NASHVILLE (BP) – A day after overruling the Resolutions Committee, messengers to the 2021 SBC Annual Meeting adopted a resolution Wednesday (June 16) calling for “abolishing abortion immediately, without exception or compromise.”

The Resolutions Committee had declined the resolution, reasoning that while “messengers would agree with some aspects of this resolution,” the issue of abortion was addressed in another resolution condemning the repeal of the Hyde Amendment, which prevents federal funding of abortion.

But after one of the resolution’s nine co-authors spoke to the motion Tuesday (June 15), messengers brought it to the floor with a two-thirds vote. It was adopted after an amendment softening its language.

The resolution was among 10 resolutions messengers approved this year. Among other resolutions adopted, all receiving strong support from messengers, were measures recommending that churches permanently bar sex abusers from the pastorate; a resolution rejecting any theory that credits racism to anything other than sin; and a resolution denouncing the Equality Act, a far-reaching gay and transgender rights bill that critics warn would devastate freedom of religion and conscience, as well as protections for women, girls and unborn children.

Abolishing abortion

The resolution on abolishing abortion was revived Tuesday in a motion by Bill Ascol, pastor of Bethel Baptist Church of Owasso, Okla., who had initially submitted the resolution. It is perhaps the strictest antiabortion statement messengers have adopted in nearly 50 years. A resolution adopted in the 2018 SBC Annual Meeting reaffirming the full dignity of every human denounced “every act of abortion except to save the mother’s physical life.”

A group calling itself Southern Baptists for Abolishing Abortion was passing out pamphlets to messengers at the convention. The pamphlets included the full text of the original resolution as well as a rationale for its adoption and a question-and-answer section.

The resolution drew several minutes of contentious debate Wednesday, even as each messenger who spoke affirmed a pro-life position. Critics said the resolution was poorly written and would discredit all attempts to restrict but not eliminate abortion – such as bans on partial-birth abortion or so-called “heartbeat” laws.

The resolution was adopted after it was amended with the addition of one word: “alone,” a paragraph that then read:

“RESOLVED, that we will not embrace an incremental approach alone to ending abortion because it challenges God’s Lordship over the heart and the conscience, and rejects His call to repent of sin completely and immediately.” The resolution terms abortion a Great Commission issue, and laments “any complicity in recognizing exceptions that legitimize or regulate abortion.”

Disqualifying sex abusers from pastorate

James Merritt, pastor of Cross Pointe Church in Duluth, Ga., speaks to reports in his role as chairman of the 2021 SBC Resolutions Committee. Photo by Eric Brown

Building on the momentum of the SBC measures to prevent sex abuse in churches and protect vulnerable populations, messengers approved a resolution encouraging churches to permanently disqualify sex abusers from serving as pastors. The resolution also asks churches to apply the standard to all positions of church leadership.

“I believe it’s very important for Southern Baptists to speak unequivocally, and we’d like everyone to understand this, that we believe that sexual abuse is a disqualifying factor for anyone who would serve in church leadership, or be in a position where they were commended to vulnerable populations in the church,” said committee member Bart Barber, pastor of First Baptist Church of Farmersville, Texas.

Committee member Nathan Finn said the resolution supports other measures the SBC has taken to prevent sex abuse in churches, including an amendment to Article III of the SBC Constitution supporting the disfellowshiping of churches that don’t act to prevent sex abuse.

“It is very obvious that the will of the convention is that we do a better job of addressing this issue,” said vice chairman Nathan Finn, a member of Mountain Creek Baptist Church in Greenville, S.C., who is provost of North Greenville University. “We felt like this is a way that we can come alongside all the positive momentum that says our first instinct needs to be to care for those who have been abused, more than protecting our own reputation.”

Other Resolutions

In other resolutions, messengers:

Encouraged Southern Baptists to pursue holiness and brotherly love in their speech and conduct, and not permit “personal, social, theological or political interests to supersede” the urgency of fulfilling the Great Commission.
Urged the Chinese Communist Party to end the genocide of Uyghur Muslims, and encouraged the U.S. government to prioritize the admission of Uyghurs to the U.S. while continuing sanctions punishing China for its persecution of Uyghurs.
Mourned lives lost to the COVID-19 pandemic.
And expressed appreciation to the Lord, the city of Nashville and all those who contributed to annual meeting’s success.

James Merritt, lead pastor of Cross Pointe Church in Duluth, Ga., chaired the Resolutions Committee. In addition to Barber and Finn, committee members included Alex Cosio, senior pastor, New Horizons Fellowship, Woodstock, Ga.; Robyn Hari, a member of Clearview Baptist Church, Franklin, Tenn.; Andrew Hunt, senior pastor, New Life Community Church, Indianapolis; Brooke Medina, a member of The Summit Church, Durham, N.C.; Dana Hall McCain, a member of First Baptist Church, Dothan, Ala.; Adron Robinson, senior pastor, Hillcrest Baptist Church, County Club Hills, Ill.; and Jared Wellman, lead pastor, Tate Springs Baptist Church, Arlington, Texas.

