EDITOR’S NOTE — The May 29 print edition of the Baptist and Reflector included a shorter version of the Q-and-A sessions with the six candidates for SBC president. The full content from The Baptist Paper is below:
The Baptist Paper reached out to each of the six individuals who have announced intentions to be nominated for president of the Southern Baptist Convention at the 2024 SBC annual meeting in Indianapolis, June 11–12.
DAVID ALLEN
Current position and title: Distinguished professor of practical theology and dean of the Adrian Rogers Center for Biblical Preaching at Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary in Memphis, Tennessee
What led you to allow your name to be placed in nomination for SBC president?
I did so because I sensed God’s prompting. I did so because so many have told me that after much prayer, they felt led of God to ask me to allow my name to be placed in nomination. I did so because I owe so much to Southern Baptists. I did so because I believe our convention has been and can continue to be useful in service to God’s kingdom. I did so because the difficulties are many and the need of the hour is great. I can only confess that as best I know my heart, my motives are simply to follow what I perceive to be God’s will, and to serve my fellow Southern Baptists as best I know how.
If elected, what are your goals as president?
As a candidate for president, my platform is simple:
- Strengthen our long-term Convention focus on evangelism, missions, and preaching.
- Support passage of the Mike Law Amendment at the 2024 SBC in Indianapolis.
- Seek to restore an eroding trust among many Southern Baptists by calling for transparency at every level.
If elected as president of the Southern Baptist Convention, my pledge is two-fold:
- Support and encourage all Southern Baptists and all SBC entities and agencies in their ultimate mission of seeking to win the world to Christ as we cooperate to call out the called, pray, and give faithfully to the Cooperative Program.
- Appoint Southern Baptists to the Committee on Committees who will assure me and all Southern Baptists they will only nominate people to places of service who will pledge to work for truth, trust and transparency within their respective committees, trustee boards, and entities.
What are some things that can be done to strengthen the SBC’s current relationship with our churches?
- We need a return to our Christian humanity in how we view one another, speak to one another, and treat one another in public, private, and on social media. Let’s assume and think the best of each other, not the worst. The uncharitable reading of words and actions is a not uncommon occurrence among us.
- Let’s truly listen to one another and respond in words and actions accordingly.
- Let’s be transparent and engage in clear communication. In the first year of my first pastorate in 1982, a wise deacon told me: “Pastor, what people are not up on, they are down on. Good communication is the key to minimizing criticism. As the old saying goes among Baptists: ‘Trust the Lord and tell the people.’”
Some folks are dissatisfied with the current direction/leadership of the convention. What do you perceive as the strengths of the SBC?
Anyone who has ever sat in an annual SBC meeting and listened to the reports of our International Mission Board and North American Mission Board thrills at what God is doing in His world. Our six Southern Baptist seminaries are training men and women to serve the Savior around the world. The Cooperative Program has never been excelled in any denomination as a mechanism for the work of the convention. Faithful pastors in churches of every size are preaching the word. Souls are being saved. Lives are being changed. Ministry is happening.
What do you perceive as the weaknesses of the SBC?
I think this could be summed up in two words: Trust and Transparency.
- As I travel and preach in our SBC churches, the number one concern I hear, especially from pastors, is the eroding level of trust in some of our SBC leadership.
- This lack of trust is predicated on the perception of a lack of transparency in financial matters and other matters. Loss of trust means loss of motivation to cooperate. Loss of cooperation means loss of ministry effectiveness for the SBC. There is no question that many Southern Baptists perceive this to be the case, and perception is reality for people.
- People should not be pestered to death with a constant caustic spirit of unverified accusations. Nor should anyone be branded as a blasphemous barbarian because he or she presumes to question or dares to express an honest differing opinion about convention issues.
- Perhaps our greatest weakness is distraction from the main mission. We seem somehow to have allowed all the difficult issues we are facing distract us from a laser focus on missions and evangelism.
What is your take on the Law Amendment issue and what Southern Baptists should consider going into this next meeting?
The proposed amendment would clarify that the SBC only cooperates with churches that do not affirm, appoint, or employ a woman as a pastor/elder as qualified by Scripture. If approved, the amendment would be added to the SBC Constitution under Article 3, Paragraph 1 concerning “Composition.”
