(RNS)—Richard Land, who led the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission for a quarter-century, said he often would remind his staff if they did their job right, they’d eventually end up in hot water.

“Sooner or later, we’re going to make everyone in the convention mad,” Land, in a recent phone interview, recalled advising his employees. “When you are the conscience of the convention, you are going to irritate people.”

Land’s adage has applied to many who have led the public policy and ethics arm of the SBC, a job some describe as providing a “prophetic” voice in showing Southern Baptists how to apply their faith to the social problems of the day. Though Land lasted more than two decades, heading the ERLC from 1988 to 2013, eventually it applied to him.

Brent Leatherwood, the current president of the ERLC, lasted only a year and 10 months before getting in hot water. On Monday night (July 22), an email from the executive committee of the ERLC’s board announced he had been fired. The following morning, the entity retracted that announcement, stating Leatherwood was still on the job.

The ERLC’s former chairman, Florida pastor Kevin Smith, was blamed for the “confusion” and resigned.

The episode left Land and other Southern Baptists shaking their heads, but it also has increased questions from some corners of the SBC about the value of the ERLC. At a time when trust in religious institutions is in decline, can the SBC afford the tumult the agency seems to invite?

A history of turmoil

Had his firing held up, Leatherwood would have been the fifth ERLC leader in a row to leave office amid controversy. From 1960 to 1987, Foy Valentine led what was then known as the Christian Life Commission before being forced out by conservatives who took over the SBC in the 1980s.

Valentine’s successor, Larry Baker, lasted 16 months on the job. Land retired in 2013 after being accused of plagiarism and making controversial remarks about Trayvon Martin, the young Black man killed by a Florida man in a “stand-your-ground” case.

Russell Moore then led the ERLC from 2013 to 2021, before stepping down to join Christianity Today magazine. Moore’s last few years in office were filled with controversy, primarily due to his criticism of Donald Trump and his advocacy for survivors of sexual abuse.

Leatherwood was named ERLC president in 2022, after initially serving as interim. Even before this week’s events, he had drawn criticism for his opposition to legislation that would have jailed women who have abortions and for praising President Joe Biden’s decision to drop his reelection bid.

Like the broader American culture, Southern Baptists have been divided over politics, race and Trump in recent years. That’s made the job of the ERLC leader even more complicated than it was in the past.

Baylor University history professor Barry Hankins, who long has studied Southern Baptists, said Leatherwood, though he has seemed to survive for now, likely faces an uncertain future.

As ERLC president, Leatherwood’s mandate is to focus on Christian values, rather than politics. “That won’t fly with the hardline culture warriors” in the SBC, said Hankins. “They want an ERLC that’s going to fall in line with the Trumpian right wing.”

For and against the ERLC

At the SBC’s annual meeting in June, Florida pastor Tom Ascol, a vocal ERLC critic, made a motion to disband the ERLC entirely, saying the entity “has become increasingly distant from the values and concerns of the churches that finance it.”

The motion failed but did get a surprising amount of support, with as many as a third of messengers voting for it.

That vote should be a wake-up call, said Griffin Gulledge, pastor of Madison Baptist Church in Madison, Ga., and an avid supporter of the ERLC. In recent years, Southern Baptists have had vocal disagreements over religious liberty and the best strategy for opposing abortion, he said. Those disagreements are showing up as conflict over the ERLC.

“There is real division here,” he said. “Not just about any individual’s performance or accomplishments, but about the very convictions that drive the organization.”

Gulledge, who received an award from the ERLC in 2021 for his advocacy in drawing attention to the persecution of Uyghur Muslims in China, said the ERLC also has been charged with dealing with some of the most contentious issues in American culture, from immigration reform to presidential politics. “Every issue they deal with is complicated,” he said.

Gulledge said the ERLC needs to focus on connecting with local churches and pastors, to make them more aware of the work it does on their behalf. “The future success of the ERLC is completely dependent on the extent to which it builds relationships with, works alongside and empowers local church leaders in the Southern Baptist Convention.”

Focus and transparency

Jon Whitehead, a Missouri attorney and member of the ERLC’s board of trustees, said ERLC can’t shy away from controversial issues, but he believes the agency should focus on positions Baptists agree on, rather than take sides in debates on abortion and other divisive issues.

“Increasingly, we’re committed to being on the side of life, from natural conception through natural death,” he said. “There are obviously some disagreements about how that is implemented, and I’m not sure the convention intends the ERLC to be the referee for that fight.”

Most immediately, Whitehead said, the ERLC needs “complete transparency” about the circumstances around Leatherwood’s employment status. He worries Smith, the former ERLC chair, will take all the blame when the situation is more complicated.

“Kevin Smith did not go postal,” Whitehead told RNS, repeating a sentiment he had shared on the social media site X.

Rebuilding trust

In a press release earlier this week, the ERLC’s executive committee said rebuilding trust will be a key task when the ERLC trustees meet in September in Nashville.

“We know that the task of rebuilding trust will be great,” the committee wrote. “We know that it will require listening to Southern Baptists about their concerns. And we know that we are accountable to Southern Baptists, and ultimately God, for how we carry out our work. To that end, we seek your prayers as we faithfully discern the next best steps for us as a board and for this organization.”

Land, meanwhile, said he believes Leatherwood may be in a stronger position after this week’s events, but warns his accustomed warning is more true today, thanks to social media and email, which make it easier for criticism to turn into a firestorm.

“It used to be that if someone wanted to complain—they had to write a letter or get me on the phone,” said Land.

With additional reporting by Baptist Standard Editor Eric Black.

NEW YORK (BP)—The government press release charging Matt Queen with falsifying records “contained factual allegations that are inaccurate, misrepresented some facts, and cast Mr. Queen in a more negative light,” the pastor and former seminary leader’s attorney said in a letter filed July 22 with the U.S. Southern District Court.

The May 21 press release announcing the charge “went beyond the allegations in the information,” said Sam Schmidt, attorney for Queen, the former Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary evangelism professor and interim provost.

Material received from the government during discovery since then falls under “Brady material,” or evidence a prosecutor has that is favorable to the accused. A prosecutor is required to disclose such material.

“Counsel should be permitted to correct the inaccurate and misleading public statements made by the government supported by documents,” the letter said.

“As a result of the information and press release, Mr. Queen has been suspended from his position as the Lead Pastor of Friendly Avenue Baptist Church, which he has held since March 1, 2024. His reputation has been damaged, he was required to withdraw at least one contribution to a forthcoming publication, and he has had previously arranged speaking engagements canceled, affecting potential honoraria.”

Queen has pled not guilty to the charges.

His counsel said it only seeks “to provide a limited number of documents” to Friendly Avenue’s committee investigating the allegations to determine if Queen can be reinstated as pastor prior to trial. The documented information also would be made available to the press, albeit not to “endanger any person or witness, nor [to impede] any possible investigation.”

