Illinois Baptist
Indianapolis | The “Law amendment” to the SBC constitution failed to net a two-thirds majority vote from messengers at the Southern Baptist Convention in Indianapolis on Wednesday, June 12, meaning there will be no addition to the constitution limiting the pastorate to males only.
However, action in an earlier session dismissing a Virginia congregation for having an egalitarian view of the pastorate and a woman
as “Children and Women’s Pastor” demonstrated that the convention is holding to the complementarian definitions that have driven floor decisions on “friendly cooperation” for the past two years. And the Baptist Faith & Message (2000) still promotes a male-only understanding of “pastor.”
The tally in the Law vote was 5,099 in favor of the amendment (61.45%) to 3,185 opposed (38.38%), but a two-thirds margin
Andrew Hébert P. 13
Total giving by IBSA churches as of 5/31/24 $2,296,439
2024 Budget Goal to date: $2,543,658
2024 Goal: $6 Million
SERIOUS MOMENTS WITH FRIENDS AT CAMP — A busy season at Lake Sallateeska and Streator Baptist Camps provided discipleship opportunities for students. The usual fun photos will be featured in the next issue, but here we see that kids have serious Bible study moments in small group time.
Illinois Baptist staff Editor - Eric Reed
Graphic Designer - Kris Kell
Contributing Editor - Lisa Misner
Comm. Coordinator - Nic Cook
Graphics Assistant - Makayla Proctor
Team Leader - Ben Jones
The general telephone number for IBSA is (217) 786-2600. For questions about subscriptions, articles, or upcoming events, contact the Illinois Baptist at (217) 391-3127 or IllinoisBaptist@IBSA.org
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NATE ADAMS
Budgeting to reach the world
Last December, not long after the Hamas attack on Israel, I wrote in this column about World War I, and how compassion for the physically devastated and spiritually lost people of Europe led Baptist churches to work together like never before to send missionaries and relief to the world.
The 1925 Southern Baptist Convention then focused our dual passion for the Bible and the Great Commission by forming The Baptist Faith and Message doctrinal statement and the Cooperative Program missions system. To this day, The Baptist Faith and Message continues to facilitate multi-church unity around God’s word, and the Cooperative Program continues to facilitate multichurch cooperation in God’s mission.
In May I shared my personal CP story, briefly recounting multiple ways that I now understand how the ministries of the Cooperative Program deeply blessed my life and empowered me for ministry. I believe many Illinois Baptists have a personal CP story, and I continue to encourage you to share yours.
Now, six months before the Cooperative Program’s centennial year begins, I would like to appeal to each pastor, each missions leader, each devoted church member, to consider our rich missions heritage, and our still desperately lost state and world, and to lead our churches to a bold new commitment to Cooperative Program missions, starting afresh in 2025.
Between now and the end of the year, most churches will be forming annual budgets that will include their commitments to missions. Whatever your church may be doing directly in missions, I urge you to prioritize the Cooperative Program as the most significant, foundational way that your church reaches the world. It’s arguably the most important line in each church’s annual budget.
You see, whatever is happening in your personal spiritual life, and however things are going in the life of your church, you can always be confident that, 24/7, the Cooperative Program is sending missionaries, starting churches, preparing ministers, meeting human needs, speaking biblical truth to society and the culture, and advancing the gospel around the world.
So, without apology, I appeal to all of us on behalf of a century of sacrificial missions giving by previous generations. Together, let’s budget to reach the world with a new urgency in 2025.
What might that look like? Some churches have been giving a nominal amount, perhaps more akin to membership dues than sacrificial missions giving. Why not start 2025 with a tithe-like spiritual commitment to missions that is proportionate to your church’s undesignated offerings? Perhaps start by giving one or two percent to the worldwide mission of God?
If your church is already giving a percentage of its undesignated gifts through the CP, why not increase that percentage by one percentage point for 2025, the CP centennial year? For some churches, stretching up to ten percent would not be out of reach.
Moving to percentage giving or increased percentage giving through the Cooperative Program may be a step of faith and sacrifice for some churches. Pastors and leaders will want to make the case for high impact missions giving as 2025 budgets are prepared. And our IBSA staff and I are prepared to help. We would love to come and speak to your church, whether on a Sunday morning, or perhaps during a committee or business meeting. We will help you cast vision for the foundational, missional impact of cooperative missions giving.
Let’s plan now to make 2025 not just a centennial celebration, but our generation’s bold new step in reaching the world, together. Let’s not just talk about it. Let’s put our treasure where our hearts are, and budget to do it.
