(Editor’s Note: This story has been updated since being published in our May issue.)
Elections at next month’s Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Anaheim, Calif., will feature four candidates with current or previous ties to South Carolina — a first, at least in recent memory.
Alex Sands, a former South Carolina Baptist Convention president and pastor of Simpsonville’s Kingdom Life Church, has announced his candidacy for SBC second vice president. He will be nominated by Josh Powell, pastor of Taylors First Baptist and also a former SCBC president.
“Alex represents the best of who we are as Southern Baptists, and I cannot commend him enough,” Powell said. “Alex is committed to his family, his church and the fulfillment of the Great Commission in every area of his life. He has served faithfully in our convention life.”
Sands was the first African-American to lead the SCBC when he served as president in 2021. “He planted Kingdom Life in 2003 with a dozen members,” Powell said, “and the church has steadily grown to over 500 members of different races, generations, and walks of life.”
Kingdom Life reported giving $41,980 through the Cooperative Program last year from undesignated receipts of $958,424, or 4.38 percent, according to Annual Church Profile statistics.
Sands holds a Master of Divinity from Gardner-Webb University; bachelor’s and master’s degrees in industrial and systems engineering from North Carolina State University and Georgia Institute of Technology, respectively; and an honorary Doctor of Divinity from North Greenville University.
As of April 19, there were no other announced candidates for the second vice president post. California Southern Baptist Convention President Victor Chayasirisobhon will be nominated for first vice president. He has been pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Anaheim since 2005 and is associational mission strategist for the Orange County Baptist Association.
Nathan Finn, provost at North Greenville University, will be nominated for SBC recording secretary by David Sons, pastor of Lake Murray Baptist Church in Lexington and a member of the SBC Executive Committee.
“I’m honored to nominate my friend and fellow @SCBaptist @nathanafinn for SBC Recording Secretary in Anaheim,” Sons tweeted. “I have no doubt, if elected, he will serve our convention of churches faithfully.”
In addition to his service on the 2021 Committee on Resolutions, Finn has served on the Historical Committee for the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, as a member of the board of directors of the Biblical Recorder, and is presently an adviser to the SBC Executive Committee Resolutions Task Force.
Prior to joining the NGU faculty in 2018, Finn was dean of the School of Theology and Missions and professor of theological studies at Union University in Jackson, Tenn., and taught church history at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He has contributed to and authored several books and academic works, including “The Baptist Story” and “Historical Theology for the Church.”
Finn is a member of Mountain Creek Baptist Church in Greenville. According to ACP data, the church averages 182 in worship and gave $56,034 (9.2 percent) of its undesignated receipts of $606,270 through the Cooperative Program last year.
Finn holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Brewton-Parker College and both an M.Div. and Ph.D. from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.
He will be running against an Alabama pastor, David Roach, who has past ties to Anderson University, and a Georgia pastor, Javier Chavez, for the recording secretary role.
Roach has served as senior pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church in Saraland, Ala., since 2020. Previously, he has taught at Anderson University, Union University, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.
From 1999-2002 Roach was an intern for SBC Convention Relations before contributing to Baptist Press from 2003 to the present. From 2014-2019, he was BP’s chief national correspondent. He holds both an M.Div. and Ph.D. from Southern Seminary and a bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University.
Chavez, pastor of Amistad Cristiana Church in Gainesville, is a native of Peru who earned master’s and doctoral degrees from Wheaton College and Biola University.
He served on the 2018 SBC Committee on Committees, was 2019-2020 second vice president for the Georgia Baptist Convention, and currently is a member of the GBC Executive Committee. He also is a steering council member of the Conservative Baptist Network.
Daniel Dickard, a native of Anderson, who now serves as pastor of Friendly Avenue Baptist Church in Greensboro, N.C., will be a candidate for president of the SBC Pastors Conference. He will be nominated by Jordan Easley, senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Cleveland, Tenn.
Dickard is a graduate of North Greenville University and received his M.Div. and Ph.D. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. During and after his studies at Southwestern, Dickard served as instructor of preaching and dean of students before joining Friendly Avenue in 2018.
According to Annual Church Profile reports, Friendly Avenue had 601 members in 2021 and gave $162,630 — 11.1 percent of undesignated receipts — through the Cooperative Program.
“My vision for the Southern Baptist Convention Pastors Conference would be to highlight a wide swath of faithful SBC pastors, regardless of church size, age, shape, and geographical scope, as we focus on the idea that character matters in ministry,” said Dickard, whose father, Wayne Dickard, is the retired pastor of Siloam Baptist Church in Easley and a former SCBC president.
Dickard is expected to run against Voddie Baucham, dean of theology at African Christian University in Lusaka, Zambia, according to a story published at the Daily Wire, a conservative news site. Baucham serves on the board of Founders Ministries and is a member of the Conservative Baptist Network steering council.
Baucham, founding pastor of Grace Family Baptist Church in Spring, Texas, is currently a member of Kabwata Baptist Church in Zambia. Neither the university where Baucham now serves nor the church where he is a member is Southern Baptist. It is unclear, however, whether being Southern Baptist precludes his nomination since there are no organizing documents for the Pastors Conference.
Baucham holds a B.A. degree from Houston Baptist University, an M.Div. degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a D.MIn. degree from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.
CANDIDATES FOR PRESIDENT
The Anaheim annual meeting will also feature a three-way race between Tom Ascol, Robin Hadaway and Bart Barber for SBC president.
Ascol has been pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Cape Coral, Fla., since 1986. He is most widely known for his work as president of Founders Ministries, an organization he helped start in 1982 that is “committed to encouraging the recovery of the gospel and the biblical reformation of local churches.” In 2012-13, he was a member of a Calvinism Advisory Committee.
He is a graduate of Texas A&M and received his M.Div. and doctorate from Southwestern Seminary.
Hadaway is a former International Mission Board missionary who began his ministry career serving as a pastor in California and Arizona. He was involved in church planting in Tanzania, starting churches among unreached peoples in Northern Africa and directing church planting efforts in South America. During his stint in South America, Hadaway served as an IMB regional leader, leading more than 300 missionaries.
Following his service with IMB, he spent nearly two decades at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary as a professor of missions and serving in a variety of administrative roles. He is a member of New Song Community Church in Oceanside, Calif.
Hadaway is a graduate of the University of Memphis, has an M.Div. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and D.Min. from Gateway Seminary, as well as a D.Th. from the University of South Africa.
Barber, pastor of First Baptist Church, Farmersville, Texas, will serve as chairman of the SBC’s Committee on Resolutions in Anaheim. He also served on the committee in 2021, preached at the SBC Pastors Conference in 2017, served as first vice president of the SBC from 2013 through 2014, served on the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention executive board, served as a trustee for Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and served on the SBC Committee on Committees.
Barber is a graduate of Baylor University and has an M.Div. and Ph.D. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Willy Rice, pastor of Calvary Church in Clearwater, Fla., has withdrawn his nomination, following a release from him on April 1 containing what he called “sensitive information” concerning a deacon.
— Compiled from BP reports.