The amendment delimits the scope to include only those women who serve in the office of pastor/elder, contrary to Scripture and the BFM 2000. This delimitation is signaled by the use of the phrase “as qualified by Scripture.” Church staff positions like “Minister of Children,” etc., regardless of nomenclature, are not pastoral positions that are qualified by Scripture.
This is a watershed issue for Southern Baptists. The Law Amendment is an important clarifying statement that explains what the BFM 2000 means with respect to who can fill the office of pastor/elder/overseer. The three words are used interchangeably in the New Testament.
Since some are making the argument that we do not have to agree with everything in the BFM 2000 to be considered a cooperating Southern Baptist, this amendment to the Constitution would carry a greater binding authority than the BFM 2000.
Any other thoughts or comments?
My first ministry assignment was in an SBC church when I was nineteen. My children were saved and baptized in an SBC church. One of my sons was trained in an SBC seminary and he and his wife served in Egypt as IMB missionaries.
In my first pastorate, our church planted six ethnic missions in the Dallas area and over 100 churches in Central America, South America, Africa, Europe and Asia.
I served Southern Baptists in roles within the local Association, State Convention, and the SBC. I taught at an SBC seminary for eighteen years.
God has given me the joy of preaching in many of our SBC churches. In 2021 I launched a new ministry called “Preaching Coach” where I partner with pastors and other ministry leaders.
In 21 years of serving two churches as senior pastor, and in 10 years of serving 13 churches as Interim Pastor, I believe God has prepared me to serve Southern Baptists for this strategic time. I know pastors. I know SBC churches. I believe I can serve the Kingdom of God and Southern Baptists as president of the SBC.
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BRUCE FRANK
Current position and title: Lead pastor at Biltmore Church, Arden, North Carolina.
What led you to allow your name to be placed in nomination for SBC president?
I allowed my name to be placed in nomination after months of prayer, counsel and encouragement from people around the SBC.
If elected, what are your goals as president?
My primary goals if elected president can be seen in some detail at brucefrank.org. One of those is a focus on the Great Commission.
What are some things that can be done to strengthen the SBC’s current relationship with our churches?
(The Great Commission) is the primary reason we exist as a convention. This is the “main thing.” This is what will matter 100 years from now. Heaven and hell are real, eternity is long, the harvest is plentiful, and Jesus saves (Matthew 28:18–20; Acts 1:8; Luke 19:10). Seeing God bring people to repentance and faith is the most joyful and unifying thing for a people to experience. Can you imagine the joy of the 22,000 SBC churches that haven’t seen that kind of gospel life change in a while, get to see that in the year ahead (Luke 15:7)? I believe with some encouragement and equipping that could happen.
What do you perceive as the strengths of the SBC?
The SBC has many strengths.
- The foreign mission force under Dr. Chitwood and IMB are very strong. The 3,500 field personnel do a wonderful job taking the gospel to the nations.
- NAMB under the direction of Dr. Ezell is having a tremendous impact in all aspects of their ministry from church planting to send relief to evangelism resources.
- The fact that all six six SBC seminaries are theologically conservative. The students they are training are our future leaders.
- The primary strength of the SBC is in the men and women who are members of the almost 48,000 churches. Equipping them for ministry (Ephesians 4:12–13) unleashes the largest missionary force the world has seen.
- Historically, a great strength of the SBC has been to unite biblical fidelity with missional clarity. Holding to the Bible while ignoring the mission is classic fundamentalism. Focusing on the mission while ignoring the Bible is classic liberalism. Holding to the Bible and focusing on the mission is the SBC at its best.
What do you perceive as the weaknesses of the SBC?
Any cooperative effort is built on trust and communication. Just as uniting around biblical fidelity and missional clarity has been a strength of the SBC, getting away from this can be a danger.
What is your take on the Law Amendment issue and what Southern Baptists should consider going into this next meeting?
A more detailed discussion about the Law Amendment can be seen (here) and (here). If we are going to revise what Adrian Rogers and his committee gave us with the Baptist Faith & Message 2000, we can do better than the Law Amendment in expressing our complementarian convictions.