More details on various resolutions are available here.

NASHVILLE (BP) – A slate of elections pushed to Wednesday (June 16) witnessed close votes among three contests as well as one result by acclamation.

Lee Brand Jr., vice president and dean of Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary, received 327 votes more than California pastor Anthony Dockery – 2,860 to 2,533 – in becoming first vice president of the SBC.

Ramon Medina, lead pastor of the Spanish ministry at Champion Forest Baptist Church in Houston, was elected second vice president. Medina received 3,103 votes to Georgia pastor Javier Chavez’s 2,724 in a runoff.

Brand is a member of the Conservative Baptist Network’s steering council, as is Chavez.

For the 24th time, John Yeats will serve as recording secretary. The Missouri Baptist Convention executive director received 3,545 votes while first-time nominee Adam Blosser, pastor of Goshen Baptist Church in Spotsylvania, Va., received 2,753.

Don Currence, administrative pastor at First Baptist Church in Ozark, Mo. was reelected by acclamation to the post of registration secretary. Kathy Litton, who delivered Currence’s nomination speech, was elected to the position over Currence at the 2019 SBC Annual Meeting in Birmingham but unable to fulfill it last year after the Orlando gathering was canceled due to COVID-19. Litton stepped down from the position earlier this year when her husband, eventual SBC President Ed Litton, announced his intentions to accept a nomination for the position.

In the first round of voting for second vice president, Medina received 3,187 ballots cast while Chavez had 2,385. California pastor Stephen Feinstein received 1,060 votes and Mississippi pastor Dusty Durbin collected 742.

In other Wednesday announcements, the convention sermon for the 2022 SBC Annual Meeting in Anaheim, Calif. will be brought by Juan Sanchez, lead pastor of High Pointe Baptist Church in Austin, Texas, with Kevin Smith, executive director of the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware, as the alternate. Chris Springer and Abbie Maggio of Redemption Church near Mobile, Ala. will be the music directors. Redemption Church is pastored by Ed Litton, who was elected SBC president Tuesday (June 15).

J.D. Greear, the outgoing SBC president, announced that Sanchez will be the first Hispanic to bring a convention sermon.

NASHVILLE (BP) – Ben Mandrell, Lifeway Christian Resources president and CEO, expressed confidence in the future of the organization during his report to messengers at the 2021 SBC Annual Meeting on Wednesday (June 16).

“I am encouraged by the report that I bring to you today,” Mandrell told messengers. “Lifeway Christian Resources exists to create resources that radically impact people’s lives and churches.”

Despite challenges brought on by the pandemic and some that existed prior to 2020, Mandrell informed those gathered that Lifeway was in a strong position. “Despite what you have heard, Lifeway is not in a fire sale,” he said. “Lifeway is getting focused.”

He noted the pandemic forced Lifeway into a moment of self-protection, as churches stopped meeting in person, conferences moved online, and summer camps were cancelled. These factors and more caused Lifeway to miss its revenue budget last year by $45 million, according to Mandrell.

The Lifeway president said the organization was able to mitigate some losses with budget cuts and reduced costs. He also noted, “We experienced the good favor of God in that some of the things that we do soared during the season of quarantine,” pointing to strong sales of books, Bibles and Bible studies. In 2020, Mandrell said, Lifeway sold more than 2.4 million Bibles and had more than 100,000 women join a Lifeway Women online Bible study.

“Scripture says every good and perfect gift comes from the Father above, so we want to recognize in the history of this organization that God has preserved us and pulled us through,” Mandrell told messengers.

He noted challenges at Lifeway that were evident when he became president in the summer of 2019: an underfunded pension; unsettled store leases from the closing of brick-and-mortar stores; a new, but underused headquarters; not enough cash reserves; expensive renovations needed at Ridgecrest Conference Center; and a complicated website that drove away potential customers.

When the pandemic of 2020 began, Mandrell said Lifeway leaders and the board of trustees “had to press the gas and make strong changes.” The organization sold Ridgecrest to “like-minded individuals that would carry the ministry forward” and has now settled all but two store leases exiting those with 50 cents on the dollar, according to Mandrell. Throughout the entire difficult season, Lifeway did not have to use any cash reserves to fund business operations and is exiting the pandemic with a stronger cash position than the organization has seen in decades, which Mandrell said was “nothing short of miraculous.”

Mandrell also addressed the recent sale of the Lifeway headquarters in Nashville. Funds from that will be used to strengthen the pension fund, fortify cash reserves, invest strategically in what best serves local churches, and purchase a modest space for creative thinking and collaborative work by employees. Because the organization embraced a work-from-anywhere culture, Mandrell said the organization was hiring people from “all parts of the country” that enables Lifeway to create resources that fit various cultures and serve a wider range of churches.

The organization’s president also highlighted the recent rebranding effort, including the new logo that includes a cross to serve as the anchor for the ministry, a folded paper to denote the printed page, a pixel to point toward a digital future, and a person to reflect a relational posture. “We want to be by your side in ministry,” Mandrell said. “We care about church leaders and want to build personal relationships with you.”

