(Editors’ note: This is an extended version of an interview that was published in the June 2026 edition of The Baptist Courier magazine.)
William (Willy) Rice is from Tampa, Fla., and has been a pastor for 42 years. He’s a fourth generation Florida Baptist on his mother’s side. Rice became a Christian when he was 9 years old at a Saturday night revival meeting at his grandmother’s church. As a kid, he attended First Baptist Church of Indian Rocks, where he was baptized. He spent his middle and high school years at Calvary Baptist Church, where he’s now been the senior pastor for 22 years. Rice received his undergraduate degree from Samford University and his Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry degrees from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He has served as the president of the Florida Baptist Convention Pastors’ Conference (2004), president of the Florida Baptist Convention (2006-2008), chairman of the SBC Committee on Committees (2010), president of the Southern Baptist Convention Pastors’ Conference (2015), and chairman of the SBC Committee on Nominations (2016). He and his wife, Cheryl, have been married for more than 40 years and have three grown children — Amanda, Anna, and Stephen — along with eight grandchildren.
What gave you the desire to go into the SBC presidency?
Mary Margaret, when people began to suggest that, that’s usually what happens. And Josh [Powell] and I have become better friends. We didn’t know each other that well, but we’ve talked frequently. And we’ve encouraged one another and pray for one another. There’s no acrimony between us at all.
We both feel like the Lord is leading us to be willing to serve His people in this way, and we both trust the people, and we both trust in the sovereignty of God, and we’re both going to be fine. It’s an opportunity to serve, and you feel led and called — but at the same time, we trust. It’s good to be able to talk about issues, and then let the people have that choice. For me, when I thought about this and people began to encourage me, I began to ask, “Well, what is it you would like to see happen? What do you want to do?”
And I came up with Seven Pillars of Baptist Renewal. I want to see our Baptist movement flourish and thrive in this century, just as it did in the last. In the 20th century, God used Baptist people to shake our country, and indeed send one of the greatest missionary forces in the history of Christendom out into the globe. And as you know, the Baptist movement grew to be the largest movement of evangelicals in North America. And while there are many, many good things happening, there are also some concerns that if we don’t see some renewed health in some areas, that this century would be a century of diminishing influence and declining impact. And I don’t think any of us want to see that.
There are many, many things we can celebrate, but there are also things that we need to have some honest conversations about, and that we need to be able to pay attention to. So, my heart, my prayer would be, “What is it going to look like to have a Baptist renewal in our time?” What would it look like if in this century — and in our time, and in our generation, in your generation — that we saw a renewal of Baptist work that flourished again in a great way to impact our country? I don’t want to be part of a declining movement. I don’t want to be part of a diminishing impact. I want to be part of what God wants to do. My prayer is for a Baptist renewal, and so I’ve been going around just talking about what I think a Baptist renewal would look like in our time.
What are some of the areas that you think need renewal?
There are antidotes and evidence that I think a lot of people have been concerned about — especially the last decade, it just feels like there’s been a strain and a friction in our fellowship. I describe it as feeling like the seams are being stretched and torn.
But I’ll give you a singular antidote that I’ve been sharing, and that is in 2007-2008 — which is kind of the high-water mark for a lot of our Baptist statistics — the amount of money that flowed from our churches into the Cooperative Program was $548 million. By 2023 and 2024 — 16 years later — that number had dropped to $446 million. It was a drop of $102 million. You don’t have to be a business expert to know when you’ve lost $100 million in 16 years that something is going on. Something that you need to pay attention to, something you need to ask some hard questions about — and something you need to be willing to have some very hard and important conversations about. You can’t just keep going on waving pom-poms and cheerleading and saying everything is great, when it’s a clear signal from our Baptist churches that there’s some reticence about continuing to give at the levels they gave and with the trust they once gave.
We have to address that. Because it’s not that we have fewer churches, and it’s not that they’re poor, and it’s not that they don’t believe in cooperative missions — because in fact, during that time, designated offerings have gone up, and we praise God for that. That’s a cause of rejoicing and celebration. We do celebrate the record levels of Annie Armstrong giving and Lottie Moon giving. Those are good causes to celebrate. But any leader would look at it and go, “Okay, your designated gifts are going up, but your Cooperative Program gifts are actually going down somewhat precipitously. What’s going on here? What’s the concern?” And so that, to me, is a signal that we’ve got some issues that we need to talk about and that we need to face.
Is the SBC presidency something that you’ve wanted to do for a while, or would you say that these issues have kind of encouraged you more to want to step into that role?