The Law Amendment raises more questions than it answers and opens the door for extrabiblical actions. The phrase “of any kind” could be used to accuse a woman without the title of pastor of “pastoring” because they believe she exercises wrong (“their view”) authority over men in their church (example: female children’s director, female on personnel committee, even females serving on SBC committees as mentioned by a recent SBC presidential candidate). Questions I have yet to see a clear answer on are:
– Is it about title or function?
– If it’s about both title and function, what are the functions that are exclusively pastoral? Where are those spelled out in Baptist documents? (Note: IMB includes in their documents the specifics, “leadership and teaching functions.”)
Any other thoughts or comments?
Recently, at Biltmore Church, we asked every member to identify one person they could pray for and seek to lead to Christ over the year. We then asked them to write the name of their “one” on the wall of the worship centers as a constant reminder to pray and share the gospel with their “one.” Even just in the first quarter of the year, we’ve had the joy of seeing dozens and dozens of those people surrender to the Lordship of Christ and get baptized. Our IMB missionaries are doing a remarkable job around the world and seeing God do amazing things.
Every SBC church can see themselves as missionaries here and see the same because the harvest is plentiful (Matthew 9:37)!
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MIKE KEAHBONE
Current position and title: Senior pastor of First Baptist Church Lawton, Oklahoma
What led you to allow your name to be placed in nomination for SBC president?
In August of last year, I was approached by a dear friend and leader in our convention about my thoughts on ever running for SBC president. The question caught me off guard because I had never thought about it. I had not had time to! Over the last three years I have been focused on my roles as a husband, daddy, pastor, Executive Committee member and Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force member. However; the question led me to pray and consider the possibility.
As I was walking through a season of prayer with my family, staff and church, the Lord led me to a conversation with Victor Chayasirisobhon. This conversation led to him becoming my nominator. I have seen the Lord lead in so many ways to affirm being nominated. To not allow my nomination would have been disobedience.
If elected, what are your goals as president?
My goals for the SBC are simple:
- Getting back to the gospel
- Reviving the Cooperative Program
- Unifying our convention by celebrating the work of our local churches and the impact of our missionaries at home and abroad.
- Finishing what we started in abuse reform.
- Making the SBC Annual Meeting more accessible to the vast majority of our churches that simply cannot afford to send their pastor, staff and lay messengers.
- Making sure that our ethnic churches have a fair and equal voice across the leadership of our convention.
What are some things that can be done to strengthen the SBC’s current relationship with our churches?
As I stated in the prior answer, it is important to celebrate the impact of our local churches in the communities God has placed them in. It is also important for SBC entities and leadership to be transparent in how we work, spend and minister. We should not have anything to hide and should have plenty to rejoice in.
Finally, we have to love better. Jesus said that the world would know that we are His disciples if we love one another. From SBC leaders to SBC pastors and influencers, we have struggled to love well. When we get that right, our convention and churches will be strengthened.
What do you perceive as the strengths of the SBC?
The strength of our convention has always been the local churches and our cooperation in taking the gospel to the world! Nobody sends more missionaries across America and abroad than the SBC. We also have strong seminaries that are preparing the next generation of ministry leaders. Our future is bright.
What do you perceive as the weaknesses of the SBC?
With nearly half of our SBC churches not giving a dime to the Cooperative Program, that is a glaring weakness that we need to diagnose and fix.
What is your take on the Law Amendment issue and what Southern Baptists should consider going into this next meeting?
The Scriptures and our confession of faith make it clear what we believe regarding the role of women in our churches. Last year we disfellowshipped the largest church in our convention because of the clarity of our conviction. Our issue is not clarity. This is an unnecessary amendment.
I would encourage Southern Baptists to make their way to Indy for the meeting! Your voices and your vote matter. The few thousand that make it to Indy will determine the direction and focus for 50,000 SBC churches and their 14 million members. You matter.
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JARED MOORE
Current position and title: Homesteads Baptist Church, Crossville, Tennessee
What led you to allow your name to be placed in nomination for SBC president?
I was willing to be nominated for SBC president because the two choices that had been announced already were more of the same type of leadership the SBC has had the past six years.
If elected, what are your goals as president?
