LUBBOCK (BP)—Three motions at the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention annual meeting to disallow messengers from Fielder Church in Arlington because of the church’s stance on women in pastoral roles were ruled out of order.

As recently as July, staff positions at Fielder Church in Arlington—a congregation dually affiliated with the SBTC and Texas Baptists—used the term “pastor” for men and women. Those all since have been changed to “shepherd.”

Social media posts show Jason Paredes, Fielder Church’s lead shepherd, voicing his opposition in 2023 to the vote by Southern Baptist messengers to remove Saddleback Church from fellowship for employing women as pastors. Paredes further gives his unapologetic support for women serving as pastors.

Article IV of the SBTC Constitution states a church may be removed from the convention “by majority vote of the Executive Board or of the messengers at an annual session of the Convention after the following process is completed: (a) The church has received written notice of the matter prompting the Executive Board’s consideration of removal and (b) The Credentials Committee has attempted to resolve the matter by meeting with the pastor and/or leaders of the church.”

‘Due process rights’

The motions made at the SBTC annual meeting in Lubbock were dismissed on Parliamentarian Al Gage’s ruling that the two requirements for action were not satisfied.

The phrase “after the following process is completed” in the SBTC Constitution gives critical protections for churches subject to removal, Gage told Baptist Press in written comments.

“The due process rights to written notice of their pending removal and a meeting with the Credentials Committee to resolve the matter are requirements and protections for the church,” Gage stated. “Both conditions must be met for a church to be disaffiliated whether by the messengers or by the Executive Board.”

SBTC Executive Board meeting minutes from Aug. 5 include a Credentials Committee report containing information about a meeting with an unnamed church that used the title “pastor” for church staff positions filled by women.

“The church confirmed that they would change the title and no longer use ‘pastor’ for staff positions filled by women,” the report said.

The SBTC Executive Board voted at that time to form a committee to review the Constitution and Bylaws. The documents will be reviewed in their entirety, with a focus on polity and affiliation requirements as they relate to the office and title of pastor. Proposed amendments will be published 90 days before a messenger vote at the 2026 SBTC annual meeting.

The Baptist Standard requested a response from Fielder Church but did not receive a reply prior to the publication deadline.

Continuing controversy in the SBC

In the Southern Baptist Convention, the so-called Law Amendment, which addressed church affiliation in the SBC Constitution and the role of pastor being reserved for men, has been brought before messengers three times since 2023. Ultimately, it has fallen short of the two-thirds majority two years in a row required for passage.

SBC President Clint Pressley shared his thoughts about Fielder Church on social media. Pressley said he thinks the congregation is “in clear violation” of the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message.

He expressed confidence the matter will be discussed at the next SBC annual meeting in Orlando.

Pressley also reposted comments from Andrew Walker, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary ethics and theology professor who chaired the SBC Resolutions Committee at the 2025 SBC annual meeting.

Walker said that “our confessional standards say what they mean and mean what they say. The moment we start treating them like a ‘living constitution,’ we abandon both their authority and our integrity—and that never ends well.”

Southern Seminary President Al Mohler posted about the matter on social media, saying failure to address the issue directly “as a necessary principle of cooperation” would be akin to “surrender[ing] to unbiblical ambiguity.”

“The Southern Baptist Convention will not survive ambiguity on the question of female pastors, whatever they are called,” he wrote on X. “The Baptist Faith & Message is clear that the office of pastor is held only by men as called for in Scripture. This is clearly about both office and function.”

CLEARWATER, Fla. (BP)—Florida pastor Willy Rice announced his intentions to be nominated for Southern Baptist Convention president at the 2026 SBC annual meeting in Orlando.

In a video released Oct. 31, Rice said he is allowing the nomination based on his hope for renewal in the SBC.

Rice, 62, has served 21 years as senior pastor at Calvary Church in Clearwater.

“Can you honestly look back over the last few years and conclude we are more united and more on mission? Or do you feel like I do? And like so many I hear from that there are real concerns that call for serious reflection, humble correction and a new day of renewal,” Rice said in the video.

He said his focus would be on renewing the message and the mission of the convention.

“In this hour of apostasy and idolatry, we need to reaffirm and restate our convictions. Such a time calls not for fuzzy lines in a mushy middle, it calls for clarity and courage. We don’t need to look for something new. We need to stand on what we know is true,” he said.

In 2022, now-SBC President Clint Pressley announced he would nominate Rice for president at that year’s annual meeting in Anaheim, Calif., but Rice later decided not to seek the nomination.

Emphasis on the Great Commission

In the Oct. 31 video, Rice talked about the 2,000th anniversary of the Great Commission, which he said will occur “somewhere around May of 2033.”

“What if as we approach that once-in-a-lifetime moment, Southern Baptists were to unite as never before to make sure every person in our nation heard the message of Jesus and was urged to respond in repentance and faith, and imagine Southern Baptists embracing a historic generational goal to get the gospel into every tongue, every nation and every tribe across the globe,” he said.

More than any other generation of Christians, “we have all we need” for the mission, Rice said.

“What we have lacked is the resolve, the vision, the unity, the focus and the commitment to see it through. We have allowed other pursuits to distract us and tainted ideologies to divide us,” he said.

Rice plans to hold “conversations” with Southern Baptists over the coming months to work through potential differences.

“I pray those conversations will be without unnecessary acrimony, that they will glorify our Savior and edify the church,” he said in the video.

“Regardless of your views, I hope you’ll join me in praying for a Baptist renewal in our time and praying specifically that our gathering next summer can be a time of reaffirming our convictions and recommitting to our shared mission.”