Nate Adams is executive director of the Illinois Baptist State Association. Respond at IllinoisBaptist@IBSA.org.
The
Over half (56.5%) of Cooperative Program giving by Illinois churches stays in our state to reach the lost and make disciples. Every summer hundreds
from the front: no two-thirds vote
Continued from page 1
would have been required for the change to be made to the constitution. Given the 8,298 messengers present at the time of the balloting, 5,532 votes would have been required for passage; the measure fell 433 votes short.
Virginia pastor Mike Law, who first proposed the amendment last year, made an impassioned plea with messengers to vote in support of the constitution change on its second reading. “Let’s be exceptionally clear,” Law said. “This amendment is not about women in ministry, it’s specifically about women in pastoral office…. We must side with Scripture. Let us vote for biblical faithfulness.”
Two messengers spoke for the amendment prior to the vote, only one spoke against it before Law called the question and messengers ended debate.
Three of the candidates for SBC President were for the amendment, including the winner in the six-man race, North Carolina pastor Clint Pressley. He thought the Law amendment would bring clarity, however, “we’re unified around the Baptist Faith and Message… and it’s undeniably complementarian,” Pressley said.
“We have not abandoned biblical truth. At all. So, you can be confident as…a member of a church within the Convention that holds to the BF&M that they are doctrinally robust,” Pressley said at a news conference after his election.
Outgoing SBC President Bart Barber had said after the 2023 convention in New Orleans that he thought the Law amendment was unnecessary. He also expressed concern that the amendment introduced language about “kinds of pastors,” giving recognition to a variety of associate pastor positions, whereas the previous constitutional language and the Baptist Faith and Message (2000) acknowledged only one pastoral office.
aid of the amendment.”
While First Baptist Church of Alexandria, Virginia does not have a woman as a senior or teaching pastor, reasons churches were dismissed last year, the Credentials Committee chair reported that their investigation showed the church would consider such an appointment. The church’s egalitarian views did not align with the SBC’s complementarian view of gender roles, the pastorate in particular.
FBC Alexandria Pastor Robert Stephens was given three minutes to state the church’s case. He appealed to a history of SBC partnership and continued cooperation for the sake of missions before messengers voted. The church was ruled out of “friendly cooperation” by 91.78% to 7.65%.
After the votes—dismissing the Virginia church by a large margin, while failing to pass the Law amendment by the required two-thirds margin—basically left the Convention with the same position on male pastors that it held previously.
Pro-life News
Court allows abortion pill
Washington, D.C. | An effort to stop use of an abortion-inducing pill was defeated June 11 when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the doctors who filed the suit did not have legal standing in the case. The suit to prevent sales of mifepristone was filed by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a religious liberty law firm and ministry partner with IBSA (pictured below).
OB-GYN Ingrid Skop predicted seeing “more women need blood transfusions, emergency surgery and other drastic measures and our emergency medical systems overwhelmed…. This is not health care, it’s abandonment and the pro-life community will never stop advocating for patients.”
Brent Leatherwood, President of the SBC’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, said, “The Court would prefer this matter is solved thru other means (since) the time it will take for other measures to be put in place affords more time for the abortion industry to target mothers—and preborn lives will inevitably be lost.”
New poll shows IVF split
In one of his first actions in office after his May 13 start date, SBC Executive Committee President and CEO Jeff Iorg published a lengthy treatise stating that the Law amendment to the constitution was unnecessary, and would jeopardize fellowship unnecessarily in some cases.
“While some may believe the amendment is necessary to guard against the cultural slide related to gender and sexuality,” Iorg wrote on behalf of the EC, “keep in mind the actions of messengers in 2023—using the confessional statement to declare two churches were not in friendly cooperation because of their stance on women serving in pastoral roles. This happened based on our doctrinal convictions without the
The failed amendment does not alter the Convention’s doctrinal stance on women serving in ministry roles, which states in the Baptist Faith and Message (2000), “While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor/elder/overseer is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.”
Some observers have adopted the language put forward by Texas pastor Andrew Hébert the day after the convention. “The SBC exercised its ability to walk and chew gum at the same time, to act with wisdom as it took action on two related but distinct questions. In short, the convention maintained doctrinal fidelity without requiring methodological conformity.”
→ RELATED: See Hébert’s full essay on page 13.
