Benjamin Cole makes a motion requesting the SBC legal counsel counter sue longtime pastor and former SBC president Johnny Hunt to recover legal fees incurred by the Convention. — Photo by Van Payne / The Baptist Paper

DALLAS — A request for the SBC legal counsel to countersue longtime pastor and former SBC president Johnny Hunt to recover legal fees incurred by the Convention was among 15 motions proposed during the afternoon session of the SBC Annual Meeting today (June 10). Another 13 motions were presented during the morning session.

Hunt sued the SBC and several others following his appearance in the 2022 report following the Guidepost Solutions investigation into the SBC Executive Committee’s handling of sexual abuse allegations during a 20-year period. 

His lawsuit is one of three requiring significant expenses from the EC to defend. Benjamin Cole of North Carolina made the motion. [Read more…]

Jeff Iorg, president of the SBC Executive Committee, leads the SBC annual meeting in celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Cooperative Program on June 10 in Dallas. — Photo by Marc Ira Hooks / The Baptist Paper

DALLAS — Jeff Iorg said all during this year’s Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting in Dallas, messengers have been doing something similar to what the Israelites did in Joshua 4.

In that chapter, “there’s a story of God instructing His people to gather 12 memorial stones from the Jordan River and to create a memorial to the miracle of God stopping the river so the Israelites could cross on dry ground,” Iorg, president of the SBC Executive Committee, said June 10 during the annual meeting’s afternoon session.

The convention’s celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Cooperative Program — the primary funding mechanism of the SBC’s ministries and missions — is like that, he said. [Read more…]

Clint Pressley chats with fellow messengers in Dallas during SBC annual meeting. — Photo by Van Payne / The Baptist Paper

DALLAS — North Carolina pastor Clint Pressley was elected for a second term as Southern Baptist Convention president during the SBC’s annual meeting in Dallas.

Pressley defeated David Morrill, a member of Applewood Baptist Church in Wheat Ridge, Colorado, who was nominated by Chris Cunningham from Hillcrest Baptist Church in Big Springs, Texas. Out of 6,009 votes cast, Pressley received 5,567 votes (92.64%). Morrill received 408 votes (6.79 % ), and 34 votes (0.57%) were disallowed.

Pressley, senior pastor of Hickory Grove Baptist Church, Charlotte, North Carolina, was nominated by Michael Criner, senior pastor of First Baptist Church Rockwall, Texas. [Read more…]

Jamie Dew, president of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, speaks to the Southern Baptist Pastors Conference in Dallas on June 9.
— Photo by Marc ira Hooks

DALLAS — Jamie Dew told pastors that he had one simple but honest question for them: “Do you ever want to quit?”

“I can think of a million reasons we might feel that way,” said Dew, president of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, as he spoke to the Southern Baptist Pastors Conference in Dallas on June 9. “The most important task to be done on earth right now is the proclamation of Jesus Christ — to stand in hard places, dark places, broken places, places where the oppression is thick and strong, and there in the darkness, preach Jesus Christ,” Dew said.

Preaching from 2 Timothy 2:8–13, he encouraged them that the Apostle Paul had talked about how ministry would come with a lot of difficulties and struggles, but he called pastors to remember the truths of the faith that would bolster their spirits.

He’s giving us reason to continue,” Dew said, noting four realities that should encourage pastors to keep going. [Read more…]