Explanation of the meeting

At issue are Queen’s recollections of a meeting about a reported case of abuse involving a seminary student. On Jan. 24, 2023, Southwestern became aware of the police investigation and released a statement.

Schmidt’s letter goes into greater detail on a meeting two days later following chapel services that included Queen, “Employee 1” and “Employee 2” after Employee 1 was contacted by the alleged victim.

“With Employee 2, Mr. Queen met with Employee 1 near the front of the chapel, immediately after the completion of chapel, with people walking by them during the conversation,” the letter said.

“As instructed by the president, Mr. Queen told Employee 1 that if the matter the alleged victim wanted to talk about concerned the alleged sexual abuse, she should tell victim to speak to the Burleson Police Department. If it related to some other unrelated matter concerning the seminary, then Employee 1 should speak to her. If it was about a personal matter, then it was at Employee 1’s discretion whether to speak to her or not.

“After Mr. Queen provided the advice, Employee 1 and Employee 2 discussed the document that Employee 1 had left for Employee 2 the day before. Mr. Queen was present, though his attention was directed to emails in his mobile telephone because the conversation did not involve him.

“In subsequent conversations with many others, including in his interviews with the government, Mr. Queen repeatedly explained that he never heard Employee 2 tell Employee 1 to destroy the document.”

Document in question

The document in question outlined the allegation of abuse. The two employees cited were later identified as Terri Stovall, current dean of women (Employee 1), and Heath Woolman (Employee 2), who served as chief of staff before accepting the lead pastor position at Fruit Cove Baptist Church in St. Johns, Fla.

In interviews with federal investigators, Queen said he did not interpret the conversation as having directed the destruction of the document. His attorney’s letter goes on, however, to say when Stovall—still identified as “Employee 1” in the recently-filed letter—told Queen she had kept contemporaneous notes, Queen falsely responded he had as well.

Later, Queen learned he would have to produce the nonexistent notes to investigators for his upcoming interview. The government’s statement claims, three days after the interview, Queen said he found a notebook in his office of notes from the January meeting and provided that to investigators. Queen would admit in a follow-up meeting he had not written the notes in January but following his initial interview with investigators.

Queen’s frame of mind

His attorney’s letter opens a window into Queen’s frame of mind at that time.

“Having been upset when questioned harshly by the government on May 23, being fearful, being told by one of the seminary’s attorneys to pray and meditate to remember, and believing that the government was correct—as a very religious person he did pray and meditate the night of May 24,” it read.

“Mr. Queen woke up from a dream believing that he remembered more of the conversation, as previously suggested by the government, including Employee 2’s use of the term ‘this needs to go away.’

“On May 25, 2023, Mr. Queen told of his new recollections to the attorney retained by the seminary to represent potential witnesses employed by the seminary, and he was told that this would be reported to the government.

“After being told that the government would want to talk to him again, Mr. Queen shortly thereafter wrote the notes, which accurately reflect his recollections prior to the night of May 24, in his notebook and provided it to both the attorney and Employee 3. On June 1, 2023, the attorney informed the government about Mr. Queen’s new recollections, and we believe he provided them with the notes as well.”

Schmidt’s letter claims some of the information so far withheld includes Brady material, supports Queen’s defense and/or demonstrates the indictment contained “incorrect or misleading statements.”

MOUNT VERNON, Ill. (RNS)—First Baptist Church survived a tornado, church schisms and a pair of worldwide pandemics in its more than a century and a half of ministry in this small Southern Illinois town, about an hour east of St. Louis.

For 156 years, church members gathered to sing hymns, study the Bible and lift each other in prayer. They also ate barbecue, laughed, cried, reached out to their neighbors and cared for one another.

But nothing lasts forever.

“There is a time for everything,” Ryan Burge, pastor of First Baptist, told his congregation on July 21 as they gathered for the church’s final worship service, reading from the book of Ecclesiastes. “A time for birth and a time for death. A time to build up and a time to tear down.”

For First Baptist, time had run out.

“After being a fixture of Mount Vernon for 156 years, First Baptist Church will no longer exist in the very near future,” Burge told the three-dozen or so worshippers. “And we are all deeply grieved for that moment. It will change our lives, in both big and small ways in the days and weeks to come.”

The church’s closing was made official a few minutes later during a brief congregational meeting after the service, when church members voted to close as of Aug. 1. It was a decision that followed years of slow decline.

Years of slow decline

In the late 1990s, the church had about 170 members, down from more than 600 members in the 1960s but still a going concern. By the mid-aughts, when Burge arrived as a 20-something pastor, the church had about 50 members. At closing, there were fewer than 20.

The decline of First Baptist followed a larger pattern among churches in the United States, where the average congregation’s size has shrunk from 137 in 1999 to less than 60 today, according to the Faith Communities Today study. Meanwhile, most people if they attend services go to a larger congregation.

That pattern has played out in Mount Vernon, where small churches like First Baptist have struggled. First Presbyterian Church, for example, shares space with the local Lutheran congregation, while its former building is now a YMCA.

Meanwhile, about a mile south of First Baptist, Central Christian, a non-denominational multi-site congregation, is thriving.

Gail Farnham, who as moderator at First Baptist led the meeting’s vote, said small churches like First Baptist are stuck in a dilemma. They can’t attract people with the same kinds of programs that larger churches offer. As a congregation ages, most of the people they know, if they are interested in going to church, already have a place to worship.

Farnham said she had been preparing for the reality of closing the church for years. In 2017, the church gave its building to a local Christian school, with the caveat that the congregation could still meet in the building for worship. That decision, she said, gave the church a few more years of life. It also ensured the building would still be used for ministry even after First Baptist was closed.

She was pleased to see old friends show up for the church’s last service and the congregation’s last time together.

“I don’t feel sad right now,” said the 80-year-old Farnham, who first came to First Baptist, which is part of the American Baptist Churches USA, with her family when she was about 5 years old. “I just feel like it’s happening the way it should happen.”

Many more churches likely will follow

Tens of thousands of local congregations like First Baptist are likely to close over the next few decades if current trends continue. Their passing will go unnoticed, said Burge, a political science professor at Eastern Illinois University who studies the changing religious landscape.

Burge said that even as the congregation at First Baptist shrank, members were still active in serving their community. From 2008 to 2023, the church provided nearly 55,000 lunches for local schools, with elderly members showing up to volunteer to fill the lunch bags. That dedication renewed his faith, said Burge.

“When I believed in God the most is when the two dozen people assembled [here] heard about the idea of the Brown Bag Program and did not hesitate to get involved,” he said in his final sermon,“when I saw members who struggled to stand do everything that they could to help pack those bags; when people gave over and above their tithe to make sure that we always had enough items to feed those hungry kids.”

Burge has long championed the importance of organized religion, for both its spiritual and social benefits. Churches, he argues, host food pantries and shelters, volunteer for disaster relief and provide small acts of kindness that make the world less awful. They care for one another when life gets hard.