Giving record and denominational involvement

According to its 2025 Annual Church Profile statistics and the church’s financial office, Calvary Church gave $343,549 through the Cooperative Program, approximately 3 percent of its undesignated contributions; $52,222 to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering giving; and $76,351 to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.

Calvary Church reported 409 baptisms in 2024 and 3,055 people in average worship attendance.

Rice previously pastored churches in Florida and Alabama. He is a graduate of Samford University in Birmingham, Ala., and has a Master of Divinity degree and a Doctor of Ministry degree from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.

He and his wife Cheryl have three children and six grandchildren.

Rice served as president of the Florida Baptist Convention from 2006 to 2008, and he served as president of the SBC Pastors’ Conference in 2015.

He has also served as chairman of the SBC Committee on Committees in 2010, chair of the SBC Committee on Nominations in 2016 and president of the Florida Baptist Convention Pastors’ Conference in 2004, along with other local, state and national positions.

Rice also served as a trustee for the North American Mission Board from 2018 to 2022, including stints as second and first vice chairman.

NASHVILLE (BP)—Morris H. Chapman, former pastor, former Southern Baptist Convention president, former SBC Executive Committee president and champion of the Cooperative Program, died Oct. 20, at age 84.

The last SBC president during the so-called conservative resurgence to be opposed by a moderate candidate, Chapman led the SBC to remain focused on the Great Commission as moderates broke away.

Under his leadership as Executive Committee president, Cooperative Program giving reached a record high yet to be matched.

Chapman was given the honorary title of president emeritus of the Executive Committee upon his retirement in 2010.

“In a world where so many have fallen, he was faithful to the end,” current SBC President Clint Pressley posted on social media in tribute to Chapman. “Southern Baptists like me owe men like him a debt of gratitude. Praying the Lord is close to his family and especially his widow Jodi in the days ahead.”

“Morris Chapman led with passion and integrity,” said current SBC Executive Committee President Jeff Iorg. “He was a champion for cooperation and our global mission. He was also a friend who encouraged me for many years—including after my election as president of the EC. We honor him and pray for his family in their loss.”

Born in Kosciusko, Miss., on Thanksgiving Day, 1940, Chapman professed faith in Christ at age 7 at First Baptist Church in Laurel, Miss., was called to ministry at age 12 and recognized a call to preach at age 21.

After graduating from Mississippi College, Chapman earned master of divinity and doctor of ministry degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He was ordained to the ministry at Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tenn., when Ramsey Pollard was pastor.

Chapman served as pastor of four churches in Texas and New Mexico during a span of 25 years: First Baptist Church in Rogers from 1967 to 1969; First Baptist Church in Woodway from 1969 to 1974; First Baptist Church in Albuquerque, N.M., from 1974 to 1979; and First Baptist Church in Wichita Falls from 1979 to 1992.

Along the way, Chapman was active in denominational life, serving two terms as president of the Baptist Convention of New Mexico and as a member of the Executive Board of the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

In 1984, Chapman felt a growing burden for revival among Southern Baptists and led First Baptist in Wichita Falls to pray by name for each of the 36,000 Southern Baptist churches as well as SBC entities.

During that five-month period and beyond, the church received hundreds of responses from across the nation testifying to the impact of the effort.

During Chapman’s pastorate in Wichita Falls, First Baptist was consistently in the top 1 percent of Southern Baptist churches for giving through the Cooperative Program as well as for baptisms. Under his leadership there, Cooperative Program gifts reached 16 percent of total undesignated receipts and baptisms each year averaged more than 160.

SBC presidency

After serving as president of the SBC Pastors’ Conference in 1986 and preaching the convention sermon at the SBC annual meeting in 1989, Chapman’s peers looked to him as the conservative nominee for SBC president in 1990.

While Adrian Rogers in 1979 was the first in a string of conservatives elected over moderate candidates during the so-called conservative resurgence, Chapman was the last. His election marked the end of moderates’ attempts to win the presidency, and the following year he ran unopposed.

When he was elected in 1992, Morris said he saw his role as rallying Southern Baptists together.

“I see myself as carrying out the will of the majority and carrying out genuine healing among Southern Baptists,” Chapman said after his election was announced during a February 1992 meeting of the Executive Committee, according to Baptist Press archives.

As president of the SBC, he also emphasized the need for the SBC to focus on evangelism and prayer and called churches around the country to pray while he was SBC president.

“The desperate need for spiritual awakening in this nation has been ever present in my thoughts,” he said at the time.

Chapman appointed two task forces as president: one on spiritual awakening and the other on family ministry. He warned that the “moral fiber of our nation will soon be shredded beyond repair” if the erosion of the family was not reversed.

James Merritt, another former SBC president, said Chapman helped the denomination get back on track after the end of that battle by focusing on the Cooperative Program, the SBC’s long-running program for funding missions and national ministries.

He referred to Chapman as a “Christian gentleman” devoted to the SBC.

“Morris came out at a very strategic time,” said Merritt. “Healing needed to take place. He struck a good chord, trying to bring people together.”

When moderate Southern Baptists began to explore options for redirecting their Cooperative Program gifts to bypass the SBC Executive Committee, Chapman opposed “any deviation from this proven practice of cooperation.”

Moderates officially formed the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship while Chapman was SBC president in 1991. At that year’s meeting in Atlanta, Chapman pushed for extending Southern Baptist outreach in the host city for the annual meeting each year. It became a week-long effort and was renamed “Crossover” at Chapman’s suggestion.

Executive Committee leadership

With Chapman championing cooperative giving, the Cooperative Program allocation budget receipts distributed to SBC entities grew by 44 percent during Chapman’s 18 years as Executive Committee president.

Receipts exceeded the annual Cooperative Program allocation budget 15 years in a row from 1994 through 2008, falling off slightly during a global economic crisis.

