DALLAS—The SBC Executive Committee unanimously approved Jeff Iorg as its next president/CEO.

Iorg will serve as president/CEO-elect until May 13, when he will assume his Executive Committee role. The delay allows him to complete the semester as president at Gateway Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Trustees entered closed session within ten minutes of noon and arrived at their decision quickly. At 1:30 p.m., the press was invited to return for the introduction of the new president and CEO-elect.

Sixty trustees were present for the vote.

‘A force for good’

Iorg thanked the search committee for their confidence in him and shared he and his wife’s backgrounds in Southern Baptist life. He expressed gratitude for his long-standing relationship of support from Southern Baptists.

Iorg described his salvation experience, resulting from the witness of Southern Baptists at a fair. He recounted meeting his wife in a Southern Baptist college and going on to Southern Baptist seminaries. And he detailed his experience in church, denominational and institutional leadership on the West Coast.

Iorg earned his bachelor’s degree at Hardin-Simmons University, a Master of Divinity degree from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and a Doctor of Ministry degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

He characterized Southern Baptists—and their Executive Committee—as “a force for good.”

“So much of the time, the Executive Committee, rightly so, is asked to deal with the difficulties of Southern Baptist life. We face those honestly, with greater transparency than almost any organization imaginable,” he said.

“So, it’s easy sometimes to come to a meeting of the Executive Committee and think it’s all problems. Well, it’s not. … We’re a force for good.”

Search Committee members included Neal Hughes, chairman; Nick Sandefur, associate chairman; Nancy Spalding, secretary; Drew Landry; Sarah Rogers; Corey Cain; and Philip Robertson, SBC Executive Committee chairman, as voting ex-officio member.

“Today is a new day at the Executive Committee, and I am excited about what God has in store for us moving forward,” Chairman Philip Robertson said.

Iorg responds to questions

During a press conference, Iorg said he was surprised to be there, in some ways. A few months ago, he was heading toward retirement, he acknowledged. But when he was asked to consider taking the leadership role at the SBC Executive Committee, he ultimately decided he would accept.

Iorg said the most challenging part of his role would be “keeping the focus of Southern Baptists on God’s eternal mission and getting the gospel to the nations.”

When asked about primary issues he’ll face, Iorg said the three issues of highest priority are sexual abuse prevention and response, IRS form 990 issues, and issues related to amendments to the constitution about women pastors that will either be before the Executive Committee or might require executive leadership.

Additional concerns include legal issues and financial challenges that may relate to a potential sale of the building in Nashville still ahead, but they may not be as pressing, he said.

When questioned about recommendations for the Executive Committee detailed in two appendices to the “bombshell report” by Guidepost Solutions delivered in May 2022, Iorg said he “has a long track-record of promoting women in ministry leadership, supervising women in a ministry organization and doing that effectively.”

Iorg said he would take the report very seriously but declined to identify a specific recommendation from the appendices that he would consider most important to address.

When asked about how he will restore trust in the Executive Committee in light of the many issues facing it since the 2022 report came out, Iorg said, “Organizational trust is earned by two things: sacrificial service and by demonstrating competence.

“You don’t gain trust by asking people to trust you. You gain trust by doing the right thing, serving sacrificially, demonstrating competence, and people trust organizations that do that.”

He pledged to focus on trying to do trustworthy things so Southern Baptists will trust their Executive Committee.

Iorg’s wife Ann said she feels good about their new change of course, adding God gives you what you need for what he has for you. She said they both feel like this is what God has for them, so they are excited.

Bart Barber, president of the Southern Baptist Convention, stated: “Jeff Iorg has already brought unity to the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention and to the Southern Baptist Convention, as evidenced by the acclaim from far and wide in response to the initial announcement and by today’s unanimous vote.

“Jeff Iorg has said today that the SBC is a force for good. I believe that God will use Jeff Iorg as a force for good, and I will cheer him on and pray toward that end.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: The article originally was posted Thursday evening, March 21, and it was edited online Friday morning, March 22, to correct two typographical errors and to remove one statement that was in question.

RICHMOND, Va. (BP)—National Hispanic Baptist leaders met with leaders at the International Mission Board’s main offices in Richmond to discuss ways for involving more Hispanic Baptists in worldwide missions.

“Southern Baptists first began mission work in Latin America 140 years ago through the International Mission Board,” IMB President Paul Chitwood said in a later interview. “Today, Hispanics provide leadership in churches and denominational entities and ministries across the SBC.”