As Lifeway moves forward, Mandrell said they are developing a “laser focus” on what the organization sees as its primary and original purpose. The Sunday School Board was launched in 1891 “to serve the churches with high-quality, doctrinally sound content, that’s easy to use,” he said. “We have launched a full-scale return to that vision. Our new mission statement says: ‘Designing trustworthy experiences that fuel ministry,’ and that’s what we want to do. We will move forward to build a relational environment for you.”

Noting recent findings from Lifeway Research on the current challenges pastors are facing, Mandrell said, “Pastors are tired and exhausted, and we want to come beside pastors and help them.”

Concluding his presentation, Mandrell again referenced the initial vision for Lifeway, and quoted the organization’s founder Dr. James Frost: “We celebrate the goodness of Him who has brought us thus far, and giving Him our trust and devotion, we set our faces to the future for larger things.”

NASHVILLE (BP) – The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission intends to place 50 ultrasound machines in pregnancy resource centers during a two-year span in its ongoing and increasing effort to protect unborn children, acting President Daniel Patterson told messengers to the 2021 SBC Annual Meeting on Wednesday (June 16).

Speaking less than a month after Russell Moore announced his departure as ERLC president, Patterson described during the commission’s report the expansion of the Psalm 139 Project, the entity’s ministry to help provide ultrasound technology to pro-life pregnancy centers.

During the ERLC report, it was announced a presidential search committee would be named in the coming weeks, and Patterson said private letters from Moore leaked recently did not come from commission staff members.

After donating two dozen machines in the first two decades of the Psalm 139 Project, the ERLC announced in December it would provide 10 machines in the following six months, Patterson told messengers. He said the ERLC surpassed that goal, placing 11 machines as of the SBC meeting.

After the goal was announced, Southern Baptists’ “outpouring of support and commitment to protecting unborn children … was nothing short of remarkable,” Patterson said. He had two responses, Patterson told messengers:

“First, praise God. And second, we have absolutely no intention of slowing down.”

At its current rate, the ERLC will donate 20-25 machines by the end of 2021, including at least seven in Tennessee because of a state government grant to the Psalm 139 Project. The entity now has a new goal, Patterson announced. The ERLC plans to place 50 ultrasound machines in a two-year period leading to Jan. 22, 2023, the 50th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide.

“Southern Baptists, let’s stand for life,” Patterson said. “And as we do, we remind ourselves of what we’re here to do all along – to share the hope and the mercy and the grace and the Gospel of Christ. And that’s what your [ERLC] exists to do. Thank you for your support.”

David Prince, chairman of the ERLC trustees, told messengers during the report the board is devoted in its search for a new president to identifying “the individual who is equipped and prepared to speak from the truth of the Gospel to the consciences of elected leaders, public officials and the watching world.”

As with other recent SBC entity searches, the approval of a new ERLC president is expected to require “many months,” said Prince, pastor of preaching and vision at Ashland Avenue Baptist Church in Lexington, Ky. He asked for prayer for the trustees’ search for a president and for the ERLC staff during the transition.

It has been “a difficult time and a challenging time,” Prince said “But your ERLC team has worked diligently to carry out its ministry assignment in the midst of it all without missing a beat.”

Prince expressed gratitude for Moore for the integrity, courage and “convictional kindness that he modeled” during his eight years as ERLC president.

“[I]n this time of ethical compromise, in this time of moral chaos and confusion, in this time of constant assaults on religious liberty, we need the ERLC to be a mighty force for the Gospel of Jesus Christ,” he told messengers.

Moore announced May 18 he would step down as ERLC president to become public theologian for Christianity Today and lead the evangelical magazine’s new Public Theology Project. His resignation was effective June 1.

In a February 2020 letter to the officers of the ERLC’s trustees and a late May letter to SBC President J.D. Greear, Moore made allegations of efforts and tactics by some SBC Executive Committee leaders and others in the convention in opposition to progress on combating sexual abuse and racism.

In response to a concern raised by Mathew Vroman, pastor of the First Baptist Church in Sikeston, Mo., Patterson said he has “never leaked or been part of a leak in my entire life. And I don’t know a single person on our team who was or did.”

He does “not have any idea how those letters got out. They shouldn’t have,” Patterson said. “So I wish I had more answers for you on that, but I can tell you that it was not coming from your [ERLC] staff.”

In his report, Patterson told messengers the ERLC sought during the COVID-19 pandemic to provide resources to encourage pastors, to assist churches in reopening safely, to hold online conversations with top medical professionals about vaccines and the ethics regarding them and to work to protect religious freedom “alongside peace and public health.”

The commission also has addressed racism and injustice while “continuing to press for measures in our churches and our denominational structures to combat sexual abuse and to make our churches safe,” he said.

In addition, the ERLC has opposed harmful proposals, such as the expansive gay and transgender rights Equality Act, and championed pro-life legislation at the federal and state levels, Patterson told messengers.