That’s something he experienced firsthand growing up. His family struggled to make ends meet, and he recalls boxes of groceries showing up on the family’s porch, provided by members of their church who wanted to lend a hand.

Without that care, he wonders if his family would have made it through those hard times.

“That’s what kept me in religion,” he said in an interview the day before the church’s last service. “There are all these small kindnesses I saw for me and my family. I want to do that for other people.”

In his last sermon, Burge recounted when a friend told him that First Baptist was lucky to have him as pastor. But his friend was wrong, said Burge, adding that he and his family had received more than they gave in the love and kindness of church members.

He mentioned the church’s kindness, in big and small ways—like the meals that showed up after the birth of his children or the time the church paid his family’s health insurance when he was laid off during budget cuts at the university back in 2016. He was later hired back.

The church didn’t hesitate to help, he said. Burge said that kind of kindness and community can be found at churches around the country—and can’t be easily replaced.

Ministry not wasted

In his sermon, Burge—who came to First Baptist as a 20-something graduate student and has stayed for nearly 18 years—said the church’s ministry was not wasted, and its legacy would live on.

“It was all worth it,” he told the remaining congregants.

Farnham said the church was grateful that Burge had stayed as their pastor. And they are proud of all he has accomplished.

“He is like one of my grandkids,” she said.

Lisa Hayse, who grew up in the church, said the congregation’s legacy will live on in the memories of people who worshipped there and in students at the Corem Deo Classical School, which now owns the building.

“There will still be hymns sung here,” said Hayse, who now teaches kindergarten at Corem Deo. “There will still be singing to praise the Lord in that sanctuary. It won’t stop.”

Standing in the church’s fellowship hall—where church members and friends looked at old photos and memorabilia from the congregation’s history and ate pulled pork, mac and cheese and salad, washed down with lemonade and iced tea—Hayse recalled the days when the church’s pews were packed and Sunday school rooms were filled with the laughter of children.

At Corem Deo, she teaches in the classroom where she learned Bible stories as a preschooler. Hayse said her late father had long hoped the church would once again be filled with children. That hope has been realized, she said.

Though the church is closing, the friendships between church members will remain. Farnham plans to send out updates to church members in the coming months and hopes church members will still find time to meet up.

“We are not done with each other,” she said.

ATLANTA—Vietnamese-language pastor Peter Le and English-language pastor Linh Huynh, both from Vietnamese Faith Baptist Church in Dallas, translated for each other during the opening session of the 39th annual meeting of the Vietnamese Baptist Union of North America.

“Your struggles are real, but here’s the thing,” Huynh preached in English, which Pastor Le translated into Vietnamese. “There’s nothing wrong with struggles as long as you overcome them and don’t let them overcome you.”

The July 3-7 event drew 1,353 registered participants, as well as many other locals who didn’t register. In addition to the standing-room-only sessions in a hotel ballroom, more than 400 gathered for English-language sessions and 214 more for children’s age-graded VBS activities.

The event’s theme, Mature in Christ, came from Ephesians 4:13—“until we all reach unity in the faith, and in the knowledge of God’s son, growing into a mature man, with a stature measured by Christ’s fulness.”

The group welcomed visitors from Southern Baptist Convention agencies, including Jeremy Sin from the North American Mission Board and Ezra Bae from the International Mission Board. Among the IMB’s 3,500 missionaries who serve in 122 nations are 300 Asians, Bae said.

Speakers during the Vietnamese language sessions included Executive Director Christian Phan Phước Lành of Gulf Breeze, Fla.; Union President Peter Lê Hồng Phúc, pastor of Vietnamese Faith Baptist Church of Dallas; Henry Phan Minh Hội of Gilbert, Ariz., IMB’s diaspora ministry coordinator; Hồ Thế Vũ, pastor of Thien-An True Living Church of Seattle; Đặng Quy Thế, pastor of Vietnamese Baptist Church of Fort Worth in Haltom City  and president of the Union’s prayer ministry.; Bryant Wright of Marietta, Ga., president of NAMB’s Send Relief; and Đỗ Đăng Phú, pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church of Lake City, Ga.

Worship was led in the Vietnamese services by Duy Tran of Garland, Texas, and in the English services by Isaiah Hua, youth leader of Vietnamese Gwinnet Church in Suwanee, Ga.

Reports, business, worship and workshops comingled with preaching, along with generous blocks of time for fellowship

‘Came to be encouraged’

Alib Cil of Montagnard Alliance Church in Charlotte, N.C., told Baptist Press he’s a student at the Vietnamese Baptist Theological Seminary, and “came to be encouraged.”

Peter Nguyen of Vietnamese Baptist Church in High Point, N.C. said this was his 25th year to attend the union’s annual meeting. He does so for “the reunion,” he said. He also likes to help, he said, as he moved cases of bottled water in place for the next meal.

The organization needed for the event was managed by a 12-person team led by Phuong Khuu of San Diego. More than 150 volunteers worked in registration, tech support, food services and other arrangements.

Two hours before each meal, packaged hot meals and individual containers of soup started arriving—at least four entrees totaling at least 1,200 servings per meal came in from area Vietnamese restaurants.

“Vietnamese food is ‘comfort food’ especially to the first generation,” Phan said. “I am always amazed how smooth is the process. It starts with good organization, making sure there is enough of everything, even napkins.”

Displays include one for a Bible study in the Vietnamese language, books from various authors as well as one for the Vietnamese Baptist Theological Seminary. Seminary President Tran Liru Chuyen told Baptist Press the school has 100 students in the United States and 600 in Vietnam, with classes on Zoom so students can study as they serve where they live.

The Vietnamese Union’s missions entity also was represented. The group raises up church planters in Vietnam and connects them with existing churches, so they don’t have to be vetted by the communist government.

Began with time of prayer

The event began July 3 with an evening prayer night and prayer walk going out from Emmanuel Baptist Church in Lake City, an Atlanta suburb.

“We want to start our annual meeting with God through prayer,” Phan said. “Prayer night and prayer walk are not only a good tradition to keep but also an attitude of submission to God alone.”

During a business session, the group elected Phu Do, Sr. Pastor of Emmanuel Vietnamese Baptist Church in Lake City, Ga., as first vice president.

They approved a $550,000 budget, unchanged from last year. It includes line items of Vietnamese Theological Baptist Seminary, Vietnamese Mission Board, Women’s Ministry, Men’s Ministry, English Ministry, Prayer Ministry, Training Ministry, and a Pastor Retreat.

Next year will be the 50th anniversary of the arrival of the first Vietnamese refugees to the United States. The meeting is set for July 3-6, 2025, in Los Angeles.

“This year’s annual meeting was wonderful, beyond our expectations,” Phan said. “The sermons were excellent. The service spirit of the registration committee, technical committee, culinary committee, and worship committee was very dedicated.

“The people responded strongly to the call for financial giving,” the executive director added. “The youth and children attended in great numbers. Everything is a gift from God and all glory to him.”

(RNS)—The California Southern Baptist announced it had cut six staff jobs, citing an ongoing decline in giving.