I don’t know that it’s a want, honestly. It’s something that I think pastors who are very involved in the Southern Baptist Convention have all at times wondered, “How can I serve? What roles can I serve?” And when you have friends who begin to encourage you to look at it … I’ve had the privilege of serving so many roles, and if I never served another one … it’s not about deserving anything, but I’ve had great opportunities to serve as the president of the Florida Baptist Convention, to serve as the president of the Southern Baptist Pastors’ Conference, to serve on things like a Nominating Committee, Committee on Committees, all kinds of things. If you hang around a while, you get to do some things.
So in the course of events, yes, there are people who have encouraged me to think about it. I thought seriously about it a few years ago, and even entertained a run for a short time, but I realized quickly that wasn’t the right time. As this convention rolls around in Orlando — in our home state here in Florida — it just seemed like, at the encouragement of a number of people, that maybe I had had a certain number of experiences, I had learned some things, and I felt like maybe I was in the position to offer something.
So, we prayed about it, as I’m sure Josh has also — we prayed about it, Cheryl and I, and it felt like, “Okay, this is the right time to try” and see if that’s what God’s people want to do. If they want to do it, then obviously we’d be honored and privileged to serve. And if not, then we will be grateful, you know, to have even been considered and be grateful for a lifetime of many opportunities of serving Southern Baptists.
Would you say your path to becoming an SBC president has been influenced more by people who have encouraged you or pulled that out of you moreso than your own internal desire, or would you say it’s like a little bit of both?
Yeah, it’s a little bit of both, Mary Margaret. I think mostly whenever you struggle with a call — just like you, if you were struggling with, “What does the Lord want me to do in my church?” it’s going to be a combination, isn’t it, of things that you see is your own giftedness, your own experiences, your own desires… . Obviously you’re in journalism … somewhere along the way, there was a desire to do that. There was internally. Like, I want to tell stories. I want to do that. But at the same time, we listen to others, don’t we? And probably somewhere along the way, somebody encouraged you, an English teacher or a journalism professor. And somebody said, “Hey, you’re pretty good at that. You ought to think about that.” And so, I think you listen, I think God speaks to us in all kinds of ways, but ultimately through His Word and his Holy Spirit, right? But He uses His people, He uses our internal desires.
I love the Southern Baptist Convention. I’m not mad at anybody. I am not doing this from a place of acrimony or discontent — in the sense that, you know, I’m just very discontent. No, no, I mean, there are things that trouble you. But as a leader, you want to fix those. You love this Southern Baptist family, and you want to help.
So certainly, it wasn’t that somebody had to drag it out of me, I don’t think. But it’s a combination of the encouragement of others and internally a sense that God is leading, God is working, and maybe you’re at a point and time in your life where you need to listen to some of those people and maybe this is the right thing for you to do.
Is there anything that you’re potentially excited or nervous about, or what are your feelings going into it?
There’s all the above, right? But I think the thing that excites me to most is … we’ve got some problems to deal with. There are issues that are going to be confronting the Southern Baptist Convention. There are issues with denominational accountability, there are issues about… the women pastors issues … and controversy of sorts. And there are other issues. But the thing that excites me the most is the mission of Southern Baptists, which is the Great Commission. That’s what we’ve been known for. That’s why we cooperate together. It’s why whatever church you’re a part of and whatever church I’m a part of, they say, “Hey, we could do some cooperative work together, and it’s to make the gospel known.”
One of the things I’ve been talking about, that everybody talks about, is the Great Commission, and so I’m not suggesting I’m the only one talking about it. But I hadn’t heard anybody in Southern Baptist life talking about this idea that I’m calling the Great Commission 2000. In a few years, we’re going to pass the 2,000th anniversary of when Jesus gave the Great Commission to His church — 2,000 years since the death, burial and resurrection of Christ; and 2,000 years since He stood on the Mount of Olives and said, “Take the gospel to the ends of the earth.”
I kind of look at moments like that that aren’t going to come again. And to me, that’s significant. That could be a real rallying cry. There are, by the way, groups of Christians around the world who are already talking about this. I think we ought to be talking about it. And I think we ought to kind of sit down and say, “Okay, what would it take? What would it take to see the Great Commission fulfilled in our lifetime?” And by the way, only God knows when it’s been fulfilled. I know that. Only Jesus knows. But wouldn’t it be great to say, as part of the 2,000th anniversary of the giving of the Great Commission, “We’re gonna do everything we can to make sure every single person in our country hears the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ.” What would that take if every church began to work together? And what would it take if we looked at the international work and the unreached people groups that have yet to be engaged with the gospel? What would it take if our Southern Baptist churches came together and said, “You know what? By the 2,000th anniversary of the Great Commission, we’re going to, by God’s grace, do everything we can to see every people group on the face of the earth engaged with a gospel witness.”
When is the date of that 2,000 mark?
