February 11, 2002
Graham likely nominee for SBC presidency in June
___JACKSONVILLE, Fla.--Texas pastor Jack Graham has received the nod of Southern Baptist Convention leaders to be nominated for the SBC's presidency in June.
___Graham's "very likely" nomination was announced Feb. 4 by Jerry Vines, pastor of First Baptist Church of Jacksonville, Fla., during an annual pastors' conference there.
___For more than a decade, the Florida conference has provided a platform for key SBC leaders to announce their pick for the convention's top elected leadershippost.
JACK GRAHAM
___Although no formal or official nominating structure exists within the SBC, a small group of influential pastors has hand-picked conservative presidential candidates for more than 20 years. Those candidates routinely defeated moderate Baptist candidates throughout the 1980s and have run virtually unopposed since 1991.
___Vines, a former SBC president himself, made this announcement regarding Graham: "I have been told that it's very likely that he's going to be nominated to serve as president of the SBC this year. And if he is, I plan to vote for him. I'm looking forward to the opportunity to vote for Dr. Jack Graham. He would make us a wonderful, wonderful president."
___Graham, 51, is pastor of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano.
___The 20,000-member congregation is dually aligned with the Baptist General Convention of Texas and the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention. A Baptist Press story announcing Graham's nomination described the church's relationship to the BGCT as "nominal" and highlighted its strong ties to the SBTC.
___"The Southern Baptists of Texas Convention has no better friend than Jack Graham," SBTC Executive Director Jim Richards told the Florida Baptist Witness.
___Graham has been critical of the BGCT for distancing itself from the conservative positions of SBC leadership in recent years. He was a leader in the SBTC's effort last year to collect a special offering to offset a projected loss of funds sent from the BGCT to the six SBC seminaries.
___Prestonwood gave a designated gift of $520,000 for that offering, according to SBTC reporting through Baptist Press. That is more than double the amount Prestonwood has given through the Cooperative Program in any recent year.
___Prestonwood's undesignated Cooperative Program gifts through the BGCT and SBTC last year totaled $95,000, less than one-half of 1 percent of the church's $17.16 million budget. Of that total, $5,000 was given through the BGCT and $90,000 through the SBTC.
___If the $520,000 designated gift and the $95,000 in undesignated gifts are considered together, Prestonwood last year gave $615,000 to the Cooperative Program, which is 3.6 percent of the church's budget.
___Through SBTC, Prestonwood last year also gave $140,000 for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for international missions, $90,000 for the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American missions and $143,044 for disaster relief in New York City and Houston.
___Graham, a native of Conway, Ark., was ordained to the ministry in 1970 and has received degrees from Hardin-Simmons University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He has held previous pastorates in Texas, Oklahoma and Florida.
___In 1992, Graham served as president of the Southern Baptist Pastors' Conference. He delivered the annual sermon at the 1993 SBC annual meeting.
___In 1994, he bucked the conservative leaders who now are prepared to nominate him for the SBC presidency. That year, Graham nominated Orlando pastor Jim Henry for SBC president. Henry was elected over Alabama pastor Fred Wolfe, who was regarded as the choice of conservative leadership in the SBC.
___Graham and his wife, Deb, are the parents of three children.
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