Chitwood and Jeff Ginn, IMB’s vice president of mobilization, met March 10 with Bruno Molina, executive director of the National Hispanic Baptist Network; Eloy Rodriguez, president of the network; Annel Robayna, IMB’s Hispanic church mobilization strategist; and other leaders to strategize ways to mobilize Hispanic Baptists to reach the nations for Christ.

The National Hispanic Baptist Network is “committed to realizing our vision that all the peoples of the earth would know of God’s redeeming love in Christ,” Molina said at the meeting.

He added the group is “fully committed to collaborating with the IMB to identify and recruit Hispanics to serve in the international mission field.”

“We emphasize the importance of giving though the Cooperative Program,” he said. “And we exist to connect in mission, contribute and share resources, celebrate what God is doing among us and facilitate communication and collaboration between Hispanic pastors and the entities of the SBC, its president and the Executive Committee.”

Mobilizing Hispanics and other ethnic groups and equipping them for ministry are an important function of the IMB, Chitwood said.

“With the growing number of Hispanic Southern Baptists, IMB hopes to see more Hispanics not only providing leadership in our convention, but also answering the call to take the gospel to the nations,” he said.

“IMB’s partnership with the National Baptist Hispanic Network is crucial to raising awareness among our Hispanic churches about opportunities to send their missionaries through the IMB to address lostness as the world’s greatest problem.”

Prayer crucially important

Leaders of the National Baptist Hispanic Network also met members of the IMB prayer team. The prayer team, which prays for the spiritually lost, missionaries and Christian leaders worldwide, also prayed for network leadership.

“Prayer is the most important part of all we do,” said Chris Derry, IMB’s director of church and campus engagement.

Rodríguez, pastor of Idlewild en Español in Tampa, Fla., said praying not only is crucial, but as a father with a son serving on the mission field with IMB, it’s personal.

“It is very important to my wife and I to pray for missionaries,” Rodríguez said, “not only because of our personal relationship with Jesus Christ and his mandate, but we relate and pray for other parents who are also blessed for having grown children serving abroad.”

Robayna, who first became interested in missions on a short-term trip and now serves with IMB, expressed hope for growth in the number of Hispanic missionaries.

“There are 65 Hispanic missionaries serving worldwide, which is only 2 percent of the missionaries sent by the IMB,” he said. “The challenge is to send more.

“There are 3,200 Hispanic churches in the SBC, and the goal is for them to pray, give, go on short- or long-term mission trips, and to send more Hispanics to the field.”

CAP HAITIEN, Haiti (BP)—Louisiana Baptists and others urgently are praying for the safe return of two Louisiana Reach Haiti Children’s Village staff members trapped in Port-au-Prince, capital city of a country that has seen a rapid increase in gang activity.

Darrin Badon, president of Louisiana Reach Haiti, told the Baptist Message the staff members were visiting family members when the most recent explosion of violence occurred and have been trapped since.

Badon said the children and other staff at the Children’s Village are safe in Cap Haitien, a city 85 miles north of Port-au-Prince. However, he said, the airport in the city is closed, and they are starting to see shortages of food and goods that come from Port-au-Prince.

The ministry is a partnership between the Louisiana Baptist Convention, Haiti Baptist Convention, Louisiana Baptist churches and the Louisiana Baptist Children’s Home & Family Ministries.

“There are no flights or bus service, so the two staff members can’t get out of Port-au-Prince,” Badon said. “This is our biggest prayer request now. Pray for these two ladies to remain safe, for God to meet their physical needs and for God to find a way to get them back to Cap Haitien.”

According to the Associated Press, Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry announced March 12 he would resign once a transitional presidential council is created. Henry, who arrived in Puerto Rico a week ago, has been unable to enter Haiti because recent violence closed the country’s main international airports.

Gangs have burned police stations, attacked the country’s main airport and raided two of the nation’s largest prisons, releasing more than 4,000 inmates.

Additionally, more than 15,000 Haitians are homeless after leaving neighborhoods raided by gangs.

What is Louisiana Reach Haiti?

In 2015, a Louisiana Baptist team felt led to create a permanent presence in Haiti and partnered with Pastor Odvald Louis and his members at New Evangelical Baptist Church in Croix-Des-Bouquets. The Haitian congregation and Louisiana mission teams combined to complete a Children’s Village in Croix-des-Bouquets. They also teamed up to dig a well and build a church building and school in neighboring Canaan.

However, the facilities in both cities were overtaken and vandalized by gangs in early 2022, Badon said.

