NASHVILLE — The SBC Executive Committee made staff adjustments on Sept. 13 that eliminated five staff positions and two contractor positions, according to a statement.

“Over the past few weeks our current leadership and officers met at length to determine various ways to most effectively steward the resources provided to us by Southern Baptist churches,” said Jonathan Howe, EC interim president. “As a result, our financial realities have led to an organizational restructuring and the reduction of staff and operational expenses.”

The staff was made aware of the changes Wednesday morning. The restructuring leaves 21 full-time employees at the EC.

“We are thankful for the service those affected have given to Southern Baptists and the SBC Executive Committee. The continuing staff are fully committed to accomplishing the messenger-approved ministry assignments given to the EC,” Howe said in the statement. [Read more…]

MARRAKESH, Morocco — As early death toll counts have surpassed 1,300, Send Relief partners in Morocco are already meeting needs in the aftermath of the 6.8-magnitude earthquake that struck the African nation on Friday night.

“Send Relief’s partners in Morocco immediately began providing urgently needed help and supplies within hours of the earthquake hitting this area,” said Bryant Wright, president of Send Relief. “As you can imagine, the focus right now for first responders is on saving lives and rescuing as many people as possible.” [Read more…]

Former Union University president David S. Dockery was installed Aug. 22 as the 10th president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

FORT WORTH, Texas  — Beginning his 40th year of service in Christian higher education, David S. Dockery was officially installed as the 10th president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary during an investiture ceremony that was part of the school’s Aug. 22 convocation service.

Dockery, a 1981 master of divinity graduate of Southwestern, was the 2002 recipient of the seminary’s distinguished alumni award. He has served at Southwestern since 2019. A distinguished Baptist theologian and author, Dockery is the president emeritus of Union University in Jackson, Tennessee, where he served as president from 1996 to 2014. 

In the presence of faculty, staff, students, trustee officers and new trustees, and guests, Board of Trustees Chairman Jonathan Richard exhorted Dockery to “continue the best of the Southwestern heritage to reflect the convictions of our founder, B.H. Carroll, regarding doctrinal fidelity, Gospel faithfulness, and a commitment to Christian unity and cooperation.” [Read more…]

NASHVILLE — The SBC Executive Committee has begun an investigation into the circumstances leading to the resignation of Willie McLaurin.

McLaurin resigned on Aug. 17 after confessing to falsifying his education background. He was serving as the interim president and CEO and was thought to be the leading candidate for the permanent role. He had served the EC as vice president for Great Commission relations and mobilization since 2019 and served for many years at the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board prior to coming to the EC.

“We have recently begun an internal review of these matters and anticipate the completion of this review in time for the September SBC Executive Committee meeting,” Jon Wilke, the EC’s director of media relations, told Baptist Press in a written statement. [Read more…]

Editor’s note: Sunday, Aug. 27, is Global Hunger Sunday in the Southern Baptist Convention.

A Bimoba girl in her family’s corn fields at dusk in Ghana. — IMB photo

NASHVILLE — For the 5-year-old Burmese refugee, the small bag of rice evoked a living thing. “It’s baby rice,” she proclaimed, hugging it to her chest.

Terry Dale Hudgins, director of the Nashville World Outreach Partnership based at Tusculum Hills Baptist Church in Nashville, had taken a group of Burmese refugees grocery shopping.

“You’d have thought it was a million dollars,” Hudgins told Baptist Press, “the way she was hugging the bag of rice.”

The little girl was too young to comprehend the civil war and ethnic genocide that created the poor conditions hundreds of thousands have suffered in refugee camps in Thailand for decades. [Read more…]

NASHVILLE — In a move to provide separation between the administrative leadership of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee and Baptist Press, EC interim president and CEO Jonathan Howe’s credentials on the Baptist Press site have been altered so that he cannot post or edit BP stories.

Howe’s permanent role at the EC is vice president of communications. He was named the interim leader when Willie McLaurin stepped down on Aug. 18.

“Jonathan Howe has willingly surrendered his ability to edit Baptist Press stories or add new stories to the website,” said Brandon Porter, EC associate vice president for convention news. Porter will also serve as acting vice president of communications at least through the Sept. 18-19 EC meeting. [Read more…]

NASHVILLE — The new interim president of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee, Jonathan Howe, is a member of a church dually aligned with the SBC and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and where his seminary-educated wife holds the job title “minister of students and discipleship.”

Based on actions taken by messengers to the SBC annual meeting in New Orleans in June, Beth Howe would be one of the female ministers targeted by the so-called “Law Amendment” if ratified on second reading at next year’s annual meeting. That amendment would expel from the SBC any church that ordains a woman, allows a woman to preach or gives a woman the title of “pastor” in any way. [Read more…]

The SBC Executive Committee officers have appointed Jonathan Howe to be the EC interim president and CEO. Howe has served as the EC vice president for communications since September 2019. — Photo by Brandon Porter

NASHVILLE — Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee Chairman Philip Robertson announced to EC members on Aug. 18 that Jonathan Howe will take over the role of interim EC president and CEO following the sudden resignation of Willie McLaurin on Aug. 17.

“The SBC Executive Committee’s bylaws require that the Executive Committee officers appoint an existing SBC Executive Committee Vice President to serve temporarily, pending full trustee board approval,” Robertson said in a statement. “Therefore, we have tasked Jonathan Howe, vice president for communications, to step into that role in partnership with the officers until our next trustee meeting on September 18-19. At that trustee meeting the full board of trustees will elect, without restrictions, a continuing interim president/CEO.” [Read more…]

NASHVILLE — The leader of the committee searching for the next president and CEO of the SBC Executive Committee says they are resuming their search. The committee is receiving resumes following the surprise resignation of Willie McLaurin from the SBC EC on Aug. 17.

McLaurin stepped down from his role as interim president and CEO of the EC after confessing to falsifying educational credentials on his resume. He had been the lead candidate for the permanent position, according to Neal Hughes, search committee chairman.

“Obviously, our hearts are broken and disheartened so we’re spending a lot of time praying together. Our team is united,” Hughes told Baptist Press. [Read more…]