Total giving through the Cooperative Program to state Baptist conventions reached a record high of $548,205,099 in 2007-08. Even without an adjustment for inflation, that is 23 percent higher than the most recent year.

In his role at the Executive Committee, Chapman led the implementation of the conservative resurgence vision, preaching throughout the convention and emphasizing the full authority, inerrancy and infallibility of the Bible.

To prepare Southern Baptists for the 21st century, Chapman initiated a study committee that led to the Covenant for a New Century in 1995, a plan that streamlined convention entities for improved effectiveness.

Ben Cole, a longtime friend of the Chapman family, referred to Chapman as a denominational statesman.

“Dr. Chapman never saw himself as the commanding officer nor the Executive Committee as the flagship of the Southern Baptist Convention,” Cole said in a text message. “Neither did he serve as captain of a denominational battleship forever stirring waters of strife among his brethren.

“He will be fondly remembered by honest churchmen as a trustworthy ballast during seasons of theological retrieval and institutional realignment.”

Unlike other leaders of the so-called conservative resurgence whose ministries ended in scandal, Chapman was known for his personal integrity.

He was not above controversy, though, especially when clashing with those he thought might undermine the SBC or the Cooperative Program.

In 2009, during his speech at the Southern Baptist Convention, he criticized then-popular megachurch pastor Mark Driscoll as someone whose behavior was unfit for pastors.

He also criticized a move to cut funding to the Executive Committee.

Chapman, while he denounced abusers, opposed starting a database to track abusive church leaders.

Chapman is survived by his wife Jodi, his son and daughter-in-law Chris and Renee Chapman, his daughter and son-in-law Stephanie and Scott Evans, eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

With additional reporting by Bob Smietana of Religion News Service.

(RNS)—Daniel Akin, president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, announced to students gathered for a chapel service on Oct. 14 his plans to retire next summer.

Reading from a short letter—the same one he sent to the school’s trustees a day earlier—Akin said he planned to step down effective July 31, 2026.

Speaking on behalf of his wife, Charlotte, too, he said: “We love this school. … We are filled with incredible gratitude and thanksgiving for God’s grace in bringing us here almost 22 years ago. It is time to hand off the baton of leadership to those whom God will raise up to lead this Great Commission school into the future.”

The occasion he chose was Southeastern’s 75th anniversary, which is being celebrated on the campus in Wake Forest, a suburban town north of Raleigh, N.C.

Akin will turn 69 in January and has led the seminary—one of six in the Southern Baptist Convention—for much of his career.

Significant growth in last two decades

Last academic year, Southeastern had 2,263 students, half of them full-time equivalents, according to data from the Association of Theological Schools. That’s a 40 percent increase over 2004, the year Akin started, when Southeastern had 1,619 students.

About a third of the seminary’s students—776—were studying for the Master of Divinity degree in the 2024-25 school year. Of those, 441 were full-time students.

Southeastern is now the third largest of the denomination’s six seminaries, after Midwestern in Kansas City, Mo., and Southern in Louisville, Ky. The verdant campus, originally the site of Wake Forest University, also includes an undergraduate school, Judson College, with an enrollment of 1,603 students.

Akin—a theological conservative—has acknowledged the reality of structural racism and said change is needed to broaden the predominantly white ranks of SBC membership. He said one of the major goals at Southeastern is boosting the number of racial minority students.

He also has acknowledged the sins of sexual abuse in the denomination. When a former assistant accused the late Paul Pressler—one of the most influential leaders of the self-identified conservative resurgence in the denomination—of sexual abuse, Akin said he believed the testimony of the victim.

“We can’t deny the reality of the accusations,” Akin said.

Ten years ago, he even agreed to do a video spot for Openly Secular, a group of atheists, freethinkers, agnostics and humanists, in which he said that no one should be discriminated against for their belief or nonbelief.

Served previously at Southern Seminary

A former athlete from Georgia, Akin once had dreams of playing baseball, but after an injury, he answered a call to ministry, graduating in 1980 from Criswell College in Dallas.

He first came to Southeastern in 1992 as dean of students and then moved on to Southern Seminary, where he served as dean of the School of Theology, and senior vice president for academic administration for eight years.

In 2004 he was chosen to replace Paige Patterson, one of the leaders of the conservative resurgence in the Southern Baptist Convention, as president of Southeastern.

 In his retirement letter, Akin noted: “I am often asked, ‘Is it hard to be a seminary president?’ My answer is always the same: ‘Not for me.’ My answer is simply a testimony to the people that make up the Southeastern family.”

Akin and his wife have four adult children, all of whom are serving in ministry.

National reporter Bob Smietana contributed to this report.

(RNS)—Voddie Baucham Jr., a conservative Black pastor, author and seminary leader known for advocating for restricting women’s roles in the church and critiquing what he saw as “woke” influence on Christianity, has died at 56.

“We are saddened to inform friends that our dear brother, Voddie Baucham Jr., has left the land of the dying and entered the land of the living,” the Founders Ministries announced Thursday (Sept. 25).

Baucham had been leading the ministry’s new seminary in Florida.

“Earlier today, after suffering an emergency medical incident, he entered into his rest and the immediate presence of the Savior whom he loved, trusted and served since he was converted as a college student,” the announcement said.

A graduate of Houston Christian University, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Baucham pastored churches in Texas for years before moving to Zambia in 2015 to lead a missionary seminary there.

He returned to the United States in 2021 after dealing with serious health issues.

Earlier this year he was named president of Founders Seminary under the auspices of the Founders Ministries, a nonprofit with ties to Southern Baptists.

“What a privilege it is to invest your life in training the next generation of pastors. And that’s what this is about,” Baucham said in a video announcing the new school.