Louisiana Reach Haiti then refocused its ministry on multiple fronts:

• In February 2022, escalating gang violence forced the Children’s Village to relocate to the Florida House, a Florida Baptist Convention-owned home for missionaries in Port-au-Prince. The facility housed 21 children and six staff members. After more than a year at the Florida House the gangs started closing in on this area as well.
• Louisiana Reach Haiti leaders helped relocate Pastor Odvald Louis and his family from Haiti, which he fled after surviving an attempt on his life.
• Louisiana Reach Haiti began partnering with Connect International Church, a congregation in New Orleans. In April 2022, the church formed and hosted an international church—led by a Haitian American graduate Pastor Dawest Louis of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary—that reaches out to Haitians and other nationalities.
• In July 2022 and 2023, Louisiana Reach Haiti partnered with Fellowship Church, Prairieville, and worked with this newly formed congregation to conduct Vacation Bible School for more than 30 children.

Badon said he is thankful for God’s hand over the children and staff throughout the many years of unrest in Haiti.

Children’s Village Director Antonio Auguste was kidnapped by gang members in Port-Au-Prince in March 2023 but was released three weeks later.

On July 1 last year, Badon flew into Cap Haitien, Haiti, and met with a small group of Haitians to prepare a new rental home for the children and staff. On July 4, Auguste, the staff and children loaded on a bus and traveled from Port-au-Prince to the new Children’s Village home near Cap Haitien, where they have remained.

NASHVILLE (BP)—Jared Moore will nominate Cincinnati pastor Michael Clary for Southern Baptist Convention first vice president at the 2024 SBC annual meeting in Indianapolis, Moore told Baptist Press March 11. Moore is a candidate for SBC president.

Moore cited Clary’s support of the so-called “Law Amendment” and Internal Revenue Service Form 990 financial disclosures of SBC entities in announcing the intended nomination, as well as Clary’s 25-year career in Christian ministry.

(https://baptiststandard.com/news/baptists/sbc-approves-amendment-limiting-pastorate-to-men/)

“He’s in favor of passing the Law Amendment. He sees the Law Amendment as just a reflection of Scripture and a reflection of our confession that Southern Baptists have voted on,” Moore said of Clary. “And [Clary believes] that putting that in the constitution would actually serve Southern Baptists well.”

The SBC Executive Committee has made no recommendation on two motions from the 2023 SBC annual meeting that would require SBC entities to submit to messengers financial information that would be included on IRS Form 990 for nonprofits. The IRS exempts certain religious organizations from submitting the form. The SBC and its entities receive the exemption.

Moore described Clary’s support of 990 disclosure as a matter of financial transparency.

“He believes that our trustees at our various SBC entities should submit 990-level financial disclosures at every SBC annual meeting,” Moore said. “And it’s not that he doesn’t trust the trustees–he trusts the trustees–but he wants to make sure that trustees trust Southern Baptists. And Southern Baptists have to be able to see that our money is being spent wisely. It’s God’s money.”

Moore described Clary as a mature Christian and a faithful husband and father.

Clary is the founding pastor of Christ the King Church, launched in 2009, in Cincinnati. Christ the King gave $792 to the Cooperative Program in 2023 from undesignated receipts of $472,854, according to the 2023 Annual Church Profile. The church reported four baptisms, 127 members and an average worship attendance of 201.

Clary told Baptist Press of an additional $32,000 in Great Commission giving in 2023, asserting donations of $10,000 to plant Christ the King Church, a Southern Baptist Church plant in Eastern Hills, Ohio, and $817 in donations to the Cincinnati Area Baptist Association.

Clary cited other donations of $4,200 to the 1520 Coalition global church planting ministry; $6,000 to Vision Nationals church planting organization based in Vishakhapatnam, India; $2,000 to the Acts 29 Network; and $3,000 to Cornerstone Church in Detroit (Acts 29), and several smaller outreaches.

Clary since has left the Acts 29 network, he told Baptist Press, which Moore confirmed.

Moore is the senior pastor of Homesteads Baptist Church in Crossville, Tenn.

WASHINGTON (RNS)—Last week, lawyers for the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee say they were contacted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and were told an investigation into the committee’s handling of sexual abuse had been closed.

News about the status of the investigation eventually leaked, and on March 6, the interim head of the Executive Committee confirmed the investigation was concluded “with no future action to be taken.”

That news came as a surprise to abuse survivors and advocates such as Megan Lively and Tiffany Thigpen. They reached out to Department of Justice investigators, who they say told them the investigation was ongoing. Both said they were told the lead DOJ investigator had no more questions for the Executive Committee, but the investigation remains open.

