Search team expects to present candidate in February

NASHVILLE (BP)—The search team tasked with finding a new president and CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee is on schedule to present a candidate at the Executive Committee’s February 2024 meeting.

In a statement released Oct. 23, search team chairman Neal Hughes said the team had been “blessed” with a “harvest of resumes.”

“All candidates participated in the exercise of a written questionnaire,” he said. “Each candidate has been carefully reviewed and discussed. We are currently working through the interview phase with several of the candidates.”

At the Executive Committee’s September meeting, Hughes said the search team had developed a four-phase process for its work—invitation, interview, investigation and introduction.

He added then that the group’s goal was to present a candidate by the Executive Committee’s next scheduled meeting.

The Executive Committee has not had a permanent president and CEO in more than two years, since the departure of Ronnie Floyd in October 2021. The current search team was formed in May of this year, after Executive Committee members declined to elect the candidate nominated by the previous search team.

The Executive Committee’s long-term interim president, Willie McLaurin, resigned Aug. 17 after the current search team, which was vetting him for the permanent role, discovered he had falsified academic credentials on his resume.

Hughes told Executive Committee members in September and again in Monday’s announcement that the team has been meeting each Thursday via Zoom.

He urged Southern Baptists to continue praying for the team and its work, and he said the team will present its next report on or before Nov. 27.

The Executive Committee’s next scheduled meeting will be Feb. 19-20, 2024, in Nashville.