By Scott Barkley
Baptist Press

ANAHEIM, Calif.  — A motion regarding the North American Mission Board’s ministry assignments dominated the SBC Executive Committee’s report of its recommendations during the June 15 morning session of the SBC annual meeting.

Last year, messengers to the annual meeting in Nashville rejected a request for collegiate ministry to be moved from Lifeway’s ministry assignment to NAMB’s. Lifeway trustees approved the revisions in January 2021, with NAMB trustees making a formal request for the change at their spring meeting.

Messengers at this year’s annual meeting asked for clarity on NAMB’s relationship with collegiate ministry prior to the motion’s approval, which ended up going forward by a sizeable margin. 

J.P. Williams, pastor of First Baptist Church in Stonewall, Okla., asked one of those clarifying questions about Baptist Collegiate Ministries, also known as Baptist Student Unions or other names in different states.  [Read more…]

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector
lwilkey@tnbaptist.org

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Southern Baptist Convention messengers took a “good first step” in dealing with sexual abuse issues within the denomination, said Bruce Frank, pastor of Biltmore Baptist Church, Arden, North Carolina, chair of the Sexual Abuse Task Force.

During the June 14 session of the SBC Annual Meeting in Anaheim, messengers overwhelming approved the two recommendations (read full text here) proposed by the task force to appoint an Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force and develop a “Ministry Check” database of the “credibly accused.” The approval came after lengthy discussion and one amendment to tweak the wording to change “Guidepost recommendations” to “best practices.”

“The first step is the hardest,” Frank acknowledged during a press conference following the vote. “This was an opportunity for messengers to take a step down the right road. I am proud of them for doing it,” he said.

Responding to a question on how history will view what happened, Frank said, “You could sense in the room (messengers) wanted to do the right thing. It was not even close.” [Read more…]

By Leslie Peacock Caldwell
IMB news office

In IMB’s report to the SBC annual meeting in Anaheim, Calif., IMB president Paul Chitwood shared good news of salvations, baptisms and new churches made possible through the generosity of Southern Baptists. — IMB photo

ANAHEIM, Calif. — International Mission Board president Paul Chitwood began IMB’s report to the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting with recent good news from the mission field. He recounted a message he received the previous night from a pastor whose daughter serves overseas. Chitwood shared that three Muslim women had accepted Christ as Savior. These salvations were the first the IMB missionary team had seen among this people group.

Chitwood brought greetings and thanks from IMB’s 3,600 missionaries and their 2,850 children. These children were on his mind, he said, as he thanked messengers for the significant steps they approved to prevent sexual abuse. 

“At the IMB, we have made sweeping changes,” Chitwood said. “Just as we have seen the Lord honor transparency, humility and repentance in this area at the IMB, I believe we will see Him honor these things in our denominational family.” Information about IMB’s response can be found at imb.org/abuseresponse. [Read more…]

The Baptist Paper

Bart Barber, left, at the Asian American Collective meeting on June 12 in Anaheim. — Photo by Van Payne / The Baptist Paper

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Bart Barber, pastor of First Baptist Church Farmersville, Texas, and active denominational leader, was elected 64th president of the Southern Baptist Convention on June 14 during the 2022 SBC Annual Meeting in Anaheim, California.

Barber received 3,401 votes on a second runoff ballot, garnering 60.87 percent of the 5,587 total votes cast in the runoff. In a four-way presidential bid that included Florida Baptist pastor Tom Ascol, senior professor of missions at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary Robin Hadaway and pastor of Georgia’s North Metro Baptist Church, Frank Cox, Barber and Ascol claimed the top two spots for the runoff. Ascol received 2,172 votes for 38.88 percent of the votes in the runoff. At the time of the presidential runoff election, 8,098 messengers were registered.

On the first ballot, Barber received 3,258 (47.58 percent) of the 6,847 votes cast. Ascol received 2,332 (34.06 percent) votes, Cox received 887 (12.95 percent) votes and Hadaway received 340 (4.97 percent) votes. At the time of the first ballot for the presidential election, 8.095 messengers were registered. [Read more…]

By Diane Chandler
Baptist Press

SBC president Ed Litton addresses messengers at the 2022 SBC Annual Meeting in Anaheim, Calif. — Photo by Adam Covington / Baptist Press

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Southern Baptist Convention President Ed Litton calls it a “gut punch” – Jesus’ reference to his disciples as an “unbelieving and perverse generation.”

Jesus had two questions for disciples in the Matthew 17 passage, which Litton posed in his June 14 address as if Jesus were speaking directly to Southern Baptists.

“Southern Baptists how long shall I stay with you? Southern Baptists, how long shall I put up with you?”

“How we respond to Jesus in these two days together, especially on the most painful, gut-punching reality of the Sexual Abuse Task Force (SATF) report, how we respond is not just to the looking world that’s watching us, but how we respond because Jesus is watching us,” Litton said. “I think if we respond in a way that seeks to honor and glorify Him first and foremost, listen to me, we will wind up answering Jesus’ two questions.” [Read more…]

By Jennifer Davis Rash
The Baptist Paper

Dwight McKissic, pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas, introduces a motion from the floor. — Photo by Sam Evans / The Baptist Paper

Messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting in Anaheim came to do business and even lined up at microphones before the opening session began at 8 a.m.

The first opportunity to present motions came at 10:10 a.m. Pacific time and 23 were presented before time ran out.

Among motions presented several dealt with transparency concerns related to the Executive Committee, North American Mission Board and Southeastern Seminary. Another called for abolishing the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission and one called for a study related to how best to structure Baptist Press as the convention’s news service. A request for publicizing the salary structures of all leaders of SBC entities and groups was proposed and suggests following similar patterns as public institutions. [Read more…]

By Timothy Cockes
Baptist Press

Newly elected SBC Executive Committee chairman Jared Wellman takes questions from the media at a press conference on June 13. — Photo by Adam Covington / BP

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Seven new SBC Executive Committee officers were elected during the group’s June 13 meeting, including new EC Chairman Jared Wellman, lead pastor of Tate Springs Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas.

Other newly elected officers include Vice Chairman David Sons, Secretary Pam Reed and four EC subcommittee (also known as standing committee) chairs.

Wellman is in his second term on the Executive Committee, having served since 2015. His term expires in 2023. Sons is in his first term of service.

Wellman said in a press conference after the vote that he believes the primary role of the EC is to be an administrative body that answers to Southern Baptists. [Read more…]

By Scott Barkley
Baptist Press

Rolland Slade, right, outgoing chairman of the SBC Executive Committee, is thanked by Willie McLaurin, interim president and CEO of the EC, during a meeting June 13 in Anaheim. Slade completed a two-year term as chair. — Photo by Adam Covington / BP

ANAHEIM — With $4 million now pledged from Send Relief toward funding sexual abuse reforms over the next year, Executive Committee members voted June 13 to rescind their recently approved recommendations for that same objective.

EC Chair Rolland Slade, overseeing his final trustee meeting, extended thanks for the gift to Send Relief and its president, Bryant Wright, as well as North American Mission Board President Kevin Ezell and International Mission Board President Paul Chitwood.

“We certainly appreciate you all coming together in a sign of unity,” Slade said, adding his appreciation both from a denominational leadership perspective as well as a Southern Baptist pastor.

Trustees had agreed June 2 to reconfigure overage allocations for the 2021-22 and 2022-23 budgets of up to $9 million total for funding sexual abuse reforms in the Southern Baptist Convention. A $4 million gift through Send Relief issued on June 8 led to a unanimous vote to rescind those recommendations. [Read more…]