DALLAS (BP) — People wanted to see it, hold it, smile for the camera alongside its famous namesake. Not many people have their own, especially Southern Baptist Convention officers.
This is not a verified statement, but SBC Registration Secretary Don Currence might be the only SBC officer in history to be presented one on the annual meeting stage.
The Don Currence limited edition bobblehead, that is.
“In honor of Don Currence’s longstanding service, one of our vendors has provided free of charge a Don Currence bobblehead,” Jeff Iorg, president and CEO of the SBC Executive Committee said in the surprise presentation following Currence’s seventh election to the post. “Congratulations.”
Thunderous applause roared from the more than 10,000 messengers as Currence accepted the bobblehead. Was lightning next, as it often precedes the arrival of superheroes?
“I’m so honored. It seems unreal. I mean, honestly, it’s unreal, but I’m so honored. I mean, have you been in the (meeting) hall, how they treat me when I come up and everything?” Currence remarked to Baptist Press after the meeting.
North American Mission Board President Kevin Ezell thought of having a bobblehead designed for Currence following the extended applause the registration secretary received each time he stepped to the microphone at the 2024 SBC Annual Meeting in Indianapolis, NAMB spokesperson Mike Ebert told Baptist Press.
“It was a small way to express appreciation for a very faithful servant,” Ezell said.
In turn Steve Williams, owner of Proforma Signature Marketing that handles a lot of NAMB-branded merchandise, offered to produce the bobblehead at no cost to NAMB or anyone in the SBC.
Williams is aware of Southern Baptist messengers’ concern that Cooperative Program dollars be spent for causes related to the Great Commission, he told Baptist Press. He saw a way to support a concern he believes is legitimate.
“I said I feel like this is something we want to do for you guys,” Williams recalled telling NAMB regarding the cost of producing the bobblehead, with only 100 requested. “We worked with the manufacturer and I just said, ‘You’re just going to bill us for this. You’re not going to bill NAMB or the SBC, or anything like that.’”
Williams appreciated the opportunity to meet Currence this year in the SBC Exhibit Hall and to support the SBC, he said. He has attended annual meetings for five years, helping NAMB unload trucks and set up booths.
“We just feel like life’s too short for it to be about enriching ourselves,” he said of Proforma Signature Marketing. Life’s about “working towards glorifying Him and the Kingdom.
“And so, we feel like most of our clients are a part of a ministry and we want to be good stewards of the money they get donated to them.”
While NAMB wanted to surprise Currence with the bobblehead, they had to let him in on the deal, asking him to keep it a secret until the reveal.
Last summer, Currence got a call from NAMB’s creative department asking him to don a suit and tie, take photographs from four angles. NAMB’s Creative Director Shawn Elledge consulted on the design and Robbie Caesar, NAMB’s director of marketing strategy and operations, played a key part in coordinating the project, Ebert said.
Currence thought it was a joke at first. Photos were necessary to create a 3-D design and Williams said several iterations of the bobblehead were produced before they settled on the perfect one. It’s an unmistakable miniature Currence, all smiles in a black suit, cream shirt and sand tie, sporting a red mayoral banner and standing boldly with arms resting at his sides.
Currence might be seen as a superhero. While the SBC calls him registration secretary, the town of Ozark, Mo., population around 23,000, calls him mayor, an office he was elected to in April 2023. First Baptist Church of Ozark calls him administrative pastor. He volunteers as the chaplain for the local police departments, and has competitively lifted weights, at one time holding titles in five categories in his weight division in Missouri. He still lifts weights three days a week – alternating bench lifts, dead lifts and power lifts – but as mayor, no longer has time to put in the training to compete.
“But as I talk to people they say, ‘Don, you’re just one of us. You’re just who you are. And you’re very good natured,’” Currence told Baptist Press. “And they say, ‘Plus, you’re just a unifying force,’ which I’m honored for that.”
Fewer than 100 people were able to snag one of the cherished bobbleheads, but anytime you want to see it, stop by the Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives (SBHLA) in Nashville.
“Don Currence has served the Southern Baptist Convention joyfully as registration secretary for several years. We are grateful he chose to have a bobblehead preserved in our collection,” Taffey Hall, SBHLA director and archivist, told Baptist Press.
“The item has been accessioned into our holdings as artifact call number 016-001 and preserved in an acid-free box,” she said.