NASHVILLE (BP)—Southern Baptist Convention President Bart Barber announced a North Carolina pastor will chair the abuse reform implementation task force and an Arlington pastor will chair the cooperation group formed in response to the motion by James Merritt at the 2023 SBC annual meeting.
Barber announced the appointment of Josh Wester, pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Greensboro, N.C., to the abuse reform implementation task force and named him as its chair. The announcement included the transition of several task force members and the addition of new members.
He also announced Jared Wellman, pastor of Tate Springs Baptist Church in Arlington, will lead the cooperation group. Wellman previously served as the chair of the SBC Executive Committee.
Barber, pastor of First Baptist Church in Farmersville, said he will announce the remaining members of the cooperation group by the end of August.
He asked “local associations and state conventions within the SBC family to press ‘pause’ on any ongoing work they may be conducting or motions they may be considering that involve the nature of what it means to be a church in friendly cooperation with sister Southern Baptist churches.”
Barber said he understands each of these groups are autonomous, but believes the cooperation group will engage in “high-quality research, dialogue, prayer and contemplation about the nature of cooperation among Southern Baptist churches and our needs going forward.”
He believes the results of their work will “prove to be very helpful information for our local associations and state conventions to consider as they make their own autonomous decisions.”
Marshall Blalock, Cyndi Lott and Jarrett Stephens have stepped down from the abuse reform implementation task force. Blalock served as the chairman of the task force following the 2022 SBC annual meeting. He previously served as vice chairman of the sexual abuse task force that oversaw the investigation into the alleged mishandling of sexual abuse claims by the SBC Executive Committee.
Barber expressed his thanks to Lott and Stephens. He said Blalock “deserves the gratitude and affection of all Southern Baptists. His leadership of the task force as chair for the past year has been exemplary.”
Sign up for our weekly edition and get all our headlines in your inbox on Thursdays
In addition to Webster, current members of the task force are: Melissa Bowen from First Baptist Church in Prattville, Ala.; Kris Buckman of Tri-County Baptist Church in Damascus, Md.; Stephanie Cline of First Baptist Church in Winter Garden, Fla.; Brad Eubank of First Baptist Church in Petal, Miss.; Mike Keahbone of First Baptist Church in Lawton, Okla.; Kelley Lammers of Dell Baptist Church in Dell, Ark.; Jon Nelso from Soma Community Church in Jefferson City, Mo.; and Gregory Wills of LaGrange Baptist Church in LaGrange, Ky.
We seek to connect God’s story and God’s people around the world. To learn more about God’s story, click here.
Send comments and feedback to Eric Black, our editor. For comments to be published, please specify “letter to the editor.” Maximum length for publication is 300 words.