DALLAS — A request for the SBC legal counsel to countersue longtime pastor and former SBC president Johnny Hunt to recover legal fees incurred by the Convention was among 15 motions proposed during the afternoon session of the SBC Annual Meeting today (June 10). Another 13 motions were presented during the morning session.
Hunt sued the SBC and several others following his appearance in the 2022 report following the Guidepost Solutions investigation into the SBC Executive Committee’s handling of sexual abuse allegations during a 20-year period.
His lawsuit is one of three requiring significant expenses from the EC to defend. Benjamin Cole of North Carolina made the motion.
While 11 of the motions made during the morning session were referred to appropriate entities for further consideration and to report back to messengers next year, two will be debated and voted on by this year’s messengers tomorrow, June 11.
The motion by Florida pastor Willy Rice to abolish the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission is set for debate tomorrow at 11:45 a.m.
Action such as abolishing an entity requires affirmative votes at two consecutive annual meetings for the action to take place. An affirmative vote this year would be the first of those two. Previous attempts to abolish ERLC have failed.
The motion by Texas pastor Juan Sanchez regarding adapting the definition of pastor/elder/overseer in the SBC constitution will be debated tomorrow at 3:05 p.m.
Sanchez’s motion requests the definition be expanded to say cooperating SBC churches affirm, appoint or employee “only men as any kind of pastor or elder as qualified by scripture.”
A full report of all the motions and results will be available in upcoming articles on baptistandreflector.org. B&R