All gifts to the Psalm 139 Project go toward machines and training, since the ERLC’s administrative costs are covered by the Cooperative Program, the SBC’s unified giving plan. Information on the Psalm 139 Project and how to donate is available at psalm139project.org.

NASHVILLE (BP) – Messengers to the 2021 SBC Annual Meeting overwhelmingly approved a motion calling for a task force to oversee a third-party investigation into allegations of mishandling abuse claims at the SBC Executive Committee.

The motion, offered by Grant Gaines, pastor of Belle Aire Baptist Church in Murfreesboro, Tenn., was among 32 motions made by messengers to the 2021 SBC Annual Meeting June 15 in Nashville, the most in a decade.

Gaines’ motion said the task force, which will be appointed within 30 days by new SBC President Ed Litton, should be composed of members of Southern Baptist churches and “experts in sexual abuse and the handling of sexual abuse-related dynamics.”

The task force can opt to oversee the independent review already initiated by the Executive Committee or begin a separate third-party review, and it must ensure that an investigation includes “any allegations of abuse, mishandling of abuse, mistreatment of victims, a pattern of intimidation of victims or advocates, and resistance to sexual abuse reform initiatives.”

While the motion was under consideration, SBC Executive Committee President and CEO Ronnie Floyd told messengers he supported its approval.

Floyd had earlier announced on June 11 that the EC had secured Guidepost Solutions for an independent review of its handling of sexual abuse issues. The review had been called for amid controversy over allegations made by former Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission President Russell Moore that various Southern Baptist leaders “stonewall[ed]” calls to address sexual abuse in the SBC.

The move was seen as insufficient by some, including Gaines, who said the Executive Committee should not oversee an investigation of itself.

The allegations came in two letters by Moore that were leaked to news media. In the second letter, dated May 31, 2021 – the final day of Moore’s tenure – he wrote of two meetings in 2019 among SBC leaders and described opposition to efforts to address sexual abuse in the SBC. Floyd and then-Executive Committee Chairman Mike Stone, who was a candidate for SBC president, participated in the meetings. Later, clips of audio recordings from the meetings were released by Phillip Bethancourt, a Texas pastor who was at the time the ERLC’s executive vice president.

Under the terms of the approved motion, all EC members and staff serving from January 2000 to June 2021 are subject to the investigation.

The motion also calls for an audit of the “procedures and actions” taken by the SBC Credentials Committee, which was formed two years ago to address allegations of sexual abuse in churches.

According to the motion, the third-party review will be funded by the Cooperative Program.

Messengers, by approving the motion, asked Executive Committee members and staff to waive attorney-client privilege “in order to ensure full access to information and accuracy in the review.”

A written report on the findings of the review will be presented to the task force 30 days before the 2022 SBC Annual Meeting in Anaheim, Calif., and made public in full form within one week along with suggestions from the task force for actions to be taken by the convention, according to the motion.

When he made the motion, Gaines said: “In order for this investigation to be truly external, independent and unbiased, we can’t have the Executive Committee setting the terms of the investigation themselves. They can’t be the ones to hold themselves accountable.”

“This might seem like too much trouble to some, but I assure you it is the least we can do for abuse survivors,” Gaines said to applause.

The motion first was referred to the Executive Committee, but messengers voted to overrule the Committee on Order of Business and consider it on the convention floor.

In a statement released shortly afterward, the SBC Executive Committee “thank[ed] the messengers for their passionate concern” and promised to “work to expeditiously implement today’s motion.”

“It has always been our intention to be forthright and transparent in this process,” the statement said. “Today’s decision, in whose outcome we are confident, will have the ultimate blessing of removing all doubt in the minds of our community of Southern Baptists allowing us to chart a more confident future, together. We thank those messengers who have invested so much righteous energy in this important cause.”

In other motions at the 2021 Annual Meeting, Joseph Horan of Starkville Community Church in Starkville, Miss., moved that the SBC amend the schedule to extend by at least 10 minutes each the allotted time for new motions, miscellaneous business and resolutions at the current annual meeting. The motion failed on a ballot vote.

Adam Greenway, chairman of the Committee on Order of Business, moved on behalf of the committee that the following motions be referred to the Executive Committee for consideration and report to the 2022 annual meeting:

a motion by Jay Adkins of First Baptist Church in Westwego, La., asking the Executive Committee to study conflicts of interest regarding the roles of legal counsel.
a motion by James Allen Murray of Centerville Baptist Church in Kelly, N.C., to add a fellowship meal Sunday to the denominational calendar.
a motion by Ted Traylor of Olive Baptist Church in Pensacola, Fla., to consider discontinuing the Committee on Resolutions.
a motion by Robert White of Shaw Heights Baptist Church in Sumter, S.C., asking the Executive Committee to study the possibility of asking the Committee on Resolutions to release resolutions 30 days prior to each annual meeting.
a motion by Charles Johnson of First Baptist Church in Sandy Hook, Ky., to amend the bylaws governing the Committee on Resolutions.
a motion by Steven Bailey of Calvary Baptist Church in Osceola, Ark., to include the Cooperative Program giving of candidates nominated for office.
a motion by Nate Magloughlin of Trinity Baptist Church in Amarillo, Texas, to allow for proxy voting by SBC missionaries.
a motion by Jason Wing of University Baptist Church in Beavercreek, Ohio, to allow more advance notice of resolutions proposed by the Committee on Resolutions.
a motion by Roy Youngblood of First Baptist Church in Greenville, Texas, calling for a day of corporate repentance on the SBC Calendar.
a motion by Gary LaRoy of Tulip Grove Baptist Church in Old Hickory, Tenn., asking the Executive Committee to consider making Nashville the permanent site of the annual meeting and providing satellite locations.
a motion by Philip Nelson of Lakeland Baptist Church in Carbondale, Ill., calling for changing the name of the SBC to the Great Commission Baptist Convention.
a motion by Christopher Benavides of Oak Ridge Baptist Church in San Antonio, Texas, to amend Article 1 of the constitution to change the name of the SBC to Great Commission Baptists.

Two motions were referred to the Executive Committee and all entities:

a motion by Brad Patterson of First Baptist Church in Lavon, Texas, that each entity assess the use of nondisclosure agreements.
a motion by Rick Hillard of First Baptist Church in Princeton, Ky., that each entity undergo an audit and disclose all details at least 30 days prior to the annual meeting.

A motion by John Blackmon of Meansville Baptist Church in Meansville, Ga., requesting that Lifeway produce resources for Deaf people was referred to the International Mission Board and North American Mission Board.

A motion by James Walker of Fielder Church in Arlington, Texas, asking the North American Mission Board to study the Enneagram was referred to NAMB.

Four motions were referred to the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission:

a motion by Jared Longshore of Grace Baptist Church in Cape Coral, Fla., asking for an investigation of the ERLC.
a motion by Todd Benkert of Oak Creek Community Church in Mishawaka, Ind., requesting the ERLC perform an assessment of sexual abuse in the SBC.
a motion by Tristan Clark of First Baptist Church in Gwinn, Mich., to create a task force to assist in the abolishing of abortion.
a motion by Walter Boutwell of First Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala., that the SBC provide guidance on puberty blockers to pastors, parents and churches.

A motion by Shad Tibbs of Fellowship Baptist Church in Trout, La., that the SBC break fellowship with Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., because of its recent ordination of women pastors was referred to the Credentials Committee.

The following motions were ruled out of order:

a motion by Allen Nelson of Perryville Second Baptist Church in Perryville, Ark., to place restrictions on Cooperative Program allocations to SBC entities.
a motion by Tom Ascol of Grace Baptist Church in Cape Coral, Fla., to rescind Resolution 9, which was adopted at the 2019 annual meeting.
a motion by Peter Lumpkins of North Hall Church in Gainesville, Ga., to strike a portion of a report published in the 2021 Book of Reports.
a motion by Bob Dutton of Salem Baptist Church in Henrico, Va., to address Critical Race Theory.
a motion by Brian King of Harvest Community Church in Eugene, Ore., to have the SBC investigate legal claims presented by NAMB and the ERLC to the U.S. Supreme Court and other federal courts.
a motion by Alan Cross of Petaluma Valley Baptist Church in Petaluma, Calif., asking messengers to rescind a resolution from 1861.
a motion by Jonathan Six of Faith Baptist Church in Youngsville, N.C., to rescind a list of resolutions from previous conventions.
a motion by Todd Stinnett of Black Oak Heights Baptist Church in Knoxville, Tenn., that the SBC vote to reject racism, Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality.
a motion by Michael Hoffman of Summit Woods Baptist Church in Lee’s Summit, N.C., that no less than 20 percent of time in the proposed annual meeting schedule be allotted for business.

NASHVILLE (BP) – Messengers to the 2021 SBC Annual Meeting approved a broad resolution on the Bible’s sufficiency regarding race and racial reconciliation Tuesday (June 15) but chose not to address specifically the contentious issue of critical race theory.

Among nine resolutions passed, messengers also endorsed overwhelmingly statements on government policies that included:

A denunciation of any attempt to rescind the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits federal funding of abortion. Opposition to the Equality Act, a far-reaching gay and transgender rights bill that critics warn would devastate freedom of religion and conscience, as well as protections for women, girls and unborn children.

Because of a lack of time, the committee tabled a resolution that would have affirmed the “Christian ideal of citizenship” under the Lordship of Jesus and would have condemned the January invasion of the U.S. Capitol as “inconsistent with faithful Christian citizenship.”

The Resolutions Committee chose not to address the issue of critical race theory (CRT) in the first SBC annual meeting since the passage of a 2019 resolution on CRT and intersectionality developed into a divisive point of contention during the last two years.

