SBC 2024: MESSENGERS VOTE TO DISAFFILIATE WITH VIRGINIA BAPTIST CONGREGATION
INDIANAPOLIS — Messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting voted June 11 to disaffiliate with First Baptist Church Alexandria, Virginia, by a ballot vote of 6,759 (91.78 percent) to 563 (7.65 percent). Forty-two ballots were disallowed. The church’s messengers were initially seated when they registered, but during the afternoon’s business session, another messenger requested […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]