Donations to the state’s Cooperative Program, which funds national, international and state-specific ministries, fell short by $170,000 in the current fiscal year. That 7 percent shortfall is part of an ongoing decline in giving, according to Baptist Press.

State Baptist officials have drawn on reserves to cover shortfalls over the past three years. The staff cuts, including four layoffs and two voluntary retirements, mean the state convention will not need to draw on reserves—as long as giving does not decline.

“The stewardship that God has given me as the executive director in assuring we continue to have a healthy and sustainable future is a heavy burden,” Pete Ramirez, the state convention’s executive director said, according to Baptist Press.

Giving overall to the Southern Baptist Convention Cooperative Program is down just under 2 percent in the current fiscal year. The SBC’s annual budget called for $148 million in donations to be given to national and international causes, but actual giving to date is $145.4 million, according to a recent report posted by the SBC’s Executive Committee.

The SBC Cooperative Program, which turns 100 years old in 2025, is one of the nation’s most successful religious charitable programs, having raised more than $20 billion since its inception. Those funds pay for overseas missions, new church starts, seminary education, disaster relief and other programs.

Cooperative Program giving declines

But giving to the program has declined in recent decades. Southern Baptist churches give less than 5 percent of their income to the Cooperative Program, down from 10 percent in the 1980s. And less than 60 percent of SBC churches give to the program, down from three-quarters in the early 2000s.

The denomination also has lost more than 3 million members since 2006 and has faced a sexual abuse crisis and debates over the role of women in church leadership. The denomination’s Executive Committee also spent several years dealing with leadership turmoil before electing a new permanent leader this spring.

In 2023, the SBC expelled Saddleback Church in Southern California, one of its largest congregations, after the church ordained several women as pastors. At the time, Saddleback was giving $100,000 annually to the Cooperative Program.

It’s unclear whether Saddleback remains a member of the California Baptist Convention, or if the congregation still gives to the convention. In either case, the shortfalls in California predate Saddleback’s removal from the SBC.

It’s also unclear if other states also are experiencing Cooperative Program shortfalls. Most of those conventions will hold their annual meetings in the fall. A 2023 report from Baptist Press found Colorado, Minnesota-Wisconsin and New Mexico conventions also reduced their giving to the program.

The recent Executive Committee report showed giving remained down in Colorado. However, Mike Proud, that state’s executive director, said that is not the case.

“[Cooperative Progam] giving is actually up in Colorado there may be some delays related to getting that money to the [Executive Committee],” he told RNS in an email. “But our giving through June of 2024 is actually up by 2 percent over last year.”

INDIANAPOLIS (BP)—Messengers presented 50 motions at the 2024 Southern Baptist Convention annual neeting and acted on several, rejecting calls to abolish the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission and censure Southern Baptist leaders and approving a motion to unseat messengers from a Virginia church.

Abolishing an entity requires two successive two-thirds votes of approval. The crowd in the Indiana Convention Center fell well short of that margin on a motion brought by Tom Ascol, pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Cape Coral, Fla., getting an estimated quarter of the vote. Attempts in recent years to abolish the ERLC have failed by bigger margins.

Louis Cook, pastor of Oak City Baptist Church in Oak City, N.C., presented a motion to censure Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Al Mohler, Lifeway Christian Resources President Ben Mandrell and then-SBC President Bart Barber in relation to signing an amicus brief in a Kentucky-based statute of limitations case. The messengers ultimately overruled the Committee on Order of Business by ruling the motion out of order.

The motion to unseat messengers from First Baptist Church in Alexandria, Va., was brought by Aaron Decker, a messenger from Red Village Church in Madison, Wisc. The Credentials Committee followed Decker’s motion with a recommendation to deem the church not in friendly cooperation with the SBC based “on the grounds of their public endorsement of egalitarianism.” The messengers’ agreement with that recommendation unseated the church’s messengers.

Messengers responded with a vote of 6,759 to 563 in agreement with Decker and the Credentials Committee.

Messengers rejected the following motions:

• To appoint a blue-ribbon committee to review the Baptist Faith & Message 2000 and return with proposed revisions. Brought by Allen Featherstone, pastor-elder of Deepening at Mosaic Church in Provo, Utah.
• To request a fact-finding committee to review the work of the Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force. Brought by Sean Dennis, chairman of deacons at Vine Street Baptist Church in Louisville, Ky.
• To direct the convention to remove pledges of allegiance to earthly kingdoms from all convention activities. Brought by Michael Sherwood, a messenger from Gore Springs Baptist Church in Gore Springs, Miss.
• To request the SBC president to appoint a task force to examine all legal matters related to NAMB between 2017 and 2024. Brought by Joel Breidenbaugh, lead pastor of Gospel Centered Church in Apopka, Fla.
• To allow the ERLC to raise funds from outside the SBC. Brought by Ben Cole, a messenger from Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano.

Motions referred to the Executive Committee were:

• To consider how Southern Baptists from every cooperating state convention can serve on SBC boards, committees, commissions and institutions, submitted by Jon Ballard of South Dakota.
• To amend the Baptist Faith & Message to include affirmation of the Nicene, Apostles’ and Athanasian Creeds, submitted by John Michael LaRue of Ohio.
• To study the feasibility of remote participation in the SBC annual meeting, submitted by Wally Contreras of Ohio.
• To prioritize funds to update SBC.net, submitted by Tyler Pearce of Florida.
• To enable remote participation by messengers in the SBC annual meeting, submitted by Brandon Booth of California.
• To amend the Business and Financial Plan to ensure greater financial transparency, brought by Wade Thomas of Ohio.
• To require a two-thirds vote from messengers to approve all alterations to the Baptist Faith & Message 2000, brought by Chelsea McReynolds of Oklahoma.
• To reallocate all Cooperative Program funds from ERLC to the International Mission Board, brought by Kenny Cody of Tennessee.
• To form an ad hoc committee to study elders and deacons in local churches, brought by John Boquist of Virginia.
• To amend Article 6 of the SBC Constitution related to qualifications for trustee service, brought by Ethan Jago of Florida.
• To amend Bylaw 26B to allow for additional time for questions during entity reports, brought by Brian Dembowcyzk of Tennessee.
• To require all entities to publish their conflict-of-interest policies, brought by Clay Hall of Kentucky.
• To amend the Baptist Faith & Message to include the Nicene Creed, brought by Stephen Lorance of North Carolina.
• To request the Executive Committee create a task force to study how best to minister to the special needs community, brought by Benjamin Hankin of New Jersey.
• To direct the Executive Committee to publish a schedule of all money spent on legal matters between 2021 and 2024, brought by Casey Fender of North Carolina.
• To request the Executive Committee publish the names of messengers on both sides of the nametags issued at each annual meeting, brought by David Miller of Nebraska.
• To direct the Executive Committee to publish a schedule of all money spent on legal matters between 2021 and 2024, brought by Gregg Kite of Kansas.
• To direct the Executive Committee to publish the contact information for all entity trustees, brought by Wesley Russell of Kentucky.
• To direct the Executive Committee to form a task force to study the long-term effects of vaccine mandates on International Mission Board missionaries, brought by Jared Burdick of Kentucky.
• To amend Bylaw 8, requiring the Credentials Committee to schedule a vote of messengers when a church is considered to be not in friendly cooperation and for the messengers’ vote to be final, brought by Jonathan Raffini of Texas.
• To amend the SBC Business and Financial Plan to require all SBC entities to disclose all financial information included in Form 990, brought by Rhett Burns of South Carolina.
• To amend Bylaw 20 related to the Resolutions Committee, brought by Kristen Ferguson of California.
• To amend the ministry assignment of the ERLC to address sexual abuse awareness and prevention or request the Executive Committee to create a new entity to address sexual abuse awareness and prevention, brought by Megan Lively of North Carolina.