Critics within the convention who have decried CRT’s use and have labeled it as Marxist have warned it has gained influence in Southern Baptist institutions and churches. Meanwhile, other Southern Baptists have denied the charges, saying CRT is not impacting SBC life and contending those in the SBC concerned about racial justice are following New Testament teaching, not secular ideologies.

The resolution quoted from Scripture and the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 (BF&M), the SBC’s confession of faith, regarding race and racial reconciliation before affirming the Bible’s adequacy on the issues.

It said SBC messengers “reject any theory or worldview that finds the ultimate identity of human beings in ethnicity or in any other group dynamic” and “reject any theory or worldview that sees the primary problem of humanity as anything other than sin against God and the ultimate solution as anything other than redemption found only in Christ.”

The resolution also repudiated “any theory or worldview that denies that racism, oppression, or discrimination is rooted, ultimately, in anything other than sin.”

It also reaffirmed the resolution regarding racial reconciliation on the SBC’s 150th anniversary in 1995 in which messengers apologized to African Americans for “condoning and/or perpetuating individual and systemic racism.”

The Resolutions Committee’s decision not to confront CRT explicitly met with brief opposition from the floor.

Kevin Apperson, pastor of North Las Vegas (Nev.) Baptist Church, said the resolution consisted of “nebulous, unclear and ambiguous language that speaks concerning the content of critical race theory but never has the courage to address it by its name. If we do not have the courage to call a skunk a skunk, let’s not say anything.”

James Merritt, chairman of the Resolutions Committee, replied by saying, “It’s time to find out who we are and where we are headed.”

“[W]e are not the 2019 Resolutions Committee. We are the 2021 Resolutions Committee,” said Merritt, pastor of Cross Pointe Church in Duluth, Ga., and a former SBC president. “What we have done in this resolution is say, ‘You know what, let’s just [settle] this once and for all, yesterday, today and forever.’”

The committee rejects any theory that says “our problem is anything other than sin and the solution is anything other than” the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Merritt said.

Todd Benkert, lead pastor of Oak Creek Community Church in Mishawaka, Ind., immediately called for a vote from the floor, and messengers agreed by the two-thirds majority required. Messengers then approved the resolution by a strong majority.

The disagreement over CRT entered another facet in SBC life when the presidents of the six Southern Baptist seminaries issued a statement in November 2020 that said “affirmation of Critical Race Theory, Intersectionality and any version of Critical Theory is incompatible with the Baptist Faith & Message.” The statement reaffirming the BF&M 2000 condemned “racism in any form.”

The National African American Fellowship of the SBC objected to the seminary presidents’ broad condemnation of CRT, saying “certain limited insights from CRT, not as an ideology or worldview, can be useful to identify and repudiate racial bias and systemic racism in organizations and institutions.” The seminary presidents’ statement had “the effect of delegitimizing and dismissing the lived experiences of African Americans and other ethnic groups,” according to the NAAF.

Messengers to the last SBC annual meeting, held in 2019 in Birmingham, Ala., approved Resolution No. 9 on CRT and intersectionality with a strong majority. The resolution affirmed the Bible as “the first, last, and sufficient authority” regarding how the church tries to amend social evils and said CRT and intersectionality should only be used in submission to Scripture.

The 2021 Resolutions Committee’s report showed it received 10 proposed resolutions on various theories regarding race, but it chose to combine them into a general statement.

In other resolutions business, the messengers’ passage of the statement on the Hyde Amendment was the latest in a four-decade-old series of resolutions opposing abortion and federal funding of the procedure.

The resolution served as a response to President Biden’s budget proposal issued in late May that failed to include the 45-year-old Hyde Amendment and other pro-life policies in federal programs. If Biden’s proposal succeeds, it would mark the first time since 1976 the Hyde Amendment has not been enacted.

The Hyde Amendment, which must be approved each year as a “rider” to a spending bill, prohibits federal funds in Medicaid and other programs from paying for abortions. The ban is estimated to have saved the lives of more than 2.4 million unborn children.

The resolution urged Biden and Congress to preserve Hyde and all other pro-life amendments. It also urged Southern Baptists to “work through all available cultural and legislative means to end the moral scourge of abortion as we also seek to love, care for, and minister to women who are victimized by the unjust abortion industry.”

Finally, in strongly opposing the Equality Act, messengers approved language that described the proposal as “one of the greatest threats to religious liberty in our nation’s history.”

The bill, which has already gained approval by the U.S. House of Representatives, would add “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to the classifications protected in federal civil rights law. “Sexual orientation” includes homosexuality, bisexuality and pansexuality, while “gender identity” refers to the way a person perceives himself regardless of his biology at birth.

The Equality Act fails to protect the freedom of religion and conscience of faith-based adoption and foster-care agencies, as well as religious hospitals and health-care workers, the resolution said in echoing warnings already issued by the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. It also would threaten the Hyde Amendment and erode civil rights protections for women and girls, according to the resolution.

In addition to opposing the Equality Act, the resolution encourages “love and compassion” toward those who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender and the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus to them.

