Steve Gaines elected SBC president after J.D. Greear withdraws

ST. LOUIS Tennessee pastor Steve Gaines was elected by acclamation as Southern Baptist Convention president after fellow candidate J.D. Greear withdrew his candidacy June 15 in a display of unity.

Greear’s withdrawal followed a runoff vote the day before that didn’t produce a majority winner. His decision avoided a second runoff and left Gaines elected by acclamation as president of the SBC during the annual meeting in St. Louis.

Greear, pastor of The Summit Church in Raleigh-Durham, N.C., told the convention he prayed the night before and believed “we need to leave St. Louis united.” He made the motion for Gaines to be elected by acclamation.

Gaines said he, too, had decided internally Tuesday night to withdraw but agreed to serve as president after a conversation with Greear. “There’s no way God is not doing something in all of this.”

“I just wanted Jesus to be lifted high” and the convention to be united, Gaines said.

Gaines, Greear and New Orleans pastor David Crosby originally were nominated for convention president.

In the first ballot cast by 5,784 messengers, Crosby received 583 votes or 10.08 percent; Gaines received 2,551 votes, or 44.1 percent; and Greear received 2,601 votes, or 44.97 percent. None of the candidates received 50 percent or more of the votes, forcing a runoff.

Then in the runoff ballot, with 7,230 messengers registered, 4,824 ballots were cast. Gaines received 2,410 votes or 49.96 percent while Greear received 2,306 votes or 47.80 percent. However, 108 votes were considered illegal because the wrong ballot was used or an indistinguishable mark was made.

Roberts Rules of Order require that the 108 illegal votes be counted to determine a majority. To be declared a winner, Gaines or Greear needed to win 50 percent plus 1 of ballots cast, or 2,413 or more votes. Gaines was three votes shy of the majority.

Had the second runoff election taken place, it would have been the first time in SBC history that a second ballot for the same two candidates in the presidential election would have been necessary, said chief parliamentarian Barry McCarty.

The new SBC president succeeds Ronnie Floyd, pastor of Cross Church in Northwest Ark.

During the 11 years Gaines has pastored Memphis-area Bellevue Baptist Church, the congregation has averaged 481 baptisms per year, according to the SBC’s Annual Church Profile database. Previously, he pastored churches in Alabama, Tennessee and Texas.

Bellevue voted to give $1 million during its 2016-17 church year through the Cooperative Program, Southern Baptists’ unified channel for funding state- and SBC-level missions and ministries. That will total approximately 4.6 percent of undesignated receipts, the church told Baptist Press.

Gaines was nominated by former SBC President Johnny Hunt, who emphasized Gaines’ commitment to evangelism.

“When baptisms are at a 15-year low, we need Steve to lead us in a great soul-winning resurgence,” Hunt said.

Among his denominational service, Gaines has been a member of the Committee on Nominations, a trustee of LifeWay Christian Resources, a member of the committee that proposed a revision of the Baptist Faith and Message in 2000, chairman of the Resolutions Committee, and president of the SBC Pastors’ Conference, Hunt noted.

In winning the election, Gaines is the fourth president from Bellevue Baptist Church, following Southern Baptist legends R.G. Lee, Ramsey Pollard and Adrian Rogers.

Greear, 43, was nominated by Jimmy Scroggins, pastor of First Baptist Church in West Palm Beach, as a younger alternative to the two other candidates, saying his election would signal the next generation of leaders they “have a place at the SBC table.”

Former SBC President Fred Luter nominated fellow Louisiana pastor Crosby.

Doug Munton, pastor of First Baptist Church in O’Fallon, Ill., was elected first vice president, was and Malachi O’Brien, pastor of The Church at Pleasant Ridge in Harrisonville, Mo., was elected second vice president. John L. Yeats, executive director of the Missouri Baptist Convention, was re-elected to a 20th term as recording secretary, while Jim Wells, a church consultant and retired Missouri Baptist Convention staff member was re-elected to a 15th term as registration secretary.  

 —Contributing to this story were Todd Deaton of the Western Recorder, Brian Koonce of The Pathway, and David Roach of Baptist Press.