“We’re committed to training men with sharp minds, warm hearts and steel spines.”

A lion in the pulpit

Tom Buck, pastor of First Baptist Church in Lindale, Texas, called Baucham “a dear friend, a faithful brother and a lion in the pulpit.”

Buck said he was devastated to hear the news of Baucham’s death. The two had found common cause in conservative theology but also were friends.

“He was kind, he was generous, he was just a faithful brother,” Buck said.

Buck said despite his renown as a preacher, Baucham was the same person in the pulpit or talking one to one.

“There was no pretense about him,” said Buck. “He loved the Lord. He was a godly man behind closed doors as well as in public. He was kind and generous.”

Georgia pastor Mike Stone, a former candidate for president of the Southern Baptist Convention, praised Baucham as “just a stalwart for truth and his loss to the body of Christ could not be overstated in this hour,” Stone told Religion News Service.

SBC and CRT

In recent years, Baucham had become allied with a group of conservative pastors who believed the SBC was experiencing a liberal drift.

He ran for president of the SBC’s pastor conference, an influential gathering that occurs in the days before the denomination’s annual meeting, in 2022, but lost the race to North Carolina pastor Daniel Dickard.

Baucham’s 2021 book, Fault Lines, made USA Today’s bestseller list, peaking at No. 7. The book critiqued critical race theory as unchristian and the leading edge of a “looming catastrophe” in evangelical Christian churches.

Baucham recently gave a lecture about standing up for Christian values in American culture at New Saint Andrew’s College, a school founded by the conservative pastor Doug Wilson in Moscow, Idaho.

Baucham quoted from the New Testament’s First Letter of Peter:

“Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.”

As a seminary professor, he told students winning arguments was not enough, gentleness was not weakness and they needed to respect their opponents.

“May it never be they don’t hear you because you actually are sinful in your presentation,” he said, that “you actually are unkind, disingenuous—because then all of a sudden, the rest of your argument loses its sting.”

An announcement of Baucham’s death cited Psalm 116: “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.”

Baucham is survived by his wife, Bridget, whom he married in 1989, their nine children and several grandchildren.

NASHVILLE (BP)—Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee members addressed referrals from messengers to the 2025 SBC annual meeting at their Sept. 22-23 meeting.

The Executive Committee adopted a recommendation to form a task force to study resources for special-needs ministry available to Southern Baptist churches.

A related motion to add a Disability Sunday to the SBC calendar was declined but with the request for the newly formed task force to consider the suggestion.

At the recommendation of Executive Committee officers, members declined to file a countersuit against former SBC President Johnny Hunt.

A motion to attempt to recover legal fees incurred defending a suit brought by Hunt in 2023 was referred to the Executive Committee in June.

The Executive Committee learned Lifeway campers donated their largest missions offering since 2017 this summer. Lifeway Interim President Joe Walker presented checks totaling more than $690,000 to International Mission Board President Paul Chitwood and North American Mission Board President Kevin Ezell during the meeting.

Committee members also heard from Executive Committee President Jeff Iorg and SBC President Clint Pressley.

“My dream tonight is that Southern Baptists will recommit to cooperation in all its messy splendor and focus on our overarching mission of getting the gospel to the nations rather than being preoccupied with lesser issues,” Iorg said.

Pressley also called for unity and cooperation in his address, calling for Southern Baptists “to actually think the best of each other.”

“What a good thing when someone extends the benefit of the doubt,” he said.

Relationship severed with Houston church

The Executive Committee approved a recommendation brought by the SBC Credentials Committee to “formally recognize the discontinued relationship” of Fountain of Praise in Houston.

The church has not reported financial participation with the SBC for at least the last 10 years and demonstrated a “lack of intent to cooperate to resolve a question of faith and practice,” the committee said.

Fountain of Praise’s website lists Mia K. Wright, wife of pastor Remus E. Wright, as a co-pastor of the church, putting the church out of alignment with the SBC Constitution, which says “the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.”

At the suggestion of the Convention Missions and Ministry Standing Committee, the Executive Committee declined to amend the SBC Constitution to disallow SBC entity employees or contract workers to serve as trustees, claiming the SBC Bylaws already prohibit such conflicts of interest.

In compliance with a revised version of the SBC Business & Financial Plan passed by messengers in June, Executive Committee members each signed a conflict of interest form Sept. 22.

In response to a motion requesting all SBC entities to “report on actions taken to elevate qualified biblical leaders from diverse backgrounds,” the Executive Committee listed several ways it already is active in this regard, including the work of its office of convention partnerships.

“Additionally, the Executive Committee has, since 2011, reported on its efforts to increase ethnic participation and ethnic leadership in the Convention in its Annual Ministry Report,” the recommendation states.

“Finally, the Executive Committee now publishes a dashboard of reporting data in the
SBC Annual regarding ethnic participation on trustee boards, committees, and standing committees.”

In other business, the Executive Committee:

• Declined to form a study committee to clarify women’s roles in ministry leadership.
• Approved a request from NAMB to form Send Relief Puerto Rico, Inc., a nonprofit subsidiary, to make it easier for the people of Puerto Rico to contribute directly to Send Relief.
• Declined to establish an auxiliary to support and minister to pastors’ wives.
• Approved appointments of new members to various standing committees.
• Recommended a change to SBC Bylaw 19 to extend the time for notification of the makeup of the SBC’s Committee on Committees from 45 to 60 days prior to the SBC annual meeting.
• Declined to amend SBC Bylaw 20 to limit amendments to resolutions as printed in the daily Bulletin at the annual meeting.
• Declined to recommend changes to the SBC ID assignment process, which currently allows for campuses of existing churches to obtain their own SBC ID numbers.
• Approved New Orleans as the proposed host city for the 2034 SBC annual meeting.
• Approved a $12,068,300 SBC Executive Committee and SBC operating budget for 2025-2026.
• Declined to recommend a change to the Business and Financial plan, because the motion requesting the change referred to the previous version of the plan.
• Allocated distributions from the estate of Raymond Cutright to the Montana Southern Baptist Convention through 2030, in accordance with the desires expressed in Cutright’s will.
• Received as information that Executive Committee officers approved various amendments to the personnel policies manual and retirement plan.

