ANAHEIM, Calif. — With lots of drama and heavy decisions expected, Southern Baptists gathered Tuesday morning for the first official day of the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting.
Highly anticipated events include a vote on sexual abuse reform recommendations and the election of the next SBC president. About 8,500 voting delegates, called messengers, are expected.
The decisions reached Tuesday will signal how the country’s largest Protestant denomination feels it should respond to a shocking report from Guidepost Solutions detailing how SBC leaders have handled widespread sexual abuse for the past two decades.
Similarly, the result of the presidential election will mark the political leanings of the majority of the messenger body. Tom Ascol, a Florida pastor, is considered the more conservative candidate and is backed by the Conservative Baptist Network. The other leading announced nominee, Bart Barber, a pastor from Texas, is considered less conservative than Ascol on some issues.
Robin Hadaway, a professor with Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, is another announced nominee for SBC president. Additional people may be nominated from the floor.
What to know:Southern Baptist Convention set to gather for dramatic two-day annual meeting
Sexual abuse reform:How politics threatens sexual abuse reform within the Southern Baptist Convention
Conservative push:Why the Conservative Baptist Network and its allies aren’t deterred and are gearing up for new push
Many Southern Baptists saw a series of events Monday as foreshadowing the days to follow. The SBC Executive Committee met Monday morning and elected new officers. Executive committee members seen as a stronger voice for transparency in Guidepost’s investigation were elected.
Follow along for the latest updates.
Texas pastor Bart Barber will lead SBC as next president
On the first official day of the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting here this week, voting delegates, known as messengers, picked Bart Barber to lead the SBC.
Barber’s role as president will include appointing members of a new task force that will study the implementation of abuse reform.
Barber defeated Tom Ascol in a runoff election Tuesday evening, with Barber receiving 60.87% of the final votes and Ascol receiving 38.88%. Out of the messengers gathered in Anaheim, 5,587 votes were cast with 14 disallowed.
“We need a man who can lead us through the battleground of our disagreements to the common ground of our cooperation,” Matt Henslee, a Southern Baptist pastor from Texas, said about Barber in a nomination speech.
Ascol, pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Cape Coral, Florida and the president of a Reformed Baptist group, was backed by the more conservative wing of the SBC.
Barber, pastor of First Baptist Church in Farmersville, Texas, on the other hand, does not identify as an abortion abolitionist. Instead, he identifies as an “incrementalist,” or the prohibition of abortion through a step-by-step process.
Unlike Ascol, Barber does not think the problem of a “liberal drift” in the SBC is as serious of an issue as Ascol and allies have stated.
Ascol and Barber have both condemned the crisis of sexual abuse in the SBC following the release of Guidepost’s report.
But Ascol is more of a proponent of addressing abuse through a local level in an effort to preserve church autonomy, a key SBC principle. Barber has expressed support for certain convention-wide measures seeking to address abuse, an approach largely supported by abuse survivors.
Presidential election goes into runoff
The highly anticipated SBC presidential election will go into a runoff between candidates Bart Barber and Tom Ascol.
In the first presidential election, four candidates were nominated. The other two candidates were Frank Cox and Robin Hadaway, who did not receive enough votes to move forward.
Barber received about 47% of the votes in the first election and Ascol received about 34% of the vote. Ascol is considered a more conservative candidate than Barber. A similar event happened at last year’s annual meeting when SBC President Ed Litton faced Mike Stone in a runoff.
Messengers cast their ballots for the runoff shortly after 6 p.m. PST.
‘Bare minimum’ abuse reform recommendations overwhelmingly approved
Messengers overwhelmingly approved a series of abuse reform recommendations that, while significant for the SBC, are the “bare minimum,” said Bruce Frank, chair of the SBC sexual abuse task force.
The task force oversaw the months-long investigation by Guidepost Solutions into two decades of SBC leaders’ handling of abuse reports and treatment of abuse victims.
The task force had asked the messengers to approve two sets of recommendations, both of which contained subsections.
The first main recommendation is to create an abuse implementation task force. The second is to create a “ministry check” database to keep track of ministers credibly accused of sexual abuse.
“I plead with you on behalf of survivors who love our convention and love our survivors, please let’s start the healing process today,” Brad Eubank, an abuse survivor and pastor from Mississippi, said during the session.
The messengers voted after 40 minutes of deliberation with a few speakers opposing the measures. Several opponents to the recommendations cited a tweet that Guidepost posted last week in celebration of Pride month.
Other opponents felt the recommendations would go against the Southern Baptist belief in church autonomy. “It is an assault on our polity,” said messenger Mark Coppenger.
But the majority of the messengers felt differently. Shortly after, another messenger called for the question, leading to a sea of neon yellow ballots raised in support of the recommendations.
“Today we will choose between humility and hubris. We will choose between repentance or continually being passive in the Southern Baptist Convention,” Frank said in his address. “Make no mistake, the time for action has come.”
