NEW ORLEANS — Messengers to the 2023 SBC Annual Meeting in New Orleans adopted six resolutions during the Tuesday afternoon business session on June 13. “Resolutions are an important part of what we do each and every year as a convention of churches,” said Resolutions Committee chair David Sons in introducing Part 1 of the committee’s report. “They give us a glimpse into the convictions and concerns of Southern Baptists

NEW ORLEANS — In a show of support for the on-going efforts to make Southern Baptist churches “the safest place on earth” for children and other minors, SBC messengers voted overwhelmingly in favor of extending the work of the Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force (ARITF) for another year. The vote came on Wednesday — the final day of the SBC’s annual meeting in New Orleans — after the task force

In addition to reelecting Bart Barber as Southern Baptist Convention president for another year, messengers to the annual meeting June 13–14 in New Orleans elected a slate of other leaders. Jay Adkins, lead pastor of First Baptist Church Westwego, Louisiana, was elected first vice president. Adkins received 2,393 votes, or 63.27 percent of the vote, defeating Dusty Deevers, pastor of Grace Community Church of Elgin, Oklahoma (784 votes, or 20.73

NEW ORLEANS — Rachel grew up with a deep understanding of what the missionary life looked like. She didn’t learn it at church though. She learned it as she played with her cousins and sat around a family holiday table and heard her aunts and uncles share their adventures of watching God work across the globe. Her grandparents, though not missionaries themselves, had instilled in her parents, aunts and uncles

NEW ORLEANS — Oklahoma pastor Stephen Rummage, an author and preaching professor, was elected president of the 2024 SBC Pastors’ Conference by acclamation June 12 at the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. Rummage, pastor of Quail Springs Baptist Church in Oklahoma City, will lead planning of next year’s SBC Pastors’ Conference June 9-10 in Indianapolis.

NEW ORLEANS — SBC Executive committee chair David Sons seemed relieved to announce he would not seek reelection to the post, but the ensuing vote to choose a successor could be interpreted as descriptive of a divide in denomination politics. The new chair is Philip Robertson, pastor of Philadelphia Baptist Church in Deville and Alexandria, La. He was elected on the third balloting, after his opponent Russ Barksdale of Arlington,

Hundreds of Southern Baptist women from across the nation explored the theme, “Imago Dei: Created in His Image — Female” during the annual Pastors Wives/Women’s Conference held June 12 in conjunction with the Southern Baptist Pastors Conference. One of the primary topics covered by speakers dealt with the confusion of gender identity that is now pervasive in today’s culture. “The effect of gender confusion and what it means to be