NASHVILLE (BP)—The Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee at their Sept.23 meeting weighed the potential merits and risks of filing countersuits in cases involving what it considers fraudulent claims of responsibility.

The Executive Committee considered a motion presented at June’s SBC annual meeting instructing the SBC’s legal counsel to countersue former SBC President Johnny Hunt to recover legal fees incurred defending a suit Hunt filed against the SBC.

In the suit, Hunt claimed the SBC ruined his reputation by including him in a report on sexual abuse and making public a private moral failing.

The Executive Committee officers made a recommendation to decline to sue Hunt, which the larger body affirmed—but not unanimously.

Look at the benefit of filing a suit

Dani Bryson, a Tennessee attorney and Executive Committee member, came forward prior to the vote to express “some pause that we would pass this through with no discussion.”

“I understand the recommendation to decline,” she said. “I can see both sides of the issue.” However, she added, “I think there is some merit in our committee considering this moving forward.”

One legal strategy recommended “vigorously defend[ing] the Executive Committee by all legal means,” said Bryson, adding that she was paraphrasing. “… I think we should look at the cost-benefit of countersuing here.”

That step would not primarily be a financial one, she explained.

“I don’t think that is a ground on which to make a decision here. I think there is a moral cost-benefit in standing up for what is right,” she said. “And I think that has merit here beyond financial benefit.”

Many referrals from the SBC Credentials Committee dealing with churches that fail to align with the SBC’s “faith and practice” stem from “churches that do not deal with these problems,” Bryson said, and “there is no small potential for future lawsuits.”

“I think we, in our fiduciary capacity, need to look at standing up for the Executive Committee and for the SBC to discourage those future suits, if there is no merit,” she said.

‘No idea how long this matter will take to resolve’

Executive Committee member David Sons asked for clarification on the status of the Hunt lawsuit, the only ongoing part of which relates to a social media post by former SBC President Bart Barber.

“We have no idea how long this matter will take to resolve,” Executive Committee President Jeff Iorg said. “So, to decide not to decide today is not to put it off until [the] February [Executive Committee meeting]. We may be delayed for two or three years. It’s simply to leave it open-ended.”

Iorg called on Robert Pautienus, Executive Committee counsel, to explain two other issues.

Filing would “be governed by Tennessee law,” he noted.

“So, it’s not a countersuit; it’s a new lawsuit,” he said. “You cannot file a lawsuit until all the legal matters are done … [so] what’s in the motion could not be done.”

Second, Pautienus added, future lawsuits would be considered a “malicious prosecution claim, which generally are not very easy to maintain because you have to show there was zero merit. In other words, a judge has to believe there was zero basis to file anything. Those are hard to maintain and [legal costs] would be paid by the hour.”

For those reasons, as well as the fact that nothing could be filed before the resolution of the Hunt case, he recommended not to file anything.

Call to consider 1 Corinthians

The discussion included 1 Corinthians 6’s instructions on lawsuits among believers. Executive Committee member Harold Philips said the passage prompted him when he was in Maryland to advise his then-state executive, Will McRaney, against bringing a lawsuit against the North American Mission Board. An appeals court recently ruled in NAMB’s favor in the case.

“We (the SBC) have yet to pick up a hammer and go after somebody,” Philips said. “If we let the Lord handle it, he’ll fight for us.”

Iorg expressed “profound reservations about violating 1 Corinthians 6 and suing any other believer for any purpose in a civil manner.”

“I’m not saying it can’t be done,” he said. “… [The SBC] has not taken aggressive action … in this matter. And I just have profound reservations about doing so at any time.”

NASHVILLE (BP)—Michael David Sills and his wife Mary no longer are seeking damages against the estate of the late Jennifer Lyell in a lawsuit stemming from Lyell’s accusation of sexual abuse against Sills.

“Plaintiffs elected to not proceed with claims against the decedent’s estate,” attorneys for the Sills said in a Sept. 12 filing in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee.

The Sillses’ counsel has spoken with Lyell’s father, according to the court filing, who said an estate had not been opened for Lyell since her June death from a stroke.

Sills, a former Southern Baptist Theological Seminary professor, and his wife contend in the 2022 lawsuit that he never abused Lyell or forced himself on her.

The Sills family continues to accuse the Southern Baptist Convention, the SBC Executive Committee and eight individuals and entities related to the SBC of “defamation, conspiracy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, and wantonness concerning untrue claims of sexual abuse.”

In addition to the SBC and its Executive Committee, remaining defendants are former SBC presidents Bart Barber and Ed Litton, Lifeway Christian Resources, former Lifeway executive Eric Geiger, former SBC Executive Committee Interim President Willie McLaurin, former SBC Executive Committee Chairman Rolland Slade, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and its president Albert Mohler, Solutionpoint International, Inc. doing business as Guidepost Solutions and Guidepost Solutions, LLC.

Defendants filed motions Sept. 19 for summary judgment in the lawsuit, the majority consistently stating that the plaintiffs “fail to establish any evidentiary support for their claims of tortious conduct,” according to court documents.

Various documents related to the motions were sealed, including motions for summary judgment filed on behalf of Guidepost Solutions, LLC, and various related motions filed by attorneys for Mohler and Southern Seminary.

