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SBC 2024: SBC MESSENGERS APPROVE GCR EVALUATION TASK FORCE RECOMMENDATIONS

INDIANAPOLIS — Southern Baptist messengers approved the six recommendations presented by the Great Commission Resurgence Evaluation Task Force on June 11 in Indianapolis following the release of its report on May 12. The Task Force followed up with releasing its proposed recommendations three weeks later June 3. Last year, Southern Baptist Convention messengers in New Orleans approved the formation of a group to study the success of the GCR Task

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SBC 2024: ERLC CONTINUES TO PROVIDE ‘A VITAL SERVICE,’ LEATHERWOOD SAYS IN REPORT

INDIANAPOLIS — The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission is not just “rooted” in the Southern Baptist Convention, “it is responsive to this convention,” Brent Leatherwood, president of the ERLC, told messengers in his report during the June 12 afternoon session of the SBC Annual Meeting in Indianapolis. Leatherwood said the commission’s work on several key issues is evidence that the ERLC continues to provide a vital service in helping churches

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SBC 2024: ARITF MEMBERS ‘FILLED WITH GRATITUDE’ AFTER MESSENGERS APPROVE RECOMMENDATIONS

INDIANAPOLIS — During a 20-minute press conference on Tuesday night, Josh Wester sounded almost like a football coach after a significant victory. Moments earlier, Wester, who serves as chair of Southern Baptist Convention’s Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force, had seen the SBC messengers overwhelmingly approve recommendations presented by the task force. “I’m thankful, filled with gratitude, for what we just saw from the messengers,” said Wester during the press conference.

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SBC 2024: ANNUAL MEETING CONVENES WITH 10,199 MESSENGERS

INDIANAPOLIS — The 2024 annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention convened June 11 with 10,199 registered messengers. Several Tennessee Baptists were elected to positions of leadership during the first session. Lindsay Nicholet of Grace Baptist Church, Franklin, and William Seale of First Baptist Church, Morristown, were elected to serve on the 2024-25 Committee on Nominations. During the 2024 Committee on Nominations report, other Tennessee Baptists were elected for the

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SBC 2024: D.J. HORTON ELECTED 2025 PASTORS’ CONFERENCE PRESIDENT

INDIANAPOLIS — D.J. Horton, pastor of the Church at The Mill in Spartanburg, S.C., was elected president of the 2025 SBC Pastors’ Conference on June 10 at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis. Horton, founder of Living Worthy Ministries, won in a runoff election with Georgia pastor Brad Whitt. Chris Bolt, a Virginia pastor, also was nominated. Horton will lead the planning for next year’s Pastors’ Conference June 8-9 in

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SBC 2024: PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEES SHARE VIEWS ON VARIETY OF TOPICS

INDIANAPOLIS — The six announced nominees for president of the Southern Baptist Convention spent almost 90 minutes answering questions about recent SBC concerns. The Q-and-A session, which lasted late into the night on June 10, drew a crowd of roughly 2,000 Baptists. The presidential forum was hosted by The Baptist Review, which describes itself as “a curated platform devoted to Convention conversation.” A recently formed digital platform, “The Baptist Review

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SBC 2024: PASTORS CONFERENCE CONCLUDES WITH GAINES

INDIANAPOLIS — The 2024 SBC Pastors Conference ended just like it started: With a pastor from the Tennessee Baptist Convention in the pulpit. Steve Gaines, senior pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Cordova and a former SBC president, preached the conference’s final sermon on Monday night. Roughly 24 hours earlier, the two-day event opened with a message from Bartholomew Orr, senior pastor of Brown Missionary Baptist Church, which is located

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SBC 2024: BAPTISTS SHARE GOOD NEWS IN INDY DURING CROSSOVER

INDIANAPOLIS — About 51 percent of Hoosiers, inhabitants of Indiana, say they seldom or never attend church or religious services, according to a recent report by Axios Indianapolis. One local pastor is praying that Crossover will help to turn those numbers around. “We are hoping that Crossover is a spark that will light that fuel of revival and evangelism here in our community, help us build up some of our

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SBC 2024: CONVERSATIONS AROUND ENHANCED FINANCIAL TRANSPARENCY FOR SBC ENTITIES CONTINUE

Southern Baptists interested in accessing more detailed financial records from national-level, Cooperative Program-funded entities, commissions and other groups did not win over the trustees of the SBC Executive Committee. Meeting on June 10 in Indianapolis, EC members declined to recommend action stated in two motions referred from the 2023 SBC Annual Meeting and will report the decision to messengers during this week’s meeting, which begins tomorrow (June 11). The EC

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SBC 2024: TENNESSEE VIBE CONTINUES AT PASTORS CONFERENCE

INDIANAPOLIS — Tennessee Baptists have a strong contingent at the SBC’s 2024 Pastors Conference, both in the audience and in the pulpit. When Adam Dooley, senior pastor of Englewood Baptist Church in Jackson, delivered his sermon during the Tuesday afternoon session of the conference, he became the second pastor from a TBC church to preach at this year’s event. Bartholomew Orr, senior pastor of Brown Missionary Baptist Church (which is

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