“The lead investigator from the DOJ concerning this investigation was as surprised as we were by these reports. She answered both Megan and I immediately when we called (separately) and said the investigation is very much open and active,” Thigpen told Religion News Service in a text message.

Something has changed. But what?

A staff member in the press office of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York said she could not comment on investigations. When asked whether the attorney general’s office disputed the statement made by the SBC Executive Committee, the staff member had no comment.

An attorney for the SBC also declined to comment.

Both sides agree something has changed with the DOJ’s investigation. They appear to disagree about what that change means. The confusion over the status of the DOJ investigation has strained the already tense relationship between abuse survivors and SBC leaders.

After this story was published, Baptist Press, an official SBC publication, published additional comments from the SBC’s lawyer.

“Legal counsel for the SBC has since confirmed that the investigation into the SBC as a whole remains open and ongoing,” Baptist Press reported.

“I am grieved the SBC, yet again, continues to take unnecessary measures to manipulate, discredit, and silence those who attempt to bring the truth to light,” said Lively in a text about the confusion over the status of the DOJ report.

Background on the SBC response to abuse

In 2022, the SBC’s annual meeting passed a series of reforms intended to address sexual abuse—focusing on identifying abusive pastors, creating training to prevent abuse and developing better systems for assisting survivors of abuse. In 2023, messengers at the SBC annual meeting reaffirmed their support for reforms.

While some Baptist state conventions have made progress on implementing reforms, there has been little progress on a national level—largely due to legal concerns and lack of a permanent funding plan. A task force charged with implementing reforms recently announced a plan to start an independent nonprofit to oversee those reforms.

Few details are available about the proposed nonprofit and almost no funding for it. Recently, the leaders of two SBC mission boards that have been funding the work of the task force said they would not fund the new nonprofit, known as the Abuse Response Commission.

In general, the DOJ does not comment on investigations and has not acknowledged the status, scope or existence of an investigation into the SBC and its entities, which include the Executive Committee, the North American Mission Board and International Mission Board, six seminaries, Lifeway Christian Resources and the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.

In 2022, the SBC Executive Committee announced it had received a subpoena from the Department of Justice and would cooperate with federal officials. Leaders of the SBC’s entities issued a joint statement to the same effect.

“Individually and collectively each SBC entity is resolved to fully and completely cooperate with the investigation,” said the SBC statement in 2022. “While we continue to grieve and lament past mistakes related to sexual abuse, current leaders across the SBC have demonstrated a firm conviction to address those issues of the past and are implementing measures to ensure they are never repeated in the future.”

No further details have been forthcoming, other than the Executive Committee reporting that the DOJ investigation has added to its growing legal expenses. It’s not clear whether any other SBC entities have been or continue to be under investigation by the DOJ.

Strained relationship with abuse survivors

The delay in implementing national reforms has strained relations between abuse survivors and SBC leaders, undermining the tenuous trust those survivors had in the reform process. That trust already was under stress after SBC entities filed a controversial amicus brief in an abuse case in Kentucky.

That case before the Kentucky Supreme Court involved the state’s statute of limitations and whether changes made by the Kentucky Legislature applied retroactively. Lawyers for abuse survivor Samantha Killary, who had been abused for years by her adoptive father, a Louisville police officer, argued the changes should allow her to sue the police department her father worked for and other third parties.

The Kentucky Supreme Court eventually ruled against her.

Abuse advocates and survivors were angered at the SBC entities that filed the amicus brief, saying those entities took the side of an abuser instead of an abuse survivor. The SBC entities were not parties in Killary’s case but were being sued in at least one other past abuse case in the state.

That amicus brief also caught members of the Executive Committee and leaders working on abuse reform by surprise.

The SBC Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force is expected to make a report to the denomination’s annual meeting this summer in Indianapolis. The task force is expected to unveil training materials for churches on how to respond to abuse.

But it’s unclear what the task force will report about other reforms, such as a database of abusive pastors or a permanent funding plan for reforms.

Jonathan Howe, interim Executive Committee president, said the SBC is committed to moving forward with reforms.

“While we are grateful for closure on this particular matter, we recognize that sexual abuse reform efforts must continue to be implemented across the convention,” he said. “We remain steadfast in our commitment to assist churches in preventing and responding well to sexual abuse in the SBC.”

(RNS)—Federal officials have concluded an investigation into sexual abuse in the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee, with no charges being filed.

News the investigation was closed was reported first by The Tennessean in Nashville.

“On February 29, 2024, counsel for the SBC Executive Committee was informed that the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York has concluded its investigation into the EC with no further action to be taken,” Jonathan Howe, Executive Committee interim president and CEO, told Religion News Service in a text responding to a request for comment.

