Josh Powell, lead pastor of Taylors First Baptist Church in Taylors, S.C., was defeated by Florida pastor Wiley Rice in the presidential election during the Wednesday afternoon session of the 2026 Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting in Orlando, Fla.
Rice, senior pastor at Calvary Church in Clearwater, won by a ballot vote of 5,217 (57.56 percent) to 3,821 (42.16 percent) and will preside next year when the SBC Annual Meeting is held in Indianapolis, Ind. Rice ran on a platform emphasisizing his hope for renewing the message and the mission of the Convention.
Before coming to Calvary, Rice pastored churches in Florida and Alabama. He is a graduate of Samford University in Birmingham, Ala., and has an M.Div. and a D.Min. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.
He served as president of the Florida Baptist Convention from 2006–2008, and he served as president of the SBC Pastors’ Conference in 2015. He has also served as chairman of the SBC Committee on Committees (2010), chairman of the SBC Committee on Nominations (2016), and president of the Florida Baptist Convention Pastors’ Conference (2004). Rice also was a trustee for the North American Mission Board from 2018–2022.