I’ve served in pastoral ministry in the SBC for almost 24 years now. It was Southern Baptists who loved me to Jesus when I was 17 years of age. It was Southern Baptists who taught me the gospel, biblical doctrine and sound teaching. It was Southern Baptists who taught me to love the local church and my neighbor, to seek the lost with the gospel, and to help those in need. I love the SBC, and I believe our best days are ahead of us. It’s for these reasons that I’m willing to be nominated for SBC president.
If I’m elected, I plan to accomplish much good for the Southern Baptist Convention and her entities by implementing these five points:
1. The Law Amendment
First, the SBC should pass the Law amendment, and if I am elected, I will encourage the credentials committee to enforce the constitution, with the Law amendment added, in defining what is a cooperating Southern Baptist church.
For decades now, Southern Baptists have known what a pastor is. The Bible has not changed. Our confession has not changed. But some Southern Baptists have changed. And the change is so evident that the credentials committee requested clarity for defining what a pastor is.
The Law amendment will add that the only type of cooperating church with the SBC is the one that “affirms, appoints, or employs only men as any kind of pastor or elder as qualified by Scripture.” Therefore, the Law amendment answers the committee’s request, and also answers Southern Baptists who have misunderstood the Bible’s and the Baptist Faith and Message’s definition of a pastor. Only men may be pastors according to Scripture and the BF&M2K.
2. Financial Transparency
Second, SBC entities should be financially transparent, submitting at least a 990-level disclosure to Southern Baptists at the annual meeting every year. The main reason is because SBC entities are accountable to the churches that fund their operations with their tithes. But as it stands currently, Southern Baptists do not know how their money is spent, with much detail, at our various entities. For churches to know that they are being good stewards by giving to the Cooperative Program, our entities must show how they spend God’s money.
Each local church is transparent in their financial spending to their members. And SBC entities should be held to the same standard local churches are held to concerning financial transparency. Otherwise, there is no way local church pastors can answer whether or not their church’s gifts are being spent wisely by SBC entities.
3. Biblical ethics
Third, Southern Baptists should be the leading prophetic voice for biblical ethics in America and beyond.
The greatest moral issue in the United States is abortion, the murder of over 1 million babies every year. The only way to end abortion is to treat the unborn with the same dignity and worth as everyone else, like Scripture does. Image-bearers begin living at conception; they’re only small and young. Therefore, every person voluntarily involved in an abortion must be held morally and legally accountable for murder. Otherwise, abortion will never be abolished. Imagine if your mother was killed by a hitman, and the law-makers held everyone accountable except the person who hired the hitman. Do you think you’d ever abolish murder-by-hitman? No. And we’ll never abolish abortion either if we don’t hold everyone involved in murdering the unborn accountable, including the mothers who voluntarily murder their babies through taking pills or through having doctors murder them.
After abortion, the next greatest moral issue in the United States is the idol of LGBTQ+. Over the past several years, we’ve heard SBC presidents, professors and pastors claim that “the Bible whispers about homosexual sin,” and that, “when a ‘homosexual’ is saved, he’s called to be holy not heterosexual.” And a growing number have claimed that same-sex and trans attractions and desires are not sin, which means that attraction and desires for children are not sin either. Instead of compromising with the world, Southern Baptists must clearly preach God’s Word, trusting His law to slay our hearers so that they will run to Christ to be healed eternally. Southern Baptists must preach that same-sex, trans and pedo attractions and desires are sin, and that Christ can save and change any sinner!
4. Reaching rural communities
Fourth, one of the SBC’s strengths is her churches located in rural communities. For more than a decade, the SBC has had a special emphasis on church planting in America’s cities. Amen. We need to plant churches in our cities.
That’s why I’m nominating Michael Clary, an SBC church planter in Cincinnati, for 1st VP of the SBC this year. Yet, in seeking to reach the cities, we must make sure we do not weaken the Southern Baptist presence in rural communities. The hardest-to-reach areas in America are the cities because they are the most pluralistic and the most antagonistic to Christianity. Rural communities often take longer to adopt the idols of the cities, which means they are often more receptive to the gospel. The rural communities in America are the “low-hanging fruit” when compared to the cities. Therefore, we need a renewed emphasis on reaching rural communities in America with the gospel. We should still pursue the cities but should pursue rural communities even more.