News of the investigation became public in August 2022, after the Executive Committee first received a subpoena from the Department of Justice. That subpoena was issued a few months after the release of a major report showing some SBC leaders had mistreated abuse survivors for years and had intentionally sought to downplay the number of sexual abuse cases in the 13.2 million-member denomination.

Few details about the investigation have been made public, and the Department of Justice never has acknowledged an inquiry was underway.

The Executive Committee has reported the DOJ investigation has added to its growing legal expenses in recent years. The committee also faces ongoing civil lawsuits, including one filed by a former denominational president named in the 2022 abuse report from Guidepost Solutions.

Last December, several SBC entities settled a lawsuit prompted by years of alleged sexual abuse by legendary SBC leader and retired Texas judge Paul Pressler.

That Guidepost report, which was commissioned by messengers at the 2021 SBC annual meeting, found a number of cases where SBC leaders had mistreated abuse survivors and one case where a leader was accused of sexual assault.

Reform efforts stalled

A series of reforms aimed at addressing sexual abuse in the denomination has stalled in recent months, largely due to uncertainty over how those reforms will be paid for.

Members of a task force assigned to implement those reforms recently announced plans to start a new nonprofit to oversee the reforms. However, leaders of two SBC mission boards funding the task force have said they will not fund the new nonprofit.

Howe said SBC leaders are committed to moving forward with reforms.

“While we are grateful for closure on this particular matter, we recognize that sexual abuse reform efforts must continue to be implemented across the Convention. We remain steadfast in our commitment to assist churches in preventing and responding well to sexual abuse in the SBC,” he said in a statement.

NOTE: Religion News Service updated the headline and first sentence of the article to clarify the SBC Executive Committee—not the denomination—was the subject of investigation.

NASHVILLE (BP)—A special-called meeting will take place March 21 for Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee members to consider the nomination of Jeff Iorg as the next Executive Committee president and CEO.

The vote will take place in executive session at the Grand Hyatt in the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.

Iorg has been president of Gateway Baptist Theological Seminary since 2004, when it was known as Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary. In 2016, he oversaw the completion of the seminary’s move from Mill Valley to Ontario, Calif., and the launching of an online campus, while continuing to grow the endowment from $16 million to $60 million without incurring debt.

“Jeff Iorg is who we have been praying for,” said search team chairman Neal Hughes, director of missions and executive director of the Montgomery (Ala.) Baptist Association and MBA Community Ministries.

Praise for Iorg

Hughes noted Iorg’s “calm demeanor, communication skills, executive administrative ability and thorough knowledge of Southern Baptist life will be a God-send to the SBC.”

Executive Committee chairman and search team member Phillip Robertson said he was “beyond excited” at the news and called Iorg “a leader that all Southern Baptists can unite around.”

Other Southern Baptist leaders noted Iorg’s longevity in denominational service and the relational capital it brings.

“Jeff Iorg is one of the most respected leaders throughout the Southern Baptist Convention,” said R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. “He combines character with great ability and incredible commitment to the SBC and its churches. He is exactly what we need as president of the Executive Committee at this historic moment.”

“I have known Jeff Iorg for more than 25 years. During that time, I have observed, with keen interest, how he has grown into a stellar leader among Southern Baptists,” said Rick Lance, executive director, Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions.

“He has earned the respect of our Baptist family from across the landscape of SBC life. Personally, I believe Jeff is in the top tier of statesmanlike leadership in the SBC,” Lance added.

Iorg’s tenure as head of a Southern Baptist entity on the West Coast brings its own considerations in terms of leadership.

“Jeff Iorg is loved beyond measure in the West,” said Tony Dockery, lead pastor of St. Stephen Baptist Church in San Dimas, Calif., and Executive Committee vice chair.

Daniel Atkins, pastor of Taylor Road Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala., and a Gateway trustee, called Iorg “the leader the SBC needs for today and the future.”

Former Northwest Baptist Convention associate executive director Stan Albright referred to the “high expectations” Iorg has for staff while exhibiting “great faith in their performance.”

“He is confident, yet humble; focused, yet aware of his challenges; and a vision-caster, yet a team player,” Albright said.

Iorg’s experience

Before becoming the president at Gateway, Iorg, as executive director of the Northwest Baptist Convention, led churches to increase Cooperative Program giving by 30 percent.

Iorg was a children’s minister before becoming pastor at Green Valley Baptist Church in St. Joseph, Mo. The church saw growth in attendance and staff, as well as financial viability during his tenure.

