Juan Sanchez: first Hispanic pastor elected to give 2022 SBC convention sermon

NASHVILLE  Messengers to the 2021 Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting elected Juan Sanchez, pastor of High Pointe Baptist Church in Austin and former Southern Baptists of Texas Convention president, to deliver the convention sermon at next year’s meeting in Anaheim. 

Sanchez will become the first Latino pastor to give the convention sermon, SBC President J.D. Greear announced. 

Sanchez has served as senior pastor of High Pointe since 2005. A graduate of the University of Florida, he holds a Master of Divinity, Master of Theology and Doctor of Philosophy in systematic theology from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he is an assistant professor of Christian theology. Sanchez is also a council member of The Gospel Coalition and co-founder and president of Coalición por el Evangelio.

The sermon has been an important part of SBC annual meetings since the convention’s inception, said Taffey Hall, director of the Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives. Searchable transcripts of the bulk of the sermons dating from 1846 have been digitized and are available at sbhla.org/digital-resources/sbc-sermons.

Also from the SBTC at the SBC 2021: Messengers elected a Hispanic first vice president, Ramón Medina, lead pastor of the Spanish ministry at Champion Forest Baptist Church in Houston.