Editor’s note: This article has been updated with additional information and quotes.
Members of the SBC Executive Committee pray for Jeff Iorg following his election March 21 as the new president and chief executive officer of the EC. -Photo by Jane Rodgers/The Baptist Paper
DALLAS — Sixty members of the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention voted unanimously in executive session to elect Jeff Iorg as its new president/chief executive officer during a called meeting March 21 in Dallas.
The election of Iorg comes after a lengthy search and a failed attempt to elect a successor for an EC president and CEO following the October 2021 resignation of Ronnie Floyd.
Iorg transitions to the new role after 20 years at Gateway. He enters the position at a crucial moment in SBC life, as the EC copes with financial and legal challenges amid the denomination’s reckoning with sexual abuse and declining baptisms, among other concerns.
Last October Iorg announced his pending retirement from the seminary after 20 years of service, and has continued to serve during the search for a replacement.
Jeff Iorg
Iorg, 65, will serve as president-elect until his tenure as president of Gateway Seminary officially concludes with graduation on May 11. His first official day as EC president/CEO will be May 13.
“Southern Baptists are a force for good,” Iorg said following the vote. “I am grateful to Southern Baptists for how they have impacted my life over the last 50 years.”
Search team chair Neal Hughes, director of missions and executive director of the Montgomery (Alabama) Baptist Association, said when he announced Iorg’s nomination on March 1 that he “is who we have been praying for.”
Hughes noted that Iorg’s “calm demeanor, communication skills, executive administrative ability and thorough knowledge of Southern Baptist life will be a God-send to the SBC.”
EC chair Phillip Robertson called Iorg “a leader that all Southern Baptists can unite around.”
Tennessee Baptists respond
“The unanimous vote for Dr. Iorg today is an affirmation of his faithful leadership,” said EC member Corey Cain, pastor of First Baptist Church, Seymour. Cain served on the search committee that recommended Iorg.
“It also is a great example of what can be ahead for the SBC. We can move forward together with a focus on carrying the gospel to the world,” Cain added.
EC board member Dani Bryson of First Baptist Church, Dickson, affirmed the election of Iorg. “While my work commitments prevented me from attending the Dallas vote, I wholeheartedly support the nomination and election of Dr. Jeff Iorg,” she said in a statement to the Baptist and Reflector
She noted that two presidential search teams “have dedicated many hours away from home, work and family to bring us to this point. While the path seemed winding, God’s hand was there. I am sincerely grateful for both teams.
“The nomination itself is very exciting. Dr. Iorg has humbly and competently served the Lord and Southern Baptists for many years and comes forward now as a continuing act of service. I look forward to continuing to serve Southern Baptist under Dr. Iorg’s leadership and celebrate moving forward together,” she said.
EC member Tim Frank called Iorg’s election “a historic day for Southern Baptists. I am looking forward to a renewed focus and commitment to keeping the mission first and foremost in all we and do.”
Frank, pastor of First Baptist Church, Carthage, said there was “a spirit of unity and excitement in the room throughout the meeting. … This is by far the highlight of my two years as a member of the SBC Executive Committee,” he said.
“’For such a time as this’ is an applicable Bible verse for the unanimous call of Dr. Jeff Iorg,” observed Randy C. Davis, president and executive director of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board.
“He will be able to provide principled and wise leadership at a time Southern Baptists desperately need stability,” he continued.
“A leader such as Dr. Iorg is exactly what we have been hoping for and I rejoice at this miraculous moment. It will be our honor to welcome Jeff and Ann Iorg as our newest Tennessee Baptists.”
— This article includes reporting from The Baptist Paper and Baptist Press.