5. Biblically Faithful Leadership
Fifth, one of the most important responsibilities of the SBC President is to appoint the committee on committees. (He also appoints the resolutions committee, the registration committee and the tellers, and he moderates the 2025 annual meeting). The committee on committees is extremely important because they nominate the committee on nominations. Then, the committee on nominations is voted on by the SBC. And this committee then nominates all the open trustee positions at all SBC entities. In other words, the SBC president chooses the committee that chooses the committee, with SBC vote, that chooses, with SBC vote, every trustee that controls every SBC entity.
Who will I appoint to this very important committee? I will only appoint Southern Baptists to the committee on committees (and any other committee) who…
1. Affirm and practice the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 in their churches,
2. Believe and practice that only men can be pastors,
3. Believe and teach that LGBTQ+ and pedo attraction and/or desire is sin,
4. Believe and teach the abolition of abortion and equal protection for the unborn,
5. Believe SBC entities should be financially transparent.
6. Believe that the SBC should renew their emphasis on reaching rural communities with the gospel.
To summarize and easily remember this article, remember,
Great Commission unity
Great Commission ethics
Great Commission trust
Great Commission future
In conclusion, I believe our best days are ahead of us. The way to get to these best days is to submit to God’s inerrant and infallible word, without compromise. We must again establish our prophetic voice, speaking truth into the darkness, until all peoples enjoy the Lordship of Jesus Christ. I love you Southern Baptists!
What are some things that can be done to strengthen the SBC’s current relationship with our churches?
Financial transparency. The question is if SBC entities trust Southern Baptists. We trust the trustees. Do SBC entities and SBC leaders trust Southern Baptists?
What do you perceive as the strengths of the SBC?
The greatest strength of the Southern Baptist Convention is her churches and Southern Baptists. The more the SBC encourages local churches to be healthy and biblically faithful, making disciples, being zealous for good works, etc., the better.
I believe Disaster Relief is one of the best things that the SBC does. Christians should be the best at caring for those who are hurting under the curse, healing their temporary wounds so that we may heal their eternal wounds with the saving gospel of Jesus Christ.
What do you perceive as the weaknesses of the SBC?
The biggest weakness in the SBC is that we have grown concerned with what the world thinks. We’ve been taught that the world is watching us, but we must be more concerned with what God thinks rather than the world. The answers to all that ails the SBC are found in the Bible, not in the world. We will never satisfy the world, but we can please our Heavenly Father by being obedient to His Word, by the Spirit through the Son to the Father.
Any other thoughts or comments?
The 11th Commandment is one of the biggest issues in the SBC. The 11th commandment is that you cannot critique anyone to your left in the SBC.
Also, I hope to normalize being SBC president, where any Southern Baptist with a Bible, a backbone and a heart can serve us as SBC president. We need more pastors who have served SBC churches faithfully for decades with no fanfare or praise, to be nominated for SBC president.
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CLINT PRESSLEY
Current position and title: Senior pastor of Hickory Grove Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina
What led to me being nominated?
I was first approached a few years back and after praying it through I did not feel as if it was the right time. This summer, after the Convention, I was approached again, so my wife and I started to pray it through and felt like this is a great time to run. I love the SBC, have a sense of indebtedness to it and would count it a great honor to serve as president.
If elected what are the goals?
- I want us to celebrate the Truths we hold dear like the sufficiency of Scripture, the power of the gospel and the need for evangelism.
- I want us to strengthen the churches investing in pastors, especially young pastors. With so many of our churches without pastors and the average age of pastors continuing to be on the rise, we need to do all we can to promote and call out those God has already called to serve his church.
- I want us to focus on the mission. We certainly have significant issues to face and our own housecleaning to do, but we have a great house. The genius of our connectivity and cooperation has led us to be the largest mission agency in the world. We need to celebrate that, promote that and focus on the mission. We are a great commission convention and we need to be great at the mission.
What are some things that can strengthen the SBCs relationship to churches?
I think in the days ahead, we will see a resurgence in association and state conventions, and there on the local level is where genuine connection happens. The best way to strengthen the relationship of the SBC, and the churches within the SBC is to keep the mission in front of us. We need to focus on the mission, to point toward the mission and join in the mission.
What are the strengths of the SBC?