NASHVILLE—Bobby Bowden, the legendary Florida State University football coach, made a surprise appearance at this year’s Send Luncheon hosted by the North American Mission Board (NAMB). The unannounced visit came as Mark Richt, a longtime assistant to Bowden at Florida State, shared how his former boss led him to the Lord.

“What would you say to coach Bowden if he were here today,” NAMB president Kevin Ezell asked Richt.

Legendary Florida State University football coach Bobby Bowden (left) surprised Mark Richt (middle) during the North American Mission Board’s Send Luncheon. NAMB president Kevin Ezell interviewed them about the impact their shared faith made on their lives. NAMB photo.

As Richt began to answer, Ezell interrupted—“You know what, why don’t you tell him in person?” and lights came up on a darkened corner of the stage to reveal Bowden.

“You snuck up on me, coach,” Richt said, embracing Bowden. “How’d you do that?”

“Well, that’s how you did me,” the 90-year-old coach said as they began reminiscing during the interview, which was preceded by a mini-concert by recording artist, Matthew West to kick off the luncheon.

Bowden won two national championships and 12 Atlantic Coast Conference with Florida State. For more than a decade, Richt was an assistant coach during some of those great runs before getting the head coaching job at Georgia, where he won two Southeastern Conference championships and was consistently among the top teams in the nation.

Bobby Bowden (left) and Mark Richt (middle) embrace after Bowden surprised Richt during the North American Mission Board’s (NAMB) Send Luncheon in Nashville. NAMB president Kevin Ezell interviewed Bowden and Richt about how their Christian faith has impacted their lives and careers. Baptist Press photo by Eric Brown.

During the Send Luncheon, Ezell, International Mission Board (IMB) president, Paul Chitwood, and Bryant Wright, president of Send Relief, announced that Richt would be a national spokesman for Send Relief, the Southern Baptist compassion ministry.

“You’re the first person we’ve asked to be a national spokesman for Send Relief, and it’s not because of the way you coached but by the way you lived your life,” Ezell said.

Bowden was known for his ardent Christian faith. NAMB wanted to share his and Richt’s stories as a way to demonstrate the fruit of evangelism and discipleship and the reverberating impact that can be made.

“That’s what makes the world go around,” Bowden said. “If we don’t go out and talk about Jesus, how is the world going to know?”

When Ezell discussed the tens of thousands of people Bowden influenced during his lifetime, Bowden talked about his gratitude for those who did come to faith.

One of those, of course, was Richt, and during the luncheon, they reflected on Richt’s opening press conference after he took the job at Georgia. He discussed his faith with the media, and Richt’s testimony touched one of the budding, 25-year-old reporters in the crowd.

That reporter, Todd Unzicker, eventually had the chance to talk one-on-one with the coach, and Richt prayed with him, changing the trajectory of his life. After serving in several different ministry roles, Unzicker recently became executive director of the Baptist Convention of North Carolina and stood from the audience to share his testimony.

“Some few years later, I received Jesus as my Lord and Savior from watching you and your testimony,” Unzicker said. “I remember sharing that with you in your office, and you said, ‘Well, coach Bowden prayed with me in front of his desk,’ and I remember that day, you walked around your desk and prayed with me.”

Recording artist Matthew West kicked off the North American Mission Board’s Send Luncheon with a mini-concert. NAMB photo.

After discussing the process of multiplication through discipleship with Bowden and Richt, the luncheon transitioned to the story of how one church in Tennessee, Red Bank Baptist Church, blessed a bivocational pastor, Zach Lloyd, who nearly died after contracting COVID-19.

Lloyd, who worked at Lowes and pastored La Follette Baptist Church in La Follette, Tenn., had to undergo serious medical treatment to keep him alive before he received a double lung transplant at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. Sam Greer, pastor of Red Bank, led his church to help the Lloyd family cover the cost of their mortgage payment for several months.

Before introducing Lloyd to the stage, Ezell and Tennessee Baptist Mission Board (TBMB) executive director Randy Davis spoke with Greer, who said that he wanted to rally his people during the pandemic season to be the church for a fellow pastor and church in need. Davis pointed them to Lloyd.

“Great kingdom work cannot be done without relationships like this,” Davis said of the TBMB family that enabled these believers to love one another. “It’s all about relationships.”

Lloyd then came out on the stage where he was surprised by the Vanderbilt medical team who cared for him while he was in the hospital for nine months, and they shared how much Lloyd had impacted them while he was a patient.

Zach Lloyd, (in mask) bivocational pastor of La Follette Baptist Church in La Follette, Tenn., had to undergo serious medical treatment to keep him alive before he received a double lung transplant at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. Lloyd was a special guest during the North American Mission Board’s Send Luncheon. NAMB photo.

When Ezell asked the medical team to give Lloyd an update on his medical bills, they answered, “Paid in full.” But the surprises didn’t stop there for Lloyd and his family.

Davis, on behalf of the TBMB and Send Relief, presented Lloyd with a check to cover out of pocket medical expenses. Just then, Richt threw a red challenge flag as if he was still on the sidelines of a football field and playfully recommended that Southern Baptists could do even better than that.

