Burnett accepts NAMB post

Bret Burnett, senior pastor of Mountain View Baptist Church, Tucson, and Arizona Southern Baptist Convention president, is Arizona’s newest North American Mission Board church planting catalyst apprentice.

He began serving Jan. 1 as the resource person for church planting in Catalina and Cochise associations in southeastern Arizona. Burnett succeeds John Guillott, who is retiring from his church planting catalyst role but continuing in his other positions as director of evangelism/missions for Catalina Association and pastor of Green Valley Baptist Church, Green Valley.

While adding the church planting catalyst position, Burnett is continuing as senior pastor of Mountain View. However, Mark Coppola joined the Mountain View staff as executive pastor Jan. 1, relieving Burnett of some responsibilities, including daily administration.

Burnett said he has a love for church planting.

“I came to Arizona almost 25 years ago as a church planter in Yuma, and I have been involved in church planting ever since both at the associational and state levels,” he said. “I have also led the churches I have pastored to be church planting churches. Currently Mountain View is the sending church for two plants, one in Las Vegas and one here in Tucson.”

For the first year, Burnett will be a church planting catalyst “apprentice” and will be supervised by Monty Patton, Phoenix-Tucson Send City missionary. Because he will not be supervised directly by AZSBC staff, as are the church planting catalysts, he will be able to fulfill his term as AZSBC president.