The Sills family continues to accuse defendants of “making an example out of SBC member and employee David Sills who, without controversy, had admitted to an affair with Lyell and willingly accepted the SBC requirement that he depart from his position at the Seminary.”

The Executive Committee formally apologized to Lyell on Feb. 22, 2022, for “its failure to adequately listen, protect, and care for Jennifer Lyell when she came forward to share her story of abuse by a seminary professor.”

In addition, the Executive Committee acknowledged “its failure to report Ms. Lyell’s allegations of non-consensual sexual abuse were investigated and unequivocally corroborated by the SBC entities with authority over Ms. Lyell and her abuser.”

ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP)—Terminology goes a long way in perception. It’s difficult to get a clear picture if words have different meanings on different sides of a conversation.

Take the phrase “NAMB church plant.” Since the 2010 messenger-approved Great Commission Resurgence Report that redirected the North American Mission Board’s emphasis to church planting, there have been calls to know how many the entity has started and how many are still viable.

The short answer to both questions is “zero.”

“We are careful to say that NAMB does not plant churches,” President Kevin Ezell said in a recent email interview with Baptist Press. “Churches plant churches.

“We have worked hard since 2010 to make sure that every church NAMB helps plant has a sending church. That is a church that will take ownership in the plant and consider it its own, even if it didn’t come directly out of that sending church.”

The language of the Great Commission Resurgence Report does call for a “missional strategy” under NAMB’s responsibility to plant churches, desiring that half of the entity’s “ministry efforts” go toward “assist[ing] churches in planting healthy, multiplying and faithful Baptist congregations in the United States and Canada.”

How are church starts counted?

It began with learning how to count.

“Prior to the GCR, there was not a standardized process for assessing, training, coaching and caring for church planters and their families,” Ezell told BP. “There was also not a standard way to count church plants.

“Each state convention did their own assessment and provided their own training. Some of it was great, and some of it not so great.”

Follow-up with church planters varied among state conventions. Ezell noted some planters told him shortly after he arrived in September 2010 how they only heard from NAMB when “something was wrong.”

Training, coaching and care improved, he said, through enlisting local pastors, sending church pastors and local association leaders “with a proven track record in church planting.” There was also the matter of upgrading the methods of tracking churches.

A chart provided by NAMB to Baptist Press reflects how the entity kept a singular record of “New Congregations” before 2010 that included church plants, new affiliates and campuses, but with no distinction for how many of which group.

Even so, there were 953 new congregations in 1988. That figure climbed to 1,781 in 2004 before dipping to 1,364 in 2009.

Another graph provided by NAMB shows new congregations since 2010, designating how many are plants, replants, affiliates and campuses. The highest number came in 2014, with 1,193 new congregations.

No more double-counting

It’s important to note the differences in reporting between the two eras, Ezell pointed out.

“Before 2010, it literally was just a phone call from NAMB to each state convention asking, ‘How many churches did you start last year?’” Ezell said. “Some states misunderstood and gave the number of current plants they had. This led to double-counting of many church plants over the years.

“Since all NAMB requested was the number of plants, we have no way to go back to check and verify. Starting in 2010, we said we won’t count it as a church plant unless we can get the name of the planter, name of the church, address of the church and the SBC ID number.”

The first year requiring SBC ID numbers, 2010, recorded 1,192 new congregations—769 of them plants and 423 as affiliates. The overall figure (1,085) dropped the next year, but with 1,003 plants versus 83 affiliates.

Including an SBC ID number trimmed the number, as different state conventions had different definitions for what counts as a church, Ezell said.

“Now, each one is unique and there is no double-counting. Everything can be verified,” he said.

Valuing quality over quantity

There is also a focus on “quality, not quantity.” A NAMB white paper presented to the Great Commission Resurgence Evaluation Task Force last year looked at the method of 42 state conventions choosing their own methods for assessing, training, coaching and funding church planters. The paper said the result was a focus on churches planted, not the number that survived beyond a few years.

“Yes, we want to see Southern Baptists start as many new churches as possible,” Ezell said. “But we would rather have quality plants that are going to last, and for the last several years we see four-year survival rates at around 90 percent. These are new churches with staying power.”

Typically, churches averaged three years of funding pre-Great Commission Resurgence, he told BP. “We transitioned that to four years, and in some cases, five years,” he said.

‘Planting churches in very difficult places’

The fluctuation was due to another part of the Great Commission Resurgence recommendations calling for church planting “with a priority to reach metropolitan areas and underserved people groups.”

“We are planting churches in very difficult places,” Ezell said. “That includes a lot of large cities as well, where the cost of living is significantly higher than what many parts of the South experience.

“Lostness is everywhere, but we are trying to plant in areas where often the culture is tougher. Sometimes there is even a hostility toward new churches.”

Those factors impact costs.

According to the information presented to the GCR Evaluation Task Force, as of February 2024, NAMB had 148 properties comprising 193 housing units for planters. Those investments are to help with the overall costs in each state, meeting the housing needs of planters. For example:

• Rent in New York City can average $2,900 a month
• Groceries there are 30 percent more expensive than in Chicago.
• Median homes sold for $764,000 in Los Angeles, with an 800-square-foot apartment renting for $2,524.

No data on survival beyond four years

As the multisite model gained traction, reporting was divided further in 2019 to identify campuses. That year, 59 of them joined 297 new affiliates and 552 plants for a total of 908. In 2021, plants and replants were split, as 600 plants joined 135 replants, 201 affiliates and 82 campuses.

In 2024, the most recent numbers available, there were 964 total new congregations. The majority of those, 684, were plants. The next largest number was new affiliates, with 138, followed by 83 replants and 59 campuses.