Motions referred to the North American Mission Board were:

• To submit a forensic audit from the previous fiscal year, brought by Parker Roberts of Georgia.
• To request a task force to study the need for Christian schools in impoverished and rural communities, brought by James Briggs of Missouri.
• To appoint a task force to study how churches can be more effective in evangelism and baptisms, brought by Scott Talley of Florida.

One motion to publish textbooks for homeschool students, brought by Tim Overton of Indiana was referred to Lifeway Christian Resources.

Motions referred to all entities were:

• To only use outside legal counsel whose values reflect the Baptist Faith & Message 2000 on gender and sexuality, brought by Paul Montgomery of Oklahoma.
• To request that all convention entities revise their codes of conduct related to alcohol, brought by Jonathan Parramore of California.
• To request entity trustees explain how Calvinism / Reformed theology is compatible with the Baptist Faith & Message 2000 and consider not promoting those beliefs in their entities, brought by Curtis Kentmer of Kentucky.

A motion by Ethan Hester of North Carolina to direct the Executive Committee to publish a schedule of payments of more than $5,000 paid to another entity was referred to all entities and the Executive Committee.

A motion by Talmadge Fogg of Florida to request the president to adopt a task force to study Philippine indigenous Baptist pastors was referred to the International Mission Board.

A motion by Joe Sneed of Texas to direct the ERLC to issue a formal apology to the Executive Committee for accusations of covering up sexual abuse was referred to the ERLC.

The following motions were ruled not in order, followed by the reason why:

• To request the SBC president appoint a task force to investigate how Southern Baptists have responded to sexual abuse, brought by David Morrill of Colorado. As stated, the motion requests Cooperative Program allocations be directed to a task force which is not in line with the Business and Financial plan.
• To direct the Executive Committee to disallow any politicians from speaking or advertising at the SBC annual meeting during election years, brought by Ken Rucker of Georgia. As stated the motion would infringe on the rights of certain messengers to the convention, including registration secretary Don Currence, who also serves as mayor of Ozark, Mo.
• To request the Executive Committee examine all North American Mission Board court documents since 2017, brought by Kenneth Carey of Maryland. It was determined to be identical to another motion that was discussed on the floor.
• To request the resignation of Brent Leatherwood as president of the ERLC, brought by Michael Borghese of Texas. Motion instructed an entity employee.
• To ask messengers to affirm the Nicene Creed, brought by Andy Brown of Mississippi. Motion was in the nature of a resolution.
• To request Pastors’ Conference presidents to set apart time for guided prayer during the event, brought by Zack Reno of Alabama. The SBC may not direct the Pastors’ Conference schedule.
• To prohibit Cooperative Program funds being used to pay for entity personnel to attend the SBC annual meeting to serve as messengers, brought by Charles Johnson of Kentucky. The motion directs entities.
• To request all convention entities release a statement supporting the nation of Israel, brought by Matt Dunn of Missouri. The motion was in the nature of a resolution.

INDIANAPOLIS (RNS)—Clint Pressley, a North Carolina megachurch pastor known for a conservative but even-keel approach to leadership and who does not wear jeans in the pulpit, was elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention.

After a pair of runoff elections, Pressley received 56 percent of the 7,562 votes cast during a June 12 session of the SBC annual meeting at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis. Tennessee pastor Dan Spencer, who had qualified for the final runoff with Pressley, received 43.7 percent of the votes.

Brad Graves, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Ada, Okla., was elected first vice president, and Eddie Lopez, pastor of First Baptist Church en Español of Forney, was elected second vice president.

Nathan Finn, executive director of the Institute for Transformational Leadership, was reelected as recording secretary, and Don Currence, administrative pastor of First Baptist Church in Ozark, Mo., was reelected as registration secretary.

Dial back the heated rhetoric

Pressley, who has led Hickory Grove Baptist Church in Charlotte the past 14 years, prefers a suit and tie and a more traditional approach in worship, and he has indicated that his more formal style will translate into his leadership.

“It seems like the kind of rhetoric and the temperature is really high, and I’d like to see it come down a good bit,” Pressley told Religion News Service earlier this year.

He repeated that message at a forum hosted by the National African American Fellowship of the SBC earlier this week, saying he hoped Southern Baptists, known for evangelism and missions, would “get our attention focused back on what we do.”

“We got to quit arguing and start going back to work,” he said.

Pressley was one of six candidates seeking the SBC presidency, an influential volunteer role in the nation’s largest Protestant denomination. Three of the candidates—North Carolina pastor Bruce Frank, Oklahoma pastor Mike Keahbone and Tennessee pastor Jared Moore—were eliminated after the first round of votes. David Allen, a longtime seminary professor, missed the cutoff during a first runoff.

The field of six candidates was the largest since 2008. This year’s race was the first to be undecided after one runoff since 2016. That year, a runoff between North Carolina megachurch pastor J.D. Greear and Tennessee megachurch pastor Steve Gaines ended in a tie. Greear dropped out of the race but was elected president two years later.

Pressley supported the so-called Law Amendment, a measure that would have barred churches with women pastors. He also has been generally supportive of abuse reforms but did have questions about a proposed database of abusers, which was approved for the third year in a row by messengers.

Supports training to deal with abuse

He supports more training and awareness for churches in dealing with abuse. At an SBC presidential forum, Pressley said that in the past, his church would not have been prepared to deal with abuse. But the recent reforms, he said, caused his church to take the issue seriously and enact policies and training to deal with abuse.

That training meant the Hickory Grove leaders knew what to do when a church volunteer recently was accused of abusing a family member. Had the SBC not started dealing with abuse in recent years, he said, “We would not have known what to do.”

In his first news conference, Pressley told of growing up in a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and then how his life changed when his family began attending a Southern Baptist church.

“Never heard anything like that,” Pressley said. His family soon joined Hickory Grove, the congregation he now leads.

Pressley said he is glad to serve Southern Baptists but is aware of the limits of the president’s role, which is a volunteer role.

“As the Southern Baptist Convention president,” he said. “It sounds like you have a whole lot of power, but you don’t.”