Iorg moved on to plant Pathway Church in Gresham, Ore. After leading as pastor for several years and raising up his replacement, he continued to serve for 10 years as a lay leader.

Last October, Iorg asked Gateway trustees to begin the process of initiating a transition plan to find the seminary’s next president.

A magna cum laude graduate from Hardin-Simmons University with a Bachelor of Arts in Bible and a minor in psychology, Iorg continued his education at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, earning a Master of Divinity.

He received a Doctor of Ministry degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, with a project focused on developing effective listening skills for evangelism.

He and his wife Ann married in 1980 and have three children and five grandchildren. He is the author of eight books on biblical leadership, character development, evangelism, marriage and leading through change.

If elected, Iorg will replace previous Executive Committee president and CEO Ronnie Floyd, who resigned in October 2021.

NASHVILLE (BP)—Well-known academic leader and preaching coach David Allen will be nominated for Southern Baptist Convention president at the 2024 SBC annual meeting this summer. Texas pastor Danny Forshee says he plans to nominate Allen in Indianapolis.

“He is a leader in the SBC having served our Lord faithfully as a local church pastor, professor of preaching, and mentor to literally thousands of pastors all over the world,” Forshee told Baptist Press in written comments.

He pastored two churches in Texas before joining the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary faculty. He has served as interim pastor of 13 churches, the statement said.

Allen served on the SWBTS trustee board for 12 years, including a stint as chairman of the board.

He became dean of the School of Theology at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 2004, serving until 2016.

Allen then became the first dean of the seminary’s School of Preaching in 2016, serving as the distinguished professor of preaching, the director of the Center for Expository Preaching and the George W. Truett Chair of Pastoral Ministry.

In 2022, he left SWBTS to lead the Adrian Rogers Center for Biblical Preaching at Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary in Memphis, Tenn.

Allen, who still resides in Texas, is a member of First Baptist Church in Sunnyvale, according to the release. Last year, the church reported an average Sunday attendance of 430, 14 baptisms and $21,366 (1.2 percent) given through the Cooperative Program, out of $1,736,305 in undesignated receipts. The church also gave $36,103 to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering and $18,500 to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering.

“I know that Dr. Allen will lead our convention to be unified and laser focused on reaching the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ,” Forshee said.

Allen earned a bachelor’s degree from Criswell College, holds a master’s degree from SWBTS and earned a Ph.D. in linguistics from the University of Texas at Arlington, according to Mid-America’s website.

He is the author of multiple books and the founder of preachingcoach.com, “a ministry dedicated to equipping pastors and ministry leaders to communicate with clarity, competence, and confidence.”

Allen has participated in “more than 450 preaching workshops, conferences, revivals, and other events in the US and in more than a dozen countries abroad,” the release said.

He has four children and nine grandchildren. He and his wife Kate have been married since October 2016. His first wife, Sherri, died of cancer in 2015.

“Dr. Allen is a dedicated follower of Jesus, husband, father, and grandfather,” Forshee said.

The 2024 SBC annual meeting is scheduled for June 11-12 at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis.

NASHVILLE (BP)—Oklahoma pastor Dusty Deevers is planning to nominate Tennessee pastor Jared Moore for Southern Baptist Convention president at the 2024 SBC annual meeting. Moore is the senior pastor of Homesteads Baptist Church in Crossville, Tenn.

“Jared faithfully represents salt-of-the-earth Southern Baptists,” Deever told Baptist Press in written comments. “He is a faithful husband, father and pastor who serves the Lord dutifully at his local church without the need for fanfare or attention.

“He loves Christ and, therefore, loves Christ’s Word unashamedly.”

Moore served as SBC second vice president in 2014. He has served as senior pastor at Homesteads Church since 2016. He previously served as senior pastor of New Salem Baptist Church in Hustonville, Ky., according to his LinkedIn profile.

Moore “has a sharp mind,” Deevers said, and is “gifted by the Lord with wisdom to understand what the church faces and needs in our day and how Scripture directs us to address it.”

Moore holds a bachelor’s degree from Trinity Bible College, a master’s degree from Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary and a master’s degree and Ph.D. from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, according the church’s website.

Deevers said he’s motivated to nominate Moore because “the world and our own nation need a thriving and faithful SBC to proclaim the Gospel without embarrassment.

“Sadly, though, our prophetic voice has been stifled in recent years because of infighting, self-dealing and worldly compromise. God’s Kingdom will go on with or without the SBC, but we know the Devil would love nothing more than to destroy our long and faithful cooperative mission.

