Why I’m Accepting the Nomination for SBC President
After a number of months of prayer, encouragement, and counsel, I am allowing my name to be placed in nomination for the presidency of the Southern Baptist Convention this June in Indianapolis. I’ve also received encouragement and consent from our church Personnel Team, Senior Staff, and my wife, Lori.
(For those of you at Biltmore Church who are not familiar with how the SBC works, “President” is a volunteer position that serves a maximum of 2 years. Our church is my top priority, and my Biltmore Church responsibilities would not change.)
As the largest missionary force in modern day history, I believe the best days of the SBC can be ahead of us. I believe God is at work in the world and that the gospel is the power of God for salvation (Romans 1:16). If elected by the messengers, I feel I could provide leadership, focus, and consensus to several key areas we face as a convention:
1. A Focus on the Great Commission
This 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.
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)!
2. A Tenacity with Sexual Abuse Reform
We need to have tenacity in making our churches the safest place possible. We have made some significant progress in regard to sexual abuse reform, primarily on the state and associational levels. With only about 3% of sexual assaults ever leading to a felony conviction, we need to find a workable way to have a ministry check website. This can help greatly in preventing abusers who have a high recidivism rate from simply being passed onto another church. The messengers voted for this overwhelmingly in 2022.
I agree with Dr. Mohler when he said, “we clearly have got some issues that genuinely do need to be addressed…. and need a “structural system” for reporting problems.”
(Psalm 140:12; Psalm 82:4; Micah 6:8; Proverbs 21:3)
3. A Renewed Commitment to an Uncompromising and Cooperative Complementarianism.
I think the good work done by Adrian Rogers and the Baptist Faith & Message 2000 committee is sufficient and practiced in well over 99.7% of SBC churches.
Southern Baptists are clear about their complementarian convictions and must remain so. But we don’t need to take measures which do more to divide than guide. We can and should affirm complementarianism without restructuring the basis of our cooperation or opening the door for extrabiblical actions. (Proverbs 13:10; Proverbs 24:3)
4. An Emphasis on Church Revitalization
80+% of Southern Baptist churches are plateaued or declining. That can change! We are already starting to see churches previously declining, become vibrant again through coaching and resourcing for pastors. Our state and local associations are set up perfectly to assist plateaued congregations in making disciples and impacting their communities with the gospel.