained and sent out. We need you.

“David Johnson and I are going to be your two best followers. We’re going to pray for you, because not only fulfilling God’s mission is an issue of leadership, but it’s an issue of followship. Followers make great leaders, and I want to be one of your best followers.”

Before the conclusion of the meeting, Patton presented gifts to Johnson on behalf of the AZMN Executive Team in recognition of his years of service. Afterward, messengers and guests expressed their appreciation to Johnson and his wife, Diana, during a reception.

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Elizabeth Young is director of communications for the Arizona Mission Network.)