Pressley said he is confident long-promised abuse reforms will move forward.

He also said that despite the failure to pass the Law Amendment, which would have added a constitutional ban on churches with female pastors of any kind, the SBC remains committed to complementarianism—the belief that men and women have separate roles in the family and in the church.

When asked about a newly passed resolution warning about the ethics of in-vitro fertilization, the North Carolina pastor volunteered that he and his wife had dealt with infertility, and IVF had been one of the treatment options they thought about. He said pastors should use the resolution to help Southern Baptists think through the issue.

“We have just not thought about it very much,” Pressley said.

Pressley detailed some of his career as a pastor, saying he’d served small rural churches and older churches before coming back to lead Hickory Grove. He said Southern Baptists should be known for their joy—something he said Southern Baptists have a duty to show.

In a moment of self-deprecation, Pressley also admitted he’ll need help in overseeing the denomination’s annual meeting. His predecessor, Texas pastor Bart Barber, is known for his expertise in parliamentary procedures and Baptist polity.

That’s not Pressley’s strong point, he admitted.

“I shudder to think of how poorly I will compare to Bart Barber.”

Adelle M. Banks contributed to this report.

INDIANAPOLIS (RNS)—Leaders of a volunteer task force charged with implementing abuse reforms in the nation’s largest Protestant denomination say they were given an impossible task.

In the end, the task proved too much.

“We took this work as far as we were allowed to take it,” North Carolina Baptist pastor Josh Wester, chair of the Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force, told the more than 10,800 messengers gathered June 11 for the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting.

Instead, the SBC’s Nashville-based Executive Committee will now have the task of implementing those reforms.

Resources created, but database still not online

The task force was charged two years ago with creating resources to help churches deal with abuse, publishing a database of abusive pastors and finding permanent funding and long-term plans for abuse reforms. While the task force unveiled a new “Essentials” training resource for churches, the other two tasks remain incomplete.

Wester said the task force has vetted more than 100 names of abusers but has not been able to publish them on an online “Ministry Check” database of abusers, largely due to concerns about insurance and finances.

“I wish that standing before you today, I could say that the Ministry Check website is now online,” Wester told the messengers. “But I cannot do that.”

In his report to the messengers, Wester detailed some of the challenges the task force faced over the past year.

In January, he said, he was called to an “emergency meeting” with other SBC leaders, where he learned insurance concerns made the database impossible. He also said the task force has not been able to access the funds it needed to do its work.

“It was made clear to us there was no future for robust abuse reform inside the SBC,” Wester said.

In response, he said, the task force set up an independent nonprofit, known as the Abuse Reform Commission, to run the database. But the SBC’s two mission boards, which had pledged millions to support abuse reform, said they would not fund the new group.

However, Wester said Jeff Iorg, new president of the SBC’s Executive Committee, is committed to moving the reforms forward. He said the task force hopes the reforms will remain inside the SBC.

Messengers approved the task force’s recommendation that the reforms, including the database, would go forward and that responsibility for the future of reforms be given to the Executive Committee.

Though they would not fund the Abuse Reform Commission, leaders of Send Relief—the SBC’s humanitarian arm, which is funded by the International Mission Board and North American Mission Board—said they are willing to work with the Executive Committee on reforms.

Send Relief’s leaders pledged $4 million for abuse reforms two years ago.

“In the two years these funds have been available, Send Relief has not rejected any requests for funding that fall within the original intent of its commitment,” a spokesman for the North American Mission Board said in an email.

The spokesman said those funds still are available.

‘Essentials’ curriculum rolled out

Members of the task force did not come to the annual meeting empty-handed. The new “Essentials” curriculum went live online this week, at the sbcabuseprevention.com website, as part of the ministry toolkit authorized by messengers in 2022.

“To help make our churches safe from abuse, we must be proactive,” reads the website for the new curriculum, which outlines a five-step process for addressing the issue of abuse.

Messengers received a flyer when they registered for the annual meeting, telling them where they could pick up a copy of the curriculum. Copies also will be shipped to each state convention. The curriculum is available as a printed booklet or on a thumb drive.

“The task force looks forward to getting the Essentials curriculum into the hands of as many messengers as possible,” the task force told RNS in an email. The task force also will maintain the website that hosts the curriculum, even though its term has expired.

Wester said the delay in implementing reforms shows the limits of volunteer task forces to deal with issues like abuse.

“Task forces have some power,” he said. “They apparently have very limited power when it comes to doing things in the SBC.”

Southern Baptists have been calling for a database to track abusive pastors since at least 2007. In 2008, during a previous meeting in Indianapolis, SBC leaders said such a database was impossible.

Fourteen years later, messengers at the 2022 SBC meeting overwhelmingly approved the database and other reforms during their meeting in Anaheim, Calif. The delay in implementing those reforms has left abuse survivors discouraged.

“It’s such a long road to get where we need to be,” said Jules Woodson, one of a group of survivors who have advocated for reforms in recent years.

During their meeting Tuesday, messengers voted for the reforms to go forward and to task the Executive Committee with working on them.

INDIANAPOLIS (BP)—Jeff Iorg was ready to retire from the presidency of Gateway Seminary and spend more time with family when he was approached about seeking the presidency of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.

He put the matter before his wife Ann and their three adult children. His daughter Melody’s response helped seal the deal, he said in his Executive Committee report to 2024 SBC annual meeting messengers.

“She said: ‘Dad, from the day you moved our family to the West Coast to plant a church, our family has always been about the gospel. And this is your opportunity to minimize the distractions and help Southern Baptists stay focused on what we’re really here for.’”

His example of a man following God and his mission “above all else” was more valuable to his grandchildren than his watching them play basketball, Melody offered.

Her words mirror Iorg’s words to messengers to uphold the gospel mission above all other congregational and societal concerns, based on Ephesians 3:8.

“A bivocational pastor sharing the gospel with a teenager at an associational youth camp is a better example of fulfilling God’s eternal mission than a seminary student blogger spouting pseudo-gospel insight from a coffee shop couch,” Iorg said.

Accept no substitutes

Political activism, social justice, convention reform and doctrinal conformity are common mission substitutes, Iorg said, affirming their usefulness but negating their primacy.

In a world marked by tribalism, nationalism and prejudice, Iorg said, “Christians are a global community built on one shared allegiance, an allegiance to Jesus Christ.

“When people are changed by the gospel, they become friends with former enemies and brothers and sisters in a new family. This makes no rational sense. It even astounds angels and demons, but the gospel brings this kind of change in our lives.”

Southern Baptists face great challenges focusing on God’s eternal mission while giving other issues appropriate attention, Iorg said.

“The mission matters most,” Iorg said, reciting a phrase he said has helped him stay on track. “This phrase reminds me to prioritize God’s eternal mission, while still recognizing other matters need appropriate attention. The mission matters most means other things do matter—but just not as much as some people advocate—and never ever to the detriment of God’s eternal mission.”