After the countless drives by Lloyd’s wife Sara back and forth to the hospital put thousands of miles on the family car, Ezell told Lloyd he could trade that car for a new one free of charge at their local GMC dealership. Then, Ezell asked Lloyd about his favorite baseball team, and Lloyd shared that it was the Atlanta Braves.

Jim Allen, a vice president with the Atlanta Braves, announced in a video that they would host Lloyd and his family for a Braves game where he could watch from on the field during team batting practice.

Through tears, Lloyd described how much he loved his church family, who prayed for him every Saturday morning for months.

“I’m so grateful for my church family. I’ve been there 17 years. I was there as a youth pastor, and God made a way for us to become pastor there,” Lloyd said. “I love them so much. They’re family. That’s something we really try to promote is family, and I love them. They’ve been so supportive of me.”

That sense of family among Southern Baptists is what NAMB attempts to celebrate and put on display at its luncheon each year.

Ezell closed the event by asking Southern Baptists to continue praying for Lloyd who is heading back to the hospital this week for organ rejection treatment.

NASHVILLE (BP) – Matt Henslee, pastor of Mayhill Baptist Church in Mayhill, N.M., was elected president of the 2022 SBC Pastors’ Conference Monday afternoon over four other nominees. Also elected to join him next year will be Vice President Cam Triggs, pastor of Grace Alive Church in Orlando, and Treasurer Sam Greer, pastor of Red Bank Baptist Church in Chattanooga.

Josh Reavis, associate pastor of North Jax Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Fla., nominated Matt Henslee for 2022 SBC Pastors’ Conference president.

The 2022 Pastors’ Conference will precede the SBC Annual Meeting to be held in Anaheim, Calif.

Josh Reavis, associate pastor of North Jax Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Fla., described Henslee’s ministry experience as being representative of most Southern Baptist pastors. Mayhill is a town of 56 people where the nearest McDonald’s is an hour away. Each Sunday Henslee goes through the progression of turning on the church lights, starting the coffee and praying over the 30 pews that will soon hold more than 100 people.

“It’s what he does every Sunday – Sunday after Sunday – because he’s a pastor,” Reavis said.

The Pastors’ Conference, Reavis noted, should provide a picture of those from numerous ministry settings, including a “Who’s Who” but also a “Who’s That.” Various backgrounds on the stage shouldn’t be a novel idea, but the norm.

In addition to being a pastor, Henslee has managed social media programs for Lifeway Christian Resources and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary as well as authored several books and served as co-host for Not Another Baptist Podcast. In short, Reavis said, concerns over the pastor of a small church having the skills to lead such a large-scale event as the Pastors’ Conference “is some 1990s thinking.”

“When Matt Henslee tells you that he can bring you a Pastors’ Conference that is for pastors, by pastors, he’s not guessing about what he might be able to do,” Reavis said. “He’s talking about what he’s already doing. … In God’s eyes there are no small churches and no big pastors. [There are] just churches and pastors.”

Southern Baptists pastors voted June 14 at the IMB/NAMB Send Conference in Nashville to select officers for the 2022 SBC Pastors’ Conference, which will be in Anaheim, Calif. Photo by Eric Brown

In his nomination, Fred “Chip” Luter III called Triggs “a Great Commission church planter” who has made Grace Alive Church a light in the neighborhood officially called Pine Hills, but known by many as “Crime Hills.”

“That’s what the Great Commission does,” Luter said. “It goes into some of the hardest places and changes lives and changes communities. Cam Triggs has been doing that.”

Luter, senior associate pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, also cited Triggs’ role as “a bridge builder.” Next year’s Pastors’ Conference, he added, can be an opportunity to show a more enduring picture of unity in the SBC.

Greer is “a motivated man to serve Jesus … with a passion to see lost people saved,” said Chuck Herring, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Collierville, Tenn., in his nomination speech.

Herring said he has been Greer’s mentor for 18 years, and in that time has witnessed his dedication to spreading the Gospel, including leading Red Bank to lead in a local church replant.

“He is a young man dedicated to the Lord Jesus … and preaching the Word,” he said.

Other nominees for president were Jamar Andrews, senior pastor of Word Baptist Church in Jonesboro, Ark.; Matt Carter, lead pastor of Sagemont Church in Houston; and Greg Davidson, pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in Vacaville, Calif. For vice president, Triggs defeated Victor Chayasirisobhon, lead pastor at First Southern Baptist Church in Anaheim, Calif. For treasurer, Greer defeated Charles Boswell, director of Pastoral Care and Church Health for the Colorado Baptist General Convention.

When contacted by Baptist Press after the results were announced, Henslee said: “Thank you, Southern Baptists, for trusting me and our team with the 2022 SBC Pastors’ Conference. Please pray for us, prepare to join us in Anaheim, and persevere until then. 2020 was tough. 2021 is rough. But we’ll gather together in 2022 … hold on!”