NAMB doesn’t share survivability data beyond four years because by then, most congregations have moved beyond the funding and endorsement.

Basically, they are like other churches and report through the Annual Church Profile. Like other Southern Baptist churches, some don’t report at all.

COVID made 2020 a bit of an outlier for churches in general, and much more so for congregations taking their first steps. Southern Baptists planted 538 churches that year as the survival rate dipped to 86.6 percent. It was the only year since 2017 that didn’t set an Annie Armstrong Easter Offering record as NAMB had to make cuts and draw from reserves to support missionaries.

New churches contribute financially

Giving to the Annie Armstrong Offering has increased by around 30 percent since 2010. Examples of new churches’ financial contributions through the Cooperative Program are:

• A Michigan church planted in 2017 giving $102,000 last year.
• A 2013 plant in Indiana giving more than $71,000.
• A 2011 Maryland/Delaware convention church start giving over $70,000.

“People ask if our church plants are still around in a few years or if they are still Southern Baptist,” he said. “Not only are they still around and still Southern Baptist, but they are also some of the best giving and biggest baptizing churches in their state conventions.”

He pointed to a 2020 Michigan plant that baptized 186 last year, one in Iowa from 2013 that baptized 176, a Boston plant that baptized 106.

“The recommendations from the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force profoundly transformed NAMB’s operations, emphasizing the critical role of church planting for Southern Baptists,” said Ezell. “Today, NAMB is more focused, efficient and committed to serving our churches than it was pre-2010.

“Although the mission field in North America continues to shift and evolve, the foundation established by the GCR has positioned NAMB to achieve maximum impact.

“Reaching North America for Christ is a monumental challenge that requires the collective efforts of all Southern Baptists—churches, associations and state conventions, as well as national entities. I am confident that NAMB is well-equipped to fulfill its vital role in this mission.”

(RNS)—The Southern Baptist Convention’s public policy agency will go its own way on immigration policy, breaking ties with a coalition of other evangelical Christian bodies focused on the issue.

“We feel we need to take a more independent posture on our immigration-related work,” Miles Mullin, acting president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, told the agency’s trustees in announcing it had severed ties with the Evangelical Immigration Table, Baptist Press reported.

Southern Baptists long advocated for immigration reform that includes secure borders and a path to citizenship for people in the country illegally.

That led former ERLC President Richard Land to join other prominent evangelical leaders to found the Evangelical Immigration Table in 2012 to advocate for immigration reform based on biblical principles.

“The immigration crisis facing the nation touches every level of society,” Land said at the time. “If we as a nation are going to resolve this crisis in fair and equitable ways, we must engage all levels of civic society, perhaps most importantly, people of faith.”

Evangelical Immigration Table criticized

The Evangelical Immigration Table, however, has come under increasing criticism during the Trump era, with critics claiming liberal groups are using it to infiltrate churches. At the SBC’s annual meeting earlier this year, some vocal messengers called for the ERLC to be shut down, in part because of its ties to the Evangelical Immigration Table.

The agency survived, but the ERLC’s most recent president, Brent Leatherwood, resigned this fall, after more than a year of controversy.

Mullin, who was not available for comment, told the ERLC’s trustees the agency has been involved in immigration reform because the issue matters to Southern Baptists, according to Baptist Press.

Matt Soerens, a vice president at the humanitarian aid group World Relief and national coordinator for the Evangelical Immigration Table, said in an email that the Evangelical Immigration Table will continue its advocacy and thanked the ERLC for its past help.

Immigration remains a complicated issue for evangelical leaders, especially with the Trump administration’s focus on mass deportations. While white evangelicals are among the most loyal supporters of President Donald Trump and his MAGA movement, rank-and-file evangelicals also want humane immigration policies.

Evangelicals want reform, not mass deportations

Earlier this year, a study from Lifeway Research revealed most evangelicals want immigration reform that secures the border, but they also want to keep families together, respect the dignity of every person and provide a pathway to citizenship for those in the country illegally.

The study, sponsored by the Evangelical Immigration Table, also found Southern Baptists support deporting people who are in the country illegally if they have a history of violent crime or pose a threat to national security.

There was little support, however, for deporting undocumented immigrants who are married to a U.S. citizen, have children who are citizens or are willing to pay a fine for violating immigration law.

“A large majority of evangelicals do not want immigrants unlawfully in the country to be prioritized for deportation except if they have been convicted of violent crimes or pose a threat to national security,” Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research, said earlier this year.

Other members of the Evangelical Immigration Table include World Relief and World Vision, along with the National Latino Evangelical Coalition and the National Association of Evangelicals.

Along with advocating for reform, the group has created Bible studies about immigration, run ad campaigns, produced a documentary and sponsored research about evangelical views on immigration.

WASHINGTON (BP)—Retired South Carolina Baptist state convention leader and longtime pastor Gary Hollingsworth has been selected as interim president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, effective Oct. 1.

Hollingsworth was named to the post by ERLC trustees at their meeting Sept. 16.

“I do believe (Southern Baptists) desperately need the voice and the work of the ERLC,” Hollingsworth told Baptist Press. “If I can be just a very small part of that and getting it ready for whoever God will bring next, I’m excited about that to see what he will do and how he’ll do it.”

Hollingsworth, 67, was elected unanimously in 2007 as executive director-treasurer of the South Carolina Baptist Convention. He retired from the role in 2023.

‘A lot of challenges’

He comes to the role following the resignation of Brent Leatherwood in July after leading the commission for two years. In June, messengers to the SBC annual meeting voted by 56.89 percent to hold on to the ERLC.

It was the third time since 2018 that messengers have voted on whether to defund or eliminate the commission. A similar motion in 2023 was ruled out of order.