Iorg, who already has invested 30 years in Southern Baptist denominational work, told messengers he himself is committed to staying on mission.

“Southern Baptists, I did not forego my retirement from organizational leadership to manage Baptist bureaucracy,” he said. “I set it aside because I believe in this role I can minimize the distractions, simplify the processes, quietly and efficiently take care of our business, so that we can focus on advancing God’s eternal mission.”

Future generations are dependent upon this generation to spread the gospel now, he said.

“Many issues demand attention,” Iorg said. “But Southern Baptists, nothing else demands our ultimate attention like God’s eternal mission and every single one of us devoting ourselves to that primary task.”

INDIANAPOLIS (BP)—Messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting adopted six recommendations proposed by the Great Commission Resurgence Evaluation Task Force with one amendment.

A recommendation that called for simplifying the Annual Church Profile added another point clarifying the request for a church to provide its total amount of Cooperative Program giving.

One messenger brought forward an amendment regarding two questions on the ACP profile asking churches about screening and training processes for staff and volunteers regarding sexual abuse prevention. The proposed amendment to strike those two questions ultimately was struck down by messengers and thus remained in the recommendation.

“Our task force understood our purpose was to examine all pertinent material regarding the original [Great Commission Resurgence] report and to conduct an analysis of their implementation and impact on our cooperative efforts,” Chairman Jay Adkins told messengers.

‘Good intentions,’ but failure to increase baptisms

In speaking with reporters after the report, Adkins said that “there were some really good intentions” behind the Great Commission Resurgence, and Southern Baptists’ struggles to increase baptisms and other areas is not unique. A postmodern—even post-Christian—world makes that more of a challenge.

“Culturally, there is a natural dip,” he said. “Scripture speaks to these sorts of issues as they relate to the church.”

Stating that the Great Commission Resurgence clearly did not reverse the decline in baptisms, Adkins told messengers, “There is more than enough blame to go around for this continued trend,” even as there are “some very encouraging trends as of late.”

Adkins concluded his report with comments from Woman’s Missionary Union Executive Director-Treasurer Sandy Wisdom-Martin, who called Southern Baptists’ reluctance to engage in personal evangelism “the greatest tragedy of our generation.”

Other members joining Adkins, pastor of First Baptist Church in Westwego, La., were Robin Foster, associational missionary for Trinity Baptist Association in Trumann, Ark.; Adam Groza, president of Gateway Seminary; Luke Holmes, pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church in Duncan, Okla.; Chris Shaffer, chief of staff and associate vice president for Institutional Strategy at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary; and Jeremy Westbrook, executive director for the State Convention of Baptists in Ohio.

INDIANAPOLIS (RNS)—Former Vice President Mike Pence addressed Southern Baptists at a luncheon event focused on public service where he criticized President Joe Biden, questioned the future of the Republican Party and upheld faith as the answer for the country’s problems.

He spoke during a June 11 luncheon held at a hotel across the street from the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention with Brent Leatherwood, president of the SBC’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.

After trumpeting his role in the Trump administration’s appointment of justices who “sent Roe v. Wade to the ash heap of history,” Pence made it clear that he has found nothing to appreciate about the current presidency.

“I’ve never voted for Joe Biden,” he said. “I can’t think of a thing he’s done that I agree with. And I’ve known Joe Biden a long time.

“And, I mean, there’s a big debate over the president’s condition, ability to do the job. Let me just assure you, Joe Biden has always been that wrong. I mean, that’s not new.”

Some of the audience, about 400 people dining on boxed lunches of turkey sandwiches, pasta salad and chocolate chip cookies, laughed, and even more applauded the overturning of the constitutional right to legal abortion in the United States two years ago.

Pence, who was drawn to the Republican Party during the Ronald Reagan era, said he’s focused on “traditional conservative values” and advocating for them through his Advancing American Freedom, a foundation he created in 2021. But he sees division in his political party.

“The influential men and women in this room need to know there’s also a very healthy debate within my party about whether we’re going to stay on the course of a strong national defense of American leadership in the world, of limited government and balanced budgets, traditional moral values, the right to life and an affirmation of religious liberty and marriage,” he said, “or whether we’re going to start to move in another direction.”

Not the end of debate over life

One of those divides, he said, is future legislation about abortion at every level of U.S. political life.

“I honestly think we haven’t come to the end of the debate over life: We’ve come to the end of the beginning,” Pence said. “I think the destiny of this nation is inextricably linked to whether we restore the sanctity of life to the center of American law.”

Leatherwood asked Pence how he deals with personal attacks, including about decisions that have made headlines, such as to not dine alone with a woman not his wife.

Pence drew laughter again when he described then-President Donald Trump’s reaction to a news story about that personal policy when they were with his team in the Oval Office: “He goes, ‘Can you all believe it? After everything they said about me, they’re attacking Mike Pence for being faithful to his wife.’”

But Pence included a clarification for those in Tuesday’s audience who did not know the history of that choice of personal behavior.

“It wasn’t Mike Pence’s rule. It’s the Billy Graham rule,” he said, referring to the famed evangelist. “When we got busy in public life, Karen and I sat down and just made some decisions about putting our marriage and our families first and that was one of them.”

Pence said he and Trump may never agree on the decision Pence made to support the outcome of the 2020 election—even as election deniers attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, some threatening his life. But Pence said he focuses on the faith on which he relied then and now.

“I know it’s God’s grace that saw us through that day,” he said.

‘Pray for America’

Leatherwood asked Pence if he had any advice for approaching the upcoming election, as research has shown that most Americans do not want a presidential rematch between Biden and Trump.

“If there was a time to go back to that pulpit and tell your folks pray for America, it’d be now,” the former vice president said, adding that repentance is also necessary.

He recommended “calling our neighbors and friends, not just the people out there that disagree with us openly, that don’t embrace our faith in Jesus Christ, but I’m talking about including people who do and say let’s all examine our hearts and see how it is that we can, in our own lives, have a change of heart that will inspire the nation.”

Pence expressed his gratitude for those in the audience who are leading and preaching to congregations across the country.

“I want you all to know how grateful I am for the role that you play in the lives of families and communities that you serve,” he said. “I will always believe that the pulpits that you speak behind are infinitely more valuable to the life of this nation than any podium that I’ve ever had the privilege to stand on.”

Trump speaks via video prior to SBC

The day before Pence spoke to the ERLC luncheon, former President Donald Trump delivered a prerecorded video message to Southern Baptists attending a luncheon in Indianapolis sponsored by the Danbury Institute prior to the SBC annual meeting.

Trump—the presumptive Republican nominee for president—thanked those assembled for their “tremendous devotion to God and country” and their “tremendous support of me.”

He described the United States as a “declining nation” under the Biden administration, and he offered his partisan remedy.

“We can’t afford for anyone to sit on the sidelines,” Trump said. “Now is the time for us to all pull together and to stand up for our values and for our freedoms, and you just can’t vote Democrat. They’re against religion. They’re against your religion in particular. You cannot vote for Democrats, and you to have to get out and vote.”

