SBC Executive Committee to consider CEO candidate May 1

By Brandon Porter / Baptist Press

NASHVILLE (BP)— The Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee will hold a special called meeting May 1 in Dallas to consider a recommendation from the search team for a new president and CEO.

“Over the last 14 months, the search team has diligently prayed, discussed, and worked to identify the person to best lead the SBC Executive Committee through its present challenges and into a brighter future for our Committee and Convention,” search team Chairman Adron Robinson said.

“As a search team, we are confident the candidate we are presenting represents the humility, wisdom, administrative skill and Christlikeness necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of president and CEO of the SBC Executive Committee.”

The meeting is scheduled for noon May 1 at the Grand Hyatt DFW. It will be held in executive session and is scheduled for Dallas “to expedite and simplify travel” for the 86 members of the Executive Committee, according to a press release. The name of the candidate will be made available at a later date, according to the release.

Members of the search team are: Mollie Duddleston of Springdale, Ark.; Mike Keahbone of Lawton, Okla.; Jeremy Morton  of Woodstock, Ga.; Philip Robertson of Pineville, La.; Adron Robinson of Country Club Hills, Ill.; and David Sons of Lexington, S.C.

In addition to the members elected to the search team in February 2022, then-chairman Rolland Slade of El Cajon, Calif., and current chairman Jared C. Wellman, pastor of Tate Springs Baptist Church in Arlington, served on the committee as ex officio members.

“The president search team of the SBC Executive Committee would especially like to thank every member and church of the Southern Baptist Convention for their prayers during this very important process,” Robinson said.

“Knowing our brothers and sisters in Christ were lifting us before the Lord helped strengthen and sustain us along this journey. Throughout the process the search team has also sought insight from Southern Baptists of all stages and stations of Southern Baptist life. We are also thankful for every person who has extended help and kindness to us along the way.”

The Executive Committee formed the search team in February 2022 following the resignation of Ronnie Floyd in October 2021. Floyd began his tenure as president in May 2019, just months after a report was published by the Houston Chronicle on sexual abuse in the SBC.

He worked with then-EC chairman Mike Stone and then-SBC President J.D. Greear on the creation and implementation of a repurposed credentials committee to provide an avenue for the convention to disfellowship churches that poorly handle sexual abuse claims, exhibit racism, hold to doctrine that does not align with the SBC confession of faith, the Baptist Faith and Message 2000, or violate its governing documents.

Floyd resigned in 2021 following the Executive Committee’s vote to waive attorney-client privilege for the independent, third-party investigation of its alleged mishandling of sexual abuse claims. Messengers at the 2021 SBC annual meeting called for the investigation and waiving of privilege.

Willie McLaurin has served as the Executive Committee’s interim president/CEO since February 2022. He joined the Executive Committee in December 2019 as the vice president for Great Commission relations and mobilization.