BRENTWOOD, Tenn. — In his first trustee meeting as interim president of Lifeway Christian Resources, Joe Walker made clear the next leader would be taking over a strong organization.
“The next Lifeway president will inherit a healthy organization from both a financial and cultural perspective,” Walker told trustees. He noted Lifeway’s growth trajectory along with a strong bottom line, healthy reserves, no debt and no significant operational issues.
“If Lifeway comes into another season of financial distress or financial downturn, we can make decisions quickly to address that,” Walker said. “But the culture of an organization is really hard to bring back if you lose it.” He explained numerous changes that have shored up the cultural aspects, one of which was an emphasis on serving local churches. “If it’s not for the churches, Lifeway would not need to exist,” he said.
To highlight the financial security, Walker had several leaders from across Lifeway share areas of growth, new opportunities and long-term stability through economic uncertainty.
Ministry updates
Becky Loyd, vice president of go-to-market strategy, and Neftali Alverio, vice president of technology and digital innovation, spoke about plans for the new LifewayWorship.com. Loyd said Lifeway conducted 14 listening sessions across 11 states. “What we heard was consistent and clear: LifewayWorship.com is a trusted resource. It offers singable arrangements, reliable content and practical support for churches of all sizes,” she said. “Leaders told us it’s not just helpful – it’s essential.”
Loyd also said the organization is actively searching for the next leader of Lifeway Worship.
Alverio shared a sneak peek at plans for the new, enhanced website. The goal is to offer improvements that incorporate what the organization has learned through changes at Lifeway.com but also retain what customers have appreciated most about the worship site. “We want to come alongside worship leaders, not only through offering songs, but as a partner in their ministry,” he said.
Brad Barnett, director of camps ministry, told trustees that Lifeway camps saw their fifth consecutive year of growth. In 2025, Lifeway hosted 120,800 participants from 4,200 churches at one of the organization’s camps. Lifeway is home to Centrifuge, MFuge, CentriKid, Student Life Camp and Student Life Kids Camp. Among those who attended, Lifeway is aware of more than 5,100 salvations and 900 significant milestone decisions made. Additionally, through MFuge camps, more than 20,000 students served at 525 mission sites, contributing almost 200,000 hours of community service to local ministry partners.
Because of the sustained growth, Lifeway held camps at eight new locations in 2025, including in Indiana and Oregon. In 2026, the organization will continue serving each of the previous locations, as well as adding four new locations, one each in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas and South Carolina. “Right now, we already have more campers signed up for 2026 than we served in all of 2025,” Barnett said.
Chuck Peters, director of Lifeway’s NextGen Ministry, detailed the success story of Vacation Bible School at Lifeway. He explained VBS has been an area of sustained, year-over-year growth since 2020.
Based on the most recent SBC Annual Church Profile, 2.3 million individuals participated in VBS at 24,000 churches with 67,000 salvation decisions. “VBS is the most evangelistic outreach that most churches will ever do,” Peters said.
The past two years of VBS materials have incorporated the latest research about how best to communicate biblical truth with younger generations. Each have addressed cultural misunderstandings surrounding biblical truth. Next year’s VBS, “Illumination Station,” will offer a biblical picture of Jesus in contrast to how He is often presented. “Lifeway celebrated 100 years of ministry through VBS last year,” Peters said, “but it has always been a cutting-edge resource from Day 1 to Day 1 of Year 101.”
Trustees also heard updates from specific ministry areas of Lifeway, including continued positive trends for Hyfi, the new next-gen curriculum line, progress on a new ministry tool called DisciplesPath, the reimagining of men’s ministry resources, and enhancements to the Lifeway On Demand app.
Budget approval
Trustees approved a $307 million budget for the 2026 fiscal year, $12 million below last year’s budget of $319.4 million. Cossy Pachares, senior vice president and chief financial officer, said the organization will likely fall slightly short of its 2025 fiscal year revenue budget but should end the year with a positive bottom line.
New president search
As the full board of trustees gathered during the two-day meeting, those members on Lifeway’s presidential search committee also met. Chair of the search committee, Billy Stewart said they were in the information gathering phase of the process. “We’ve already received valuable feedback from both employees and trustees and are using that feedback to help build a comprehensive candidate profile,” he said. Earlier this month, Lifeway employees and trustees were asked to complete a questionnaire about potential characteristics of the next president.
Stewart said the committee was working toward the next steps in the process. “We solicit the prayers of the entire Southern Baptist family for the Lord’s guidance as we begin efforts to identify and recommend Lifeway’s 11th President and CEO,” he said.
Other business
During the two-day meeting, trustees approved changes to Lifeway’s bylaws regarding standing committees that Chairman James Carroll said would strengthen engagement among board members.
Walker noted two motions from the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting had been referred to Lifeway, one on publishing material for homeschoolers and another on elevating qualified biblical leaders from diverse backgrounds. He said Lifeway had already been addressing both of those areas but will have formal proposals for trustees to consider at the next meeting in January.
The board welcomed five new trustees who began their terms in June: Christopher Cali of Clay, New York; Jeff Dowdy, High Point, North Carolina; Ellen Hembree, Fredericksburg, Virginia; Tyler Joyner, Roswell, Georgia; and Macy White of Cumming, Georgia.