Messengers raise their ballots during the 2024 SBC annual meeting in Indianapolis. — Photo by Van Payne / The Baptist Paper

INDIANAPOLIS — Eight resolutions were adopted by messengers attending the 2024 Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting in Indianapolis.

The Committee on Resolutions proposed 10 resolutions (some submitted by messengers at large and some by the committee), but messengers only adopted 8 of those — time restraints caused two of the resolutions to be left unpresented. [Read more…]

Jared Wellman with the Cooperation Group addresses the SBC annual meeting on the evening of June 11 in Indianapolis. — Photo by Van Payne / The Baptist Paper

INDIANAPOLIS — Messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention passed a slate of recommendations June 11 related to how the convention deals with churches that no longer “closely identify with” the SBC in “faith and practice.”

The recommendations came from the Cooperation Group, which was formed with the assignment of studying the issue over the past year.

“This SBC was chartered for the purpose of directing the energies of Baptists for the propagation of the gospel,” said Jared Wellman, the group’s chairman and pastor of Tate Springs Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas. “We understand that there are times that there are churches that step outside this phrase ‘closely identifies with.’”

The group’s recommendations added definition to how Southern Baptists proceed when a church goes that direction. [Read more…]

Josh Wester, chairman of the Abuse Reform Implementation Task, speaks to the SBC messengers. — Photo by Van Payne / The Baptist Paper

INDIANAPOLIS — Southern Baptist messengers approved recommendations presented by the Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force on June 11.

The first recommendation included affirming the expansion of the Sexual Abuse Toolkit, efforts to complete the Ministry Check website and the “creation of a permanent home for abuse prevention and response.” The second recommendation involved referring these objectives back to the SBC Executive Committee to finalize a plan, structure and securing needed funds to implement and support these objectives. The EC will report back to messengers during the 2025 SBC Annual Meeting.

Before messengers approved the recommendations, the task force did accept a friendly amendment noting in the first recommendation that the “convention does not require the use of any particular organization outside the convention entities or the missions to accomplish these objectives.” [Read more…]

Jeff Iorg gives his first official report to Southern Baptist messengers as the EC president and CEO at the 2024 SBC Annual Meeting in Indianapolis. — Photo by Pam Henderson / The Baptist Paper

INDIANAPOLIS — The past five years of turmoil surrounding the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee led to growing chatter about whether the entity had outlived its purpose, but the voices seem quieter with the recent installation of Jeff Iorg as the EC’s new leader.

In his first official report to Southern Baptist messengers as the EC president and CEO (June 11), Iorg not only outlined his vision but also shared how he plans to go about it. He included some of the finer details of what to expect when he addressed the EC board of trustees June 10 ahead of the SBC Annual Meeting.

In both presentations, Iorg’s straightforward approach to the matters at hand resonated with those in attendance, and he was met with exuberant applause. [Read more…]

FBC Alexandria pastor Robert Stephens responds to the motion to unseat messengers from FBC Alexandria. He was given three minutes to respond to the recommendation of the Credentials Committee. — Photo by Van Payne / The Baptist Paper

INDIANAPOLIS — Messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting voted June 11 to disaffiliate with First Baptist Church Alexandria, Virginia, by a ballot vote of 6,759 (91.78 percent) to 563 (7.65 percent). Forty-two ballots were disallowed.

The church’s messengers were initially seated when they registered, but during the afternoon’s business session, another messenger requested they be “unseated on the grounds of egalitarianism.” The motion was immediately referred to the Credentials Committee, which returned in the afternoon session with a recommendation to discontinue its relationship with FBC Alexandria.

The church has a stated faith regarding women pastors that “is not closely identified with the SBC’s stated faith,” said Jonathan Sams, chair of the Credentials Committee, who serves as director of equipping and community groups for Image Church in Marietta, Ga. [Read more…]

Task force chair Jay Adkins delivers report to messengers on June 11. — Photo by Van Payne / The Baptist Paper

INDIANAPOLIS — Southern Baptist messengers approved the six recommendations presented by the Great Commission Resurgence Evaluation Task Force on June 11 in Indianapolis following the release of its report on May 12. The Task Force followed up with releasing its proposed recommendations three weeks later June 3.

Last year, Southern Baptist Convention messengers in New Orleans approved the formation of a group to study the success of the GCR Task Force which presented seven recommendations in 2010 to help reverse the trend of declining baptisms. Since then, debate has continued to surround those recommendations. [Read more…]

Brent Leatherwood, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, gives the ERLC report at the June 12 afternoon session of the SBC Annual Meeting in Indianapolis. — Photo by Van Payne / The Baptist Paper

INDIANAPOLIS — The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission is not just “rooted” in the Southern Baptist Convention, “it is responsive to this convention,” Brent Leatherwood, president of the ERLC, told messengers in his report during the June 12 afternoon session of the SBC Annual Meeting in Indianapolis.

Leatherwood said the commission’s work on several key issues is evidence that the ERLC continues to provide a vital service in helping churches and individuals navigate key social, cultural and political issues like abortion, gender issues and support for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan. [Read more…]