When SBC president Bobby Welch declared Frank Page the president-elect of the Southern Baptist Convention, he reminded messengers that despite the South Carolina pastor’s narrow majority victory in the three-man race, he believes Page will be a convention president who will represent all Southern Baptists.
Page received 4,546 votes, or 50.48 percent, of the 9,005 votes cast. Ronnie Floyd of Arkansas and Jerry Sutton of Tennessee split the remaining votes almost evenly, with Floyd receiving 2,247 votes (24.95 percent) and Sutton garnering 2,168 votes (24.08 percent). Forty-four ballots (0.49 percent) were disallowed by the convention’s tellers, according to convention registration secretary Jim Wells, who announced the results from the podium.
Following Wells’ reading of the election results, Welch told those gathered in the Greensboro Coliseum, “Any president who receives a vote as close as we’ve had just now will always be careful, as I’m certain Dr. Page will, that even if it’s just a quarter of a percent difference, or half a percent, they are still president of the entire Southern Baptist Convention.
“This convention is still on the quest for a unity of purpose for the sake of souls in the kingdom of God, so, as we pray, let us encourage them that way.”
Page said in announcing his candidacy that the election of the denomination’s next president should be be “primarily about methodology … how we do missions and how we do convention work.”
Page has served as pastor of Taylors First Baptist for the past five years.
He grew up in Greensboro, N.C., and graduated from Gardner-Webb University and Southwestern Baptist Seminary, where he earned master of divinity and Ph.D. degrees. He held previous pastorates in Texas, North Carolina and Georgia. His books include “Trouble with the Tulip,” a critical examination of the five points of Calvinism.
Page served twice on the resolutions committee of the Southern Baptist Convention and is a member of the Executive Board of the South Carolina Baptist Convention.
Page, who earned his doctorate at the age of 28, has been an adjunct faculty member at Southwestern, teaching Christian ethics from 1976-80 and personal evangelism from 1987-91. He also was an adjunct faculty member in pastoral ministry at Southeastern Baptist Seminary’s extension center in Augusta, Ga.
He and his wife Dayle have three grown daughters.