No one knows the exact date. I mean, I would say it’s debatable. But most scholars — or, I would say many people — look at May, the spring of 2033 as a possible time. And I don’t think knowing the exact date is what’s important. We just know somewhere in the next five to seven or eight years, we’re going to pass through 2,000 years. Some say it’s as early as 2030, some say it would be 2033. And that’s kind of the number I fixate on. And again, only heaven knows exactly because calendars have changed and so forth. But somewhere around May of 2033, seven years from now, I think it would be good to kind of mark it and say, “You know what? That’s 2,000 years, whether it actually was May of 2032 or 2034, and say, ‘Let’s put a target on the calendar. We know it’s been 2,000 years. And let’s do everything we can to fulfill the one mission that Jesus gave us — to preach the gospel to the ends of the earth.”
So that’s kind of something you want to use as a motivation or inspiration for people?
Yeah, I think it could be a catalytic date and a catalytic goal that would renew our passion. Sometimes if we’re not careful, we get into a rut of incremental growth and just a kind of institutional creep, where we’re growing a percentage [point] or two here or there. I think sometimes you need to step back and say, “Okay, what are we really trying to do? We’re trying to get the gospel to the ends of the earth. That’s what Jesus asked us to do. And why wouldn’t we give every last measure of devotion to seeing that happen in our lifetime?”
When thinking about going full force with the Great Commission, where would you say your convictions lie in the sense of being urgent, but also being intentional to the kind of long, slow work it takes for people to become mature in Christ — to where it’s not just results or numbers focused, but genuine change?
I think numbers are only important to the degree that they catalyze us. They’re catalytic. They provoke change and energy and effort and unity. I think that’s the value. I do think there’s a weakness sometimes when you have a number you’re wanting to check off a box. And I’m not trying to do that. In fact, one of my seven pillars of Baptist renewal — which is at our website, Baptistrenewal.us — was missional integrity, which goes to the very question you asked, which again, I think, is a great question, and it’s not what I’ve been asked about a lot in this season.
But it’s that idea of, we need good models of health, not simply an evangelism that’s very superficial and just celebrates numbers and data and stats that make us look good. We can quote statistics all day long, but we need to be aggressive and assertive and intentional in evangelism — but we also need to understand that discipleship and evangelism go together. Evangelism without discipleship is not real evangelism. Discipleship that doesn’t result in a mission focus is not real discipleship. So missional integrity, to me, is holding up really good models of ministry — not just big churches, not just fast-growing churches, but we need a movement that’s going to impact all kinds of churches. I very much believe in what you described — that long, slow work of discipleship and spiritual formation.
One of the things that I haven’t been able to even talk about much, because people haven’t asked me, is some thoughts about Christian education. We have, by God’s grace, one of the largest Christian high schools in the country. Calvary Christian High School has just grown to be one of the largest Christian high schools in the country; over 900 students are on our campus every day at our high school. I think one of the things that I would love to see is a greater emphasis on Christian education and more churches looking at the opportunities, particularly in pioneer, frontier areas. It’s a great opportunity to not just disciple people a few hours a week, but have them every day — and we’re not just calling it Christian education, in a very superficial way. No for us, it’s very intentional … So to me, that goes hand in hand with this idea of discipleship and spiritual formation. I want to be very serious about it. I think we need really good models of evangelism who understand that discipleship is a part of it, and I would love to see us encourage more churches to really step into the arena of Christian education and use that as a way of reaching and discipling people also.
Explain your passion for being a Southern Baptist and how that’s grown over the years.
You get more grateful for the roots and the foundations that you have. I think I told you early on, I’m a fourth generation Florida Baptist on my mother’s side. And when I think about my people, they were just common people. My grandmother grew up on a strawberry farm in Plant City, just down the road from where we’ll have our convention. My mother grew up in Tampa. My grandfather worked on the railroad. He was a Baptist deacon. There’s a little Sunday school building in Tampa named after him. They built it shortly before he died.
They were common people. I tell people I remember my grandmother’s table had two things: a Bible and a Southern Baptist Sunday School Quarterly. And you may not be old enough to even know what a quarterly is, but that was what Sunday school teachers [had]. And every quarter, it was published to help us study the Bible, and they do it different ways now. But she had that because she taught Sunday school.
When I think about the Southern Baptist Convention, that’s what I think about. Those are the kinds of people who built the Southern Baptist convention. They didn’t go to conventions. They didn’t know about all that. They loved the Lord, they loved their church, and they knew that by cooperating with other churches they were part of something together that was touching the world. That’s the people I think about.
So, when you ask me about my Southern Baptist roots, I think about people like that. I think about people like my grandmother and my grandfather, and I think about our Baptist roots that stretch back generations. And I’m grateful they’re the people who taught me to love God, they taught me the Bible is true. They taught me the gospel. And I’ve been grateful all my life to be a part of a Southern Baptist family. So, I love the Southern Baptist Convention. I’m a grateful, humble child of the Southern Baptist Convention. These are my people. I’m very, very grateful for it.