With additional reporting by Managing Editor Ken Camp.

INDIANAPOLIS (BP)—Astronaut Charlie Duke, the youngest man to ever step on the moon, carried an emblem of the Woman’s Missionary Union pin to the moon and back in 1972, Executive Director-Treasurer Sandy Wisdom-Martin told participants at the WMU missions celebration and annual meeting.

In addition to that treasured artifact, Wisdom-Martin said the national WMU archives also holds a handwritten note from Jim Irwin, astronaut on Apollo 15.

Irwin’s note states; “To the Woman’s Missionary Union of the Southern Baptist Convention with gratitude for your great work in projecting the ‘holy light’ throughout the world.”

“The moon does not produce its own light. We see the moon because it reflects light from the sun,” Wisdom-Martin said to 350 attendees at this year’s WMU missions celebration and annual meeting held June 9 prior to the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention.

“As Christ followers, we do not produce our own light. We only reflect light from the Son.”

Surprising her audience, she removed her jacket to reveal an astronaut costume underneath.

“Are you projecting his light?” she asked. “Let’s suit up and show a lost world we love them to the moon and back.”

Wisdom-Martin talked about a WMU edition of the book, 50 Steps with Jesus: Learning to Walk Daily with the Lord, which is designed for a shepherd to guide a new believer through a 50-day journey with God.

“In 2024, we intend to raise up 1,000 disciplers using this material,” she said, revealing she recently started discipling an 11th person using this resource, written by Air Force Chaplain (Brig. Gen.) Ron Harvell (ret.) and his wife Marsha of Moncks Corner, S.C.

According to Marsha Harvell, the discipling resource was born out of a need for something to help her disciple a “brand new lamb of Christ who did not know anything about Christianity.”

“What if WMU had an army of 1,000 disciplers at the ready to invest in new believers in their communities or even those campus ministers and church planters were leading to Christ elsewhere?” Wisdom-Martin asked. “Just think of the significant kingdom impact that could be made.”

‘Pray we dream big dreams’

In her presidential address, Connie Dixon shared a quick report and described a lot of what she saw God do this past year.

“I took 72 flights, had 59 Zoom calls. I spoke 51 different speaking engagements and wrote 23 articles. I spoke in 16 different state conventions and 12 conferences. I was trained in Mental Health First Aid. I was on numerous conference calls, and I wrote a book,” she said.

Noting she has spoken to thousands of WMU members across the nation, Dixon said she has heard hundreds of stories of what God has done in lives through WMU and the missions heritage being handed down through generations.

These included stories about 30,000 migrant workers coming to Jesus, book clubs for women coming out of incarceration and other types of groups and Bible studies, and despite major difficulties, the miraculous ministry happening in Cambodia, Nigeria, Mozambique, Philippines, Kenya and more.

“In spite of all of these difficulties, the faithful WMU people around the world are praising God and persisting with the word [of God]. What joy to hear from our missionaries and to hear their stories,” she said.

“WMU has always had challenges and oppositions. We have never felt like we had as much money as we needed or as many people as we needed, but we have always—always—had enough to accomplish what God has asked us to accomplish.

“Let’s pray that we proclaim from the heart the love of Jesus to a broken and hurting world. Let’s pray that we dream big dreams. Remember that any time an organization has more memories than it has dreams, the end is near. We need to dream big dreams.”

‘Prayer warriors’ for missionaries

This year’s meeting also included testimonies from missionaries and former WMU participants, including the Harvells; Dani Bryson, assistant district attorney at the 23rd Judicial District in Dickson, Tenn., and member of the SBC Executive Committee; Gay and John Williams, directors of Hawaii Baptist Disaster Relief in Honolulu; and Sarah Sanborn, a former IMB Journeyman missionary to Krakow, Poland, among others.

The Harvells, whose two children are serving as IMB missionaries in Asia (one in Japan and the other in an undisclosed country), told how they never put a “distance limit” on their children’s service to God. They also thanked WMU for being “prayer warriors” for missionaries, relating a story that surely was a result of such prayer.

Their daughter traveled to her country’s capital city to the U.S. Embassy to get a passport, Marsha Harvell explained. Living and serving in the jungle, away from simple luxuries, she looked forward to enjoying a cup of coffee at a nearby coffee shop, but she first needed to make copies of her documents at the guest house.

Uncharacteristically, the printer would not print. Knowing her precious moments at the coffee shop were dwindling, she frantically tried to get it to work. Then, all the sudden, she heard sirens and blared announcements to “Stay in place.” She later learned a terrorist bomb had just gone off at the coffee shop right next to the embassy.

“You precious WMU,” Marsha Harvell said tearfully. “For the past 136 years, you have prayed for our missionaries. Don’t ever stop!”

Ron Harvell, who has served a total of 34 years in military chaplaincy, has baptized more than 500 people. Acknowledging how easy it is for churches to harden their hearts to “transitional” military personnel, he urged his listeners to love, care and pray for them, and to contact them during their next assignments.

It’s a privilege to help them transform through Jesus, he said.

‘Thank you’ to women who serve in ministry

Bryson, who has served on the SBC Executive Committee and the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, is a legacy WMU member, who grew up participating in Girls in Action and Acteens, ultimately serving as a national Acteens panelist in 2005.

She said the “single biggest missional force” in her life was her mom, Carmen Westerman, who served as her Acteens leader and “a fearless and constant voice for missions.”

“When women do missions, they bring their families with them,” Bryson said, noting her mother took her “alongside her” to association meetings, WMU meetings, international mission trips and more.

“As a thank you to her and to all the women who serve in ministry,” Bryson welcomed her mother to the stage, tearfully presenting her with a large bouquet of red roses.

Gay and John Williams shared their life-long missions journey, which culminated in their current role as disaster relief directors in Honolulu, after serving in student ministry for 26 years in three different countries and five U.S. states.

John Williams described the area’s two major events in 2023, a super typhoon in Guam, where they helped with water and food distribution, and the fires in Maui, where they are helping with rebuilding.

“Hawaii is a very communal culture,” he said, thanking WMU for their prayers. “When part of the islands hurt, we all hurt.”

Sanborn presented testimonies of sharing her faith with other young women. One admitted she initially was annoyed at Sanborn for how much she talked about Jesus, but after becoming a Christian, she said: “I am now the weird one always talking about Jesus Christ. How could I not tell others about him?”

“We have to be bold in sharing and hopeful in waiting,” Sanborn asserted. “We can have steadfastness in our evangelism because we know …. God is who he says he is, and he will do what he says he will do.”

During the business session, Dixon of First Baptist Church, Elida, N.M, was re-elected president, and Texan Shirley McDonald of Greens Creek Baptist Church in Dublin was re-elected as recording secretary, each for another term.

Shannon Baker is director of communications for the Baptist Resource Network of Pennsylvania/South Jersey.