Rachael Denhollander, an abuse survivor, attorney and member of the task force, said in a news conference after the vote she hopes history shows when survivors look back on this moment, “they see every single ballot raised in the air and they know that was me being believed.”
“(That they know) that was the impact I made because I didn’t give up, and that the survivors who come after them look at those ballots and say I have a place to speak up now,” Denhollander said. “My voice can now be heard because of what the generation before me did. I think that is the biggest takeaway today is the tireless effort of these survivors, Debbie Vasquez, Tiffany Thigpen, Jules Woodson, Christa Brown, Dave Pittman.”
In the audience of the news conference, survivors Woodson and Thigpen smiled and nodded their heads, grasping each other’s hands as Denhollander called their names.
“Because they didn’t give up, those ballots went up today,” Denhollander said.
Saddleback remains in SBC, study committee won’t look at title of ‘pastor’
Messengers speaking from the floor Tuesday morning debated a motion to study and provide clarity on the “office of pastor” in fiery terms, with several saying the convention has spoken clearly on the issue.
Ultimately, the motion was withdrawn by the credentials committee that had recommended it, with Linda Cooper, chair of the committee, saying they had heard the messengers.
The motion arose out of a referral last year to the credentials committee to break fellowship with Saddleback Church, one of the convention’s largest churches led by well-known pastor Rick Warren, after it ordained three women pastors. Saddleback is located about 20 miles away from where messengers gathered in Anaheim.
But the issue of whether Saddleback is in friendly cooperation with the convention remains with the credentials committee, meaning it could make a determination on the church in the future.
“My concern is as a churchman, theologian and someone who loves this convention … if we eventually have to form a study committee over every word in our statement of faith, then we’re doomed,” said Al Mohler, an influential Southern Baptist and president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Mohler, who served on the committee for drafting the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message, said they were told that the word “pastor … was the most easily understood word among Southern Baptists.”
Others pushed back, saying some churches have women serve as youth pastors or women’s pastors, but who are not the church’s lead pastor.
“In some of our Southern Baptist churches, pastor is a spiritual gift that is given to many people, so we wanted clarity on what that means,” Cooper said.
A few weeks ago, Warren announced he will be stepping down and that his successors will be a young couple from a San Francisco-area.
Warren himself made an appearance at the convention, speaking of his church’s immense impact on other churches, pastors and individual Christians.
His message was a “love letter” to the SBC on what could be his last convention, he said.
“We have to decide if we’re gonna treat each other as allies or adversaries,” Warren said. “Are we gonna keep bickering over secondary issues or are we gonna keep the main thing the main thing?”
Facing report on sexual abuse, SBC president calls for ‘repenting of our sins’
Amid of defining moment for the SBC and how it handles a sexual abuse crisis, SBC President Ed Litton called on Southern Baptists into the “the painful mercy of confronting our sins, repenting of our sins,” he said during his presidential address Tuesday morning.
The recent report from Guidepost Solutions containing findings of a sexual abuse investigation was a “gut punch,” said Litton, pastor of Redemption Church in Mobile, Alabama.
Litton was elected by messengers at the 2021 SBC annual meeting and won in a run-off election against a candidate who was considered more conservative. Litton will not seek reelection at this year’s annual meeting.
In addition to his address, Litton is presiding over the business of the annual meeting.
“We make headlines not because we’re considered compassionate,” Litton said in his address, commenting on the past year and the attention on the SBC for how it has historically handled abuse.
Southern Baptists need to acknowledge the wrongdoing outlined in the Guidepost report and respond appropriately, he said.
“Our greatest danger is not our weakness, it’s the perception of strength,” Litton said. Messengers will vote on sexual abuse reform recommendations Tuesday afternoon.
In addition to abuse, Litton addressed other issues including homelessness, abortion, and racial reconciliation.
There’s an issue of Southern Baptists becoming “isolated from the pain and suffering from the world around us,” Litton said.
This week, Litton said he believes, “is a come to Jesus moment for us Southern Baptists.”
Motions made from SBC floor could eliminate ERLC, raise awareness of abuse
If a motion made from the convention floor Tuesday morning is approved, the Southern Baptist Convention’s public policy arm, the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, could cease to exist.
But motions made from the floor aren’t necessarily indicative of the positions of Southern Baptists as a whole: They’re largely dependent on who manages to get to a microphone first. And, those motions could end up going to a future vote, heading to committee or being ruled out of motion.
There was no time allotted for arguments in favor of motions Tuesday morning, but the ERLC has recently come under fire from some in the convention after its acting president signed a letter from National Right to Life that opposed any measures “seeking to criminalize or punish women” who have abortions.
Another motion made from the floor Tuesday morning sought to have Southern Baptists boycott Disney and its affiliates over Pride products. The convention, this year in Anaheim, is just steps from Disneyland.
And one called for the convention to not mandate missionaries receive vaccines, “especially vaccines created in or tested in aborted fetal tissue.”
Other motions called on the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary to study the feasibility of removing any name on buildings associated with slavery, to study editorial independence for the Baptist Press and to study the possibility of suspending resolutions in order to create more unity in the SBC.
