ATLANTA – Colleen Burroughs wasn't sure how willing she was to accept the nomination of moderator-elect for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship when she was first asked to consider the position. 

“It's much easier to have an opinion about how someone else should lead than it is to actually lead yourself ‒ especially a group of Baptists,” she said.

After significant prayer and conversation with a few people, Colleen decided to say “yes” to the nomination because she's committed to the future of the CBF. She has been nominated to serve as moderator in 2011-12.

Colleen is the vice president of Passport, Inc., a Birmingham-based non-profit she began with her husband David while they were in seminary. Passport is now an international student ministry that has hosted more than 75,000 campers over the past 18 years.

“CBF is the Baptist home where David and I have intentionally chosen to live and work and raise our children,” she said. “Passport was birthed out of the Florida CBF and founded on both the freedom to welcome anyone who wanted to join us and the theological conviction that women could be called to preach. Now, though multiple protestant traditions join us at camp, David and I personally choose to be committed Cooperative Fellowship Baptists. It is not because we have to, but because we resonate with CBF's specific theological voice. It is a Baptist voice that is vitally needed in the world and one which offers a philosophy of missions that is long overdue.”

“Colleen brings extraordinary gifts of vision, passion, insight, and commitment to this position of leadership and service,” said current CBF moderator Hal Bass, a professor at Ouachita Baptist University. “She is extremely well-informed about CBF missions and ministries, and she is well-connected across our broader Fellowship movement. I am delighted that she has accepted the nomination.”

Colleen sees three areas of priority for the Fellowship in the near future.

“First, CBF needs to be crystal clear about our identity. I believe there are diverse populations of people and churches who would be drawn to it,” she said. “We all need to build a Baptist home together so our children can grow up with a broader picture of the family of God. The diversity would further inform our identity and strengthen our effectiveness as Christians living and working together in a global community.”

“Secondly, CBF is working on more thoughtful and intentional collaboration with states, regions and partners,” she said. “We all need to focus our energy, ideas and resources more practically if we are serious about investing in the next generation.”

And thirdly, I hope CBF will be scandalously gracious in sharing a thoughtful gospel - not just in a world without borders, but more noticeably with each other.”

In addition to her work with Passport, Colleen is the founder of Watering Malawi, a ministry advocating long-term solutions to poverty and hunger through access to clean water, sanitation and simple irrigation in the country of Malawi. Her interest in that African nation is not surprising since she grew up as a missionary kid in Kenya, Malawi, Zimbabwe and Bophuthatswana.

Colleen holds a degree in fine art from the University of Alabama and a master of divinity degree in pastoral care and counseling from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. She received both the John Knox Press and Clyde T. Francisco preaching awards.

As the state representative for Alabama on the CBF Coordinating Council, Colleen has served for two years as the chair of the finance committee. Colleen and David live in Birmingham, Ala., with their twins, Milligan and Walker.

CBF is a fellowship of Baptist Christians and churches who share a passion for the Great Commission and a commitment to Baptist principles of faith and practice. The Fellowship’s mission is to serve Christians and churches as they discover and fulfill their God-given mission.