“On the flip side, our adversary fears a convention that is united around God’s truth. You have a man in Jared Moore who loves Christ, His Church and the SBC and wants to see the SBC using all of its tremendous resources to accomplish the Great Commission faithfully.”

According to SBC Workspace, Homesteads Church baptized three people in 2023 and averaged a weekly worship service attendance of 113. The church received $342,611 in total receipts and gave $19,266 (5.6 percent) through the Cooperative Program. It also gave $4,679 to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering and $1,995 to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering.

The 2024 SBC annual meeting is set for June 11-12 at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (RNS)—Leaders of the two major Southern Baptist mission boards said Send Relief money will not be used to help fund a proposed independent nonprofit meant to implement the denomination’s abuse reforms.

Plans for the nonprofit were announced Feb. 19 during a meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee.

Leaders of the SBC’s Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force said the new nonprofit is needed to make those reforms a reality.

“Given the current legal and financial challenges facing the SBC and the Executive Committee, the formation of a new, independent organization is the only viable path that will allow progress toward abuse reform to continue unencumbered and without delay,” Josh Wester, the North Carolina pastor who chairs the task force, told members of the SBC’s Executive Committee. “To do this, we have to do this together.”

Wester said he hoped leaders of the SBC’s entities, including its North American Mission Board, International Mission Board and seminaries, along with SBC President Bart Barber, would help find funding for the proposed nonprofit, known as the Abuse Response Commission.

Currently, the work of the Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force has been paid for out of $3 million set aside by Send Relief, a humanitarian effort run by the two mission boards, to get abuse reforms off the ground.

Send Relief officials said those funds cannot be used for the new nonprofit.

“While Send Relief has been privileged to make funds available to the ARITF to help care for survivors and assist churches in efforts to prevent abuse, those funds have never been committed to help form a separate organization outside the SBC, such as the proposed Abuse Response Commission,” Send Relief President Bryant Wright, IMB President Paul Chitwood and NAMB President Kevin Ezell said in a statement Feb. 21.

The three leaders said many questions remain about the structure and leadership of the proposed nonprofit. They did say the Send Relief funds can still be used by the task force.

“Though Send Relief funds are not available for a non-SBC organization, they do remain available to the ARITF for its assigned work within the SBC,” they wrote.

‘Original intent’ of the granted funds

In a follow-up response, a spokesperson for the IMB said the statement addressed the original intent of the Send Relief funds.

“The statement today represents the original intent of the granted funds and the reaffirmed commitment to that intent to fund work within the SBC, not outside the SBC,” the spokesman told Religion News Service.

Abuse reforms in the SBC have stalled over the past two years, largely due to legal and financial constraints, as well as the limits of a volunteer task force. That’s raised questions of whether those reforms—passed in 2022 during the SBC’s annual meeting—ever will be fully implemented.

During that meeting, local church messengers approved plans for a Ministry Check website that would include the names of pastors who have been convicted of abuse, had a civil judgment against them for abuse or been “credibly accused” of abuse. That website was launched last year but no names of abusive pastors have been listed.

The messengers also approved more training and resources to help churches prevent abuse and to respond appropriately when it happens. The task force, in a news conference Feb. 20, said new training materials will be available in time for the SBC’s annual meeting in June.

Wester said messengers at the SBC annual meeting in 2022 asked the task force to collaborate with SBC entity heads to find funding for reforms.

“We have been and remain committed to this directive as we work toward a long-term solution for sexual abuse reform. We are grateful for Send Relief’s investment in this cause, and we are hopeful that the SBC’s national leaders will help the ARITF determine the best path forward in financing future reform efforts,” he said.

A past proposal to fund abuse reforms from the Cooperative Program unified budget was shot down in 2022. That led Send Relief to set aside $3 million for the SBC’s response to sexual abuse and another million to pay for abuse survivor care.

No funds for the Abuse Response Commission were included in a proposed Cooperative Program budget passed during the most recent Executive Committee meeting, as the denomination’s rules require those funds to go to SBC entities. No rules would prohibit entities from donating to the work of an outside group.

Brent Leatherwood, president of the SBC’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, said he would ask trustees of the ERLC to contribute to the start-up costs of the Abuse Reform Commission.

A child shows up in a hypothetical situation but represents a real possibility—so real, it moved one South Carolina pastor deeply enough to embrace a seemingly impossible task and expend time, energy and money urging others to come alongside him.

Pastor Marshall Blalock joins a group of founding members already committed to the effort—a group that knew he needed to be included and extended the invitation.

Blalock of First Baptist Church in Charleston and the other five Abuse Response Commission incorporators are serving or have served on the Southern Baptist Convention’s Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force.