Others dealt with the sexual abuse crisis currently roiling the convention. One motion called for a day to be added to the SBC’s annual calendar of events to raise awareness of the effects and prevention of abuse, including sexual, physical and spiritual abuse.
Fourth SBC president candidate announced
Frank Cox, a Georgia pastor, will be a fourth candidate for SBC president.
Baptist Press reported Tuesday morning Cox’s anticipated nomination, a last-minute announcement ahead of the SBC presidential election Tuesday afternoon.
Cox is the pastor of North Metro Baptist Church in Lawrenceville, Georgia, a church with a weekly worship attendance of about 600 people, according to Baptist Press. Cox was president of the Georgia Baptist Convention and a candidate for SBC president in 2008.
Referral to break with Saddleback
An SBC committee responsible for evaluating which churches are part of the Southern Baptist Convention will make a recommendation to establish a committee to study whether the SBC should break with Saddleback Church, one of the convention’s largest churches led by well-known pastor Rick Warren.
The recommendation was released in a bulletin before Tuesday’s business began.
The credentials committee’s recommendation follows controversy about female leadership at Saddleback, located in Lake Forest, California, just a short drive from where the annual meeting is taking place. The SBC statement of beliefs says the “office of pastor” is reserved for men.
Last year, Saddleback ordained three women pastors, causing messengers at last year’s 2021 annual meeting to refer the matter to the credentials committee. The credentials committee’s response at the 2022 annual meeting shows the committee thought the concern was valid enough to pursue further.
If the messengers decide Tuesday to endorse the committee’s recommendation, the prospective Saddleback committee will present a report at the 2023 SBC annual meeting.
A few weeks ago, Warren announced he’s stepping down and that his successors will be a young couple from a San Francisco-area ch.
Resolution apologizes to sexual abuse survivors
Two of the nine total resolutions that SBC messengers will vote to approve at the annual meeting are about sexual abuse, according to a copy of the resolutions released ahead of Tuesday’s events.
“We publicly apologize to and ask forgiveness from survivors of sexual abuse for our failure to care well for survivors, for our failure to hold perpetrators of sexual abuse adequately accountable in our churches and institutions,” read one of the resolutions.
The same resolution specifically apologizes to abuse survivors Christa Brown, Susan Codone, Megan Lively, Jennifer Lyell, Anne Marie Miller, David Pittman, Tiffany Thigpen, Debbie Vasquez, Hannah-Kate Williams and Jules Woodson.
The other abuse resolution calls on state lawmakers throughout the U.S. to pass laws to “empower churches by shielding them from civil liability when they share information about alleged abuse with other organizations or institutions,” the resolution said.
Resolutions are nonbinding statements meant to communicate the beliefs of the messenger body. The resolutions require approval from the messengers, the voting delegates for the Nashville-based SBC.
The other resolutions released by the 2022 SBC resolutions committee are about:
- Church building and missions work in rural areas within the U.S.
- Rejecting the prosperity gospel, or the teaching that one’s faith makes them wealthy
- Support for Ukraine and criticism of Russia for its invasion of Ukraine
- Denouncing the forced conversion of Indigenous people at boarding schools, as outlined in a recent Bureau of Indian Affairs report
- Celebrating the “historic moment in the pro-life movement” ahead of the potential the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade in a ruling expected soon.
- A resolution about the idea of Imago Dei, or the image of God. The resolutions include statements denouncing LGBTQ identities and gun violence.
Monday evening election seen as predictor
Daniel Dickard, pastor of Friendly Avenue Baptist Church in North Carolina, won the election for president of next year’s SBC Pastor’s Conference, a two-day event that occurs before the SBC annual meeting. Many saw the pastor’s conference election as a predictor of subsequent elections that could signify the political leanings of Southern Baptist Convention messengers, the denomination’s voting delegates.
Dickard’s opponent was Voddie Baucham, dean of theology at African Christian University in Zambia.
Baucham was one of three announced nominees backed by the Conservative Baptist Network, a group trying to pull the SBC further to the right.
A raised ballot vote early Monday evening between Baucham and Dickard was too close to call, triggering a second, secret ballot vote.
Monday’s updates:‘We have become stronger,’ key Southern Baptist leader says on eve of annual meeting
That resulted in 1,357 ballots cast, with 690 votes going for Dickard and 608 for Baucham. Another 59 votes were disallowed, but would not have changed the results.
The other Conservative Baptist Network-backed nominees include Tom Ascol, announced nominee for SBC president, and Javier Chavez, announced nominee for SBC recording secretary. Votes for those two are expected Tuesday.
Catch up on coverage
Liam Adams covers religion for The Tennessean. Reach him at ladams@tennessean.com or on Twitter @liamsadams. Katherine Burgess covers county government and religion. She can be reached at katherine.burgess@commercialappeal.com, 901-529-2799 or followed on Twitter @kathsburgess.