“I know there are a lot of challenges, certainly in the past, but we’re kind of just looking forward,” he said.

ERLC Trustee Chairman Scott Foshie believes Hollingsworth’s longtime pastoral ministry will help guide the commission.

“Gary brings a unique combination of executive leadership, relational depth, and pastoral heart that will serve Southern Baptists well as he leads the ERLC through this season of transition and opportunity,” Foshie said.

Decades of ministry experience

Before coming to South Carolina, Hollingsworth served at Immanuel Baptist Church in Little Rock, Ark., almost 10 years.

“We’re thankful for his obedience and availability to be used by God and this way to serve and empower churches as we take the gospel to our culture and the public square,” Foshie said.

In his ministry career, the Alabama native has also served as senior director of cultural evangelism for the North American Mission Board. He pastored First Baptist Church of Trussville, Ala., for a decade and also was pastor of churches in Kentucky and Virginia.

He previously served as president of the Arkansas Baptist Convention.

Hollingsworth served as a trustee for the Alabama State Board of Missions from 1999-2005 and as board chairman from 2002-2004. He was president of the Alabama Pastors’ Conference in 2004.

He served as a NAMB trustee from 2002-2005 and on the SBC Committee on Committees in 2004 and 2014.

In Arkansas, he has served as a convention trustee and was board president from 2012 to 2014. He has also served as a trustee of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.

Pledges to follow God’s direction

He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Alabama, a Master of Divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and a D.Min. from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Hollingsworth told trustees that he doesn’t have all the answers but plans to lead them to seek God’s direction for the ERLC.

“We’re trusting him,” he said. “I promise I’ll give it my very best.”

Miles Mullin, who has served as acting president since Leatherwood’s resignation, will return to his previous role of ERLC chief of staff, Foshie said.

Baptists from varied perspectives denounced political violence and called for prayer after the shooting death of political activist Charlie Kirk. However, they took different postures regarding many aspects of Kirk’s message.

Texas Baptists’ Christian Life Commission issued a statement Sept. 10 calling the shooting “an assault on the image of God” and saying “gun violence is in direct opposition to the pro-life values Texas Baptist churches hold.”

The CLC asked Texas Baptists to pray for Kirk’s family—“especially his wife and young children, and all who have been touched by this tragedy.”

While not mentioning the specific content of Kirk’s rhetoric, the CLC said his “prove me wrong” events “focused on important issues on which people disagree.”

“Kirk believed the best solution to a dispute was open dialogue, not violence,” the CLC stated. “The Christian Life Commission shared his vision of returning civility to the public square.

“This begins with Christians leading the way. We must love our neighbors as ourselves and recognize that, being made in God’s image, we have more in common than what divides us.”

SBC leaders laud Kirk’s ‘profound impact’

Southern Baptist Convention leaders issued a statement—initially released by SBC President Clint Pressley and endorsed by the convention’s first and second vice presidents and by all 12 SBC entity chief executives—similarly condemning violence, but also expressing gratitude for Kirk’s message.

“Political violence is a grave sin, and it represents a threat to our nation and its government. The murder of Charlie Kirk is a grave warning to us all as we consider the health of our nation and society,” the SBC leaders stated.

“All persons of good will must condemn this premeditated act of violence and see the depth of evil in this murder and in a spirit of violence that will undermine our ability to function as a nation.”

While voicing concern for Kirk’s family and pledging prayers for them, the SBC statement also expressed gratitude for Kirk’s “public witness to Christ and for his courageous defense of the dignity of the unborn and a host of other moral issues.”

“We rightly appreciate the profound impact Charlie Kirk has had on our young people, inspiring them to live with bold conviction and take righteous action,” the SBC leaders stated.

“We call for righteousness and justice and for the lawful prosecution of the assassin and urge Southern Baptists to join us in praying for his repentance and salvation. We also call for Southern Baptists and all Christian brothers and sisters to recommit ourselves to the defense of life, liberty, and biblical morality in our nation, and we pray for an end to political violence in any form. We condemn any retaliatory violence.”

After the SBC leaders released their statement, they allowed other Southern Baptists to endorse it.

Texas Baptists who signed the statement included Joseph Adams, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Mount Pleasant and second vice president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas; Greg Ammons, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Garland; Kevin Burrow, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Eastland; and Jeff Williams, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Denton.

‘Gap between Black and White evangelicals’

While the statement from SBC leaders condemned retaliation, it did not address the issue of gun violence, nor did it mention any of Kirk’s statements regarding race.

In contrast, Senior Pastor Dwight McKissic of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington denounced Kirk’s murder and affirmed his biblical orthodoxy in a Sept. 10 post on X, formerly Twitter. However, in a series of tweets, he listed multiple quotes by Kirk questioning the ability and intelligence of Black women.

“On the subject of race, and race related matters, I’ve disagreed with every word I’ve heard him speak thus far. I’m beginning to draw the conclusion that White evangelical Christians and Black evangelical Christians are miles and miles apart on racial subject matter,” McKissic wrote.

Three days later, McKissic tweeted: “The gap between Black and White evangelicals surrounding this issue is widening as I tweet. The SBC unqualified endorsement of Charlie Kirk will and already has set race relations back to the 50s. Really unwise move on the part of all White entity heads.”

In the immediate aftermath of Kirk’s shooting death, George Mason, founder of Faith Commons and senior pastor emeritus at Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas, posted on social media: “Every human life matters. Charlie Kirk’s murder is an assault against God, in whose image he was created.

“Whatever your politics, violence diminishes us all. Just stop it. Nothing good comes of it. It only leads to greater polarization. Now is the time to prove that empathy is strength not weakness.”