There are so many strengths, but I’ll just name a few:
- Our love for the Bible and insistence on inerrancy has given such strength and consistency over the last two and a half centuries.
- The Baptist Faith and Message 2000 is a robust confession that has proven to be such a great tool in maintaining doctrinal fidelity.
- Our faithfulness to the gospel and call for conversion by faith in Christ alone.
- Our intentional connectivity that is the currency of our cooperative mission.
- Six theologically conservative seminaries that provide a world class education at a fraction of the cost.
- Our love for the Great Commission and how that love plays out in all the various mission endeavors we support.
- Our connectivity which not only supports the mission but makes us a great family of churches.
There are others but you get the idea.
What are the weaknesses?
- We have cooled on evangelism and that needs to change.
- We haven’t settled completely on the boundaries of cooperation.
What is your take on the Law amendment?
When the law amendment came out, I was glad to sign it as it seemed to make sense to me, providing clarity to what we have already stated in the Baptist faith and Message 2000. I think the overwhelming majority of Southern Baptists joyfully embrace complimentary and the Law amendment gives good clarity for that.
We are not without issues in the Southern Baptist Convention. Many of those issues are significant, but none of them are insurmountable. Because we trust in a good and sovereign God, the power of the gospel and the fellowship of believers, we as Southern Baptists will find a God honoring way forward. I love being a Southern Baptist and look forward to the days ahead with great hope.
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DAN SPENCER
Current position and title: Senior pastor of First Baptist Church Sevierville, Tennessee
What led you to allow your name to be placed in nomination for SBC president?
I believe there are many Southern Baptist churches like the one I pastor that want to regain our focus on those Great Commission objectives that have always been the heart of our cooperation. I want to help us be the best of who we say we are.
If elected, what are your goals as president?
I want to lead all Southern Baptists in a celebration of 100 years of Cooperative Program giving next year in Dallas as we mark the centennial year of the Cooperative Program. God has done so much through our unified efforts, and there is so much more to do.
I would like to see all our churches increase their CP giving for the occasion. Additionally, I look forward to joining with new Executive Committee president Jeff Iorg in building for the future, working through our present challenges and pressing toward what God has ahead for us. I’m sure part of that would include working with the abuse reform initiative. I’m on board for helping churches create the safest environments possible for everyone.
What are some things that can be done to strengthen the SBC’s current relationship with our churches?
I believe the first order is transparency. As you say there has been a loss of confidence and trust. I am encouraged by the election of Dr. Iorg and I would enjoy working with him to create a culture that restores confidence in our denominational focus and mission. I believe a key is working in partnership with our various state conventions which have their fingers on the day-to-day pulse of our churches. SBC entities were created to support the work of the local church, and not support the work of denominational entities.
The local church is the steak, everything else are the sides. I’d like to see us really recapture that spirit and perspective.
What do you perceive as the strengths of the SBC?
Our greatest strengths have always been our unity in Christ, our singularity of evangelist purpose and our cooperative effort to accomplish that purpose. The three go hand-in-hand. Jesus dictates the purpose and merits our cooperation. We have proven for generations how unified we can be when we focus together on reaching the lost, sending out missionaries, training pastors and standing for truth.
I believe we can get there again. The great expression of our unity has always been our financial generosity through the Cooperative Program. I’m so thankful for what God has done in the past 100 years as we have pooled our resources to do gospel ministry for the glory of God.
What do you perceive as the weaknesses of the SBC?
Like Martha in Luke 10, we are “worried and troubled about many things” that distract us from the main thing. Jesus said, “But one thing is necessary…” For Southern Baptists, that one thing is a recommitment to the mission Jesus gave us. We have always had our differences, but we have always found a way to come together, to deal with issues, and then to get back to the business of making and mobilizing disciples.
What is your take on the Law Amendment issue and what Southern Baptists should consider going into this next meeting?
I have no issue with the theology of the amendment. It is really a governance issue, and I think the BFM 2000 has served us well in speaking clearly about that.
Messengers dealt with the situation involving a large church and a famous pastor, and when the vote was taken, 92 percent of our messengers were in agreement. I feel confident that Southern Baptists as a whole understand the role of the senior pastor so I question the necessity of the amendment. My hope is that people will be thoughtful rather than reactive in their approach to the issue.
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