Three to vie for SBC presidency in June

As The Courier went to press, the names of three pastors were to be placed into nomination for president of the Southern Baptist Convention at the denomination’s annual meeting June 14-15 in St. Louis.

They are listed below in the order in which their nominations were announced through Baptist Press. To read lengthier profiles of each nominee, visit BPNews.net and search on “SBC president.”

J.D. Greear

Jimmy Scroggins, pastor of Family Church in West Palm Beach, Fla., will nominate J.D. Greear, pastor of The Summit Church in Raleigh-Durham, N.C.

Summit Church, with nine campuses, has grown from 350 members to just under 10,000 during Greear’s 14-year tenure as pastor. The church has increased its Cooperative Program giving to 2.4 percent and total Great Commission Giving to 13 percent.

Scroggins said, “Believing J.D. Greear is God’s man for the hour who models in his church the best of what a Southern Baptist pastor is all about, I eagerly look forward to placing his name in nomination.”

The church reports that it has “149 people currently with” the International Mission Board and has planted 26 churches in North America. The Summit Church baptized 928 people in 2014.

Greear and his wife, Veronica, have four children. He graduated from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary with M.Div. and Ph.D. degrees.

Steve Gaines

Former SBC president Johnny Hunt will nominate Steve Gaines, pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Cordova, Tenn., for president.

“With such a passionate desire for spiritual revival in our churches and nation, and knowing him to be a man of deep, intense prayer, it brings joy to my heart to nominate Dr. Gaines,” Hunt said.

Bellevue has planted 10 churches, averages 481 baptisms per year, and gives 4.6 percent to the Cooperative Program with total mission giving of 6 percent of undesignated receipts. The church estimates total mission giving will increase to 18 percent next year due to its “Bellevue Loves Memphis” outreach campaign.

Gaines has been the senior pastor for the past 11 years. He previously pastored churches in Alabama, Tennessee and Texas. He holds M.Div. and Ph.D. degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

He and his wife, Donna, have four children and nine grandchildren.

David Crosby

David Crosby, pastor of First Baptist Church, New Orleans, for the last 20 years, will be nominated by former convention president and New Orleans pastor Fred Luter.

Crosby’s church averages 658 in weekly worship and has baptized 24 people each year for the past five years.

The church has averaged 9.5 percent giving through the Cooperative Program over the past five years, and total giving for missions has been at least 22 percent of undesignated receipts. The church currently forwards 7 percent through CP.

Luter said, “I have watched David the last 10 years as he has taken the leadership of all the churches and pastors of our city in helping to rebuild New Orleans [following Hurricane Katrina].”

The church has taken 14 mission trips to Ghana over the past six years.

Crosby has an M.Div. degree from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. degree from Baylor University. He and his wife, Janet, have three children and eight grandchildren.

— From reporting by David Roach, chief national correspondent for Baptist Press.