Texas pastor Bart Barber won a run-off election for president of the Southern Baptist Convention June 14 at the Anaheim Convention Center in California. Out of 5,587 votes cast, Barber received 3,401 (60.87 percent) and Florida pastor Tom Ascol received 2,172 votes (38.88 percent). Fourteen ballots were disallowed. In the first election, Barber received 3,258 […]
A motion made on first day of the 2022 SBC annual meeting will bring a vote to the floor of the convention to “abolish the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention.” The vote is scheduled for 11:35 a.m., Wednesday, June 15. The motion was made by messenger Joshua Scruggs from Bethlehem […]
Southern Baptists responded with an overwhelming majority in favor of adopting the two recommendations presented by the Sexual Abuse Task Force presented June 14 at the 2022 SBC annual meeting. Task Force chair Bruce Frank didn’t mince words with messengers, calling it a “Kairos moment” for the convention. After a lot of talk, actions were […]
Daniel Dickard, senior pastor of Friendly Avenue Baptist Church in Greensboro, N.C., was elected president of the 2023 SBC Pastors Conference June 13. Dickard won the election by a ballot vote, defeating African Christian University’s dean of theology Voddie Baucham by a vote of 690 (50.85 percent) to 608 (44.8 percent). A standing vote proved […]
In response to a tweet by Guidepost Solutions in support of LGBTQ+ causes, South Carolina Baptist Convention’s Executive Director-Treasurer Gary Hollingsworth issued a statement to the Baptist Courier June 8 encouraging Southern Baptists to “seek to cooperate with organizations that share our biblical worldview and gospel-driven values,” while expressing equal concern for survivors of sexual abuse. […]
In response to a tweet by Guidepost Solutions supporting the LGBTQ+ community, Southern Baptists should “immediately break ties with Guidepost Solutions,” said Randy C. Davis, president and executive director of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board. Guidepost Solutions posted the following statement to its Twitter account on June 6. “Guidepost is committed to strengthening diversity, equity […]
Southern Baptists added 1,018 new congregations in 2021 — 735 church plants, 201 affiliations and 82 new campuses. This represents a 25 percent increase in church plants and a 19 percent increase in congregations overall. Of the 735 church plants, 135 were replants, which the North American Mission Board has traditionally counted. “We celebrate every […]
In a special-called meeting April 21, the SBC Executive Committee voted on moving the 2023 annual meeting from Charlotte to New Orleans. EC Vice President for Communications Jonathan Howe said recent growth in annual meeting attendance necessitated the switch from Charlotte to New Orleans. Charlotte was confirmed as the 2023 host city by messengers to […]
Southern Baptist Convention President Ed Litton has announced his appointments to the 2022 Committee on Committees. The committee’s 68 members consist of two from each of the 34 states and regions qualified for representation on SBC boards. Representatives from South Carolina include Kathy Dority of First Baptist Church, Taylors, and Josh McClendon of Philippi Baptist […]
Pro-life advocates reacted hopefully to the report of a leaked draft opinion within the U.S. Supreme Court that would overturn its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion nationwide. In a stunning development May 2, Politico — a politics- and policy-focused news organization — published a copy of a draft of an opinion by Associate […]