“My conviction about this has grown more and more over the course of time,” Blalock said. “Serving on this task force was not an easy job by any stretch. It takes a lot of extra time and hard work, but as each day passes, I’m more convinced of the necessity of getting this right. Every ounce of energy that has been spent on this has been worth it.”

Finding a path forward with the Abuse Response Commission involves costs and time, he added.

“But it’s worth it for leadership to have the best information and resources—and to have the opportunity for churches to become the safest places on earth to hear the gospel. It’s an overarching goal, but our churches deserve that from us,” he said.

‘A little girl out there somewhere’

For Blalock personally, remembering that child—a little girl—keeps him energized and focused.

 “Over a year ago now, I had this dream—in some ways a nightmare—about a 12-year-old girl at a Baptist church. The little girl said, ‘If you had just gotten this done sooner, it wouldn’t have happened to me.’

“All this time later, my eyes still well up with tears when I think of or tell someone about the dream,” he said.

“Why did I say ‘yes’ to the invitation (to help launch the Abuse Response Commission)? I did this for her,” he said.

“There’s a little girl out there somewhere. And if we get this right, and her church looks at this database and decides they can’t hire a person they are considering because the name shows up, then that little girl is not abused. And it is worth every minute of my time and every cent of my money.”

Blalock expressed appreciation for the diligence of those in the SBC who already worked on its initial Sexual Abuse Task Force and the Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force.

“While the task forces have not always known what to do and how to do it, they have kept working,” he said. “My personal goal is to serve that little girl, to protect her. She matters to me.

“When people hear and understand what’s actually being suggested and understand there are still some things that are yet to be worked out, I believe they will see that this plan accomplishes the goal.”

Blalock confirmed an independent institution in this case is “not to be free of the SBC.”

“The point is to serve the churches of our convention while not creating liability for the SBC.”

The plan is not fully developed and many unanswered questions remain. Asking those questions is appropriate and the team is working hard to answer them, he said.

NASHVILLE (RNS)—The Southern Baptist Convention Executive Board voted to cut ties with four churches on Feb. 20.

One hired a woman pastor. Two allegedly mismanaged sexual abuse. The other failed to give to SBC missions causes.

All four were designated as “being out of friendly cooperation” with the nation’s largest Protestant denomination after its credentials committee recommended they be removed.

Immanuel Baptist Church, in Paducah, Ky., was deemed “not in friendly cooperation” for having a woman who serves as senior minister.

The SBC statement of faith—the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message—says that the office of pastor, also known as an overseer or elder, is limited to men.

The SBC is considering a constitutional amendment that would bar churches that allow women to hold the title of pastor, no matter what their role at the church.

Last February, the Executive Committee expelled five churches, including Saddleback Church in Southern California, one of the nation’s largest churches, for giving a woman, the wife of its new senior pastor, the title of preaching pastor.

The Executive Committee determined Grove Road Baptist Church in Greenville, S.C., had shown “a lack of intent to cooperate in resolving a concern regarding the pastor’s mishandling of an allegation of sexual abuse.”

The committee also decided West Hendersonville Baptist Church, in Hendersonville, N.C., had broken denominational rules on dealing with abuse by retaining a pastor who was “biblically disqualified.”

Trustees also decided that the SBC’s relationship with New Hope Baptist Church, of Gastonia, N.C., had been “discontinued” because the church, according to the Executive Committee, had not given to SBC causes for five years.

A question about the faith and practice of New Hope had also been raised, and the church had a “lack of intent to cooperate” in resolving that question.

Southern Baptist churches are required to donate to the SBC’s Cooperative Program unified budget or to a denominational entity, such as a seminary or a mission board.

Historically, churches are rarely removed for not giving. After joining via a state convention or by filling out a simple online form and making an initial donation, a church will remain on the SBC rolls unless someone takes action to have it removed.

Donations are checked when a church registers messengers for the SBC annual meeting but are not monitored otherwise. Currently, fewer than 60 percent of churches give to the Cooperative Program, its joint missions fund, down from about 75 percent in the mid-1980s.

At their regularly scheduled meeting this week, Executive Committee members approved a budget for fiscal year 2023-2024, which will be presented at the SBC meeting in June.

They learned the Executive Committee’s assets declined by more than $2 million last year, part of an ongoing fiscal crunch.

They also heard an update from the search committee looking for a new permanent Executive Committee leader. That committee hopes to name a candidate next month. The Executive Committee has been without a permanent president since 2022 and has had a pair of interim leaders.