As Southern Baptists were considering a resolution critical of in vitro fertilization (IVF), a new poll by Gallup was tallied that shows a split among American adults on the morality of the process which results in destruction of unimplanted embryos. Gallup found 82% said the process was “morally acceptable” while 10% said it was “morally wrong.” The remaining 8% had no opinion. Religion was a factor in the May poll: only 63% of weekly church goers approved of IVF.
Only half (49%) of all American adults approved of destruction of the unused frozen embryos.
—IB Staff with info from USA Today, Christian Post
PRESSLEY
the briefing
Tony Evans steps down
Admitting an “unnamed sin” committed years ago, pastor Tony Evans stepped down from the leadership of the 10,000 member Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship Church he founded in Dallas in 1976. Evans becomes the latest famous pastor caught in a disqualifying transgression. “One of the perils of celebrity is that you have this high-profile status and a lot of the fame and fortune that comes with that and as well as additional publicity for your mistakes,” said religious studies professor Deborah Whitehead of the University of Colorado. “It’s had an impact on the way Christianity and especially Evangelical Protestantism is viewed— but also religion more broadly as an object of potential suspicion,” she told USA Today. The future of Evans’ popular radio program was not immediately reported.
Paul Pressler dead at 94
Retired Texas judge Paul Pressler, a key figure in the conservative resurgence within the Southern Baptist Convention beginning in the 1970s, died June 7 at age 94. Pressler was revered by many in the denomination for leading the charge, with W. A. Criswell and others, to establish inerrancy as a biblical doctrine in SBC seminaries, entities, and churches. In more recent years, he was credibly accused of sexual abuse by young men, including a Texas man who filed suit 40 years after his alleged first encounter with Pressler in 1977. A confidential settlement was reached in that case in December 2023, the Texas Tribune reported. Pressler continually denied the accusations. An account of the funeral said 70 people attended at a Houston mortuary.
Gay marriage support steady, lowest among evangelicals
The number of Protestant pastors who support samesex marriage has stabilized at 21% according to Lifeway Research. The number opposed is 75%, while 4% are unsure. The number was 15% in favor when same-sex marriage was legalized in 2019, but a 2024 survey shows the percentage statistically unchanged since 2019. Among mainline pastors, 46% saw nothing wrong with same-sex unions, compared to only 7% among evangelical pastors.
USA Today, BNG, Baptist Press, Lifeway Research
New Illinois laws start soon
Expanding abortion, transgender treatment for minors
Springfield | New laws take effect, some starting July 1, following a Spring Legislative Session of the 103rd Illinois General Assembly that adjourned May 29, after going into extended session once it reached its May 24 deadline.
The General Assembly introduced 11,903 bills and resolutions in 20232024 legislative period with 2,374 completed/passed. Here are a few of the bills which passed and are expected to be signed into law by the governor that are of concern to most Illinois Baptists:
→ Treatments for out-of-state minors: HB 5239 amends the Reproductive Health Act to allow minors from other states to apply for travel to Illinois and apply for public funds to obtain an abortion through Illinois’ Family Planning Program. It grants them a right to privacy from any of that information being shared by threat of civil or criminal liability. Gender hormone therapy and surgery are also included. Although there were concerns related to the bill regarding human trafficking, it passed in the Senate along party lines.
→ Abortion-related discrimination: HB 4867 amends the Illinois Human Rights Act by declaring the public policy of “this State that a person has freedom from unlawful discrimination in making reproductive health decisions and such discrimination is unlawful.” It further defines reproductive health decisions to mean “a person’s decisions re-
garding the person’s use of contraception; fertility or sterilization care; assisted reproductive technologies; miscarriage management care; healthcare related to the continuation or termination of pregnancy; or prenatal, intranatal, or postnatal care.” The bill’s opponents fear it will be used to force pregnancy resource centers, which are pro-life, to hire employees in favor of abortions. The bill is expected go into effect immediately once signed by the governor.
→ Trans birth certificates: HB 5507 amends the Code of Civil Procedure by creating a process for Illinois residents who claim to be transgender and were born outside the state to seek an Illinois judicial order to change a birth certificate or other identifying document issued by another state or country. The bill will go into effect immediately once signed by the governor.
→ Free yoga: SB 2872 amends the School Code to allow schools to provide at least 20-minutes a week of relaxation activities such as yoga for students in addition to recess. This follows a class-action lawsuit that was filed in April against Chicago Public Schools by former students who alleged they were pressed into taking part in transcendental meditation sessions and told to keep them a secret from their parents as part of a structured in class “quiet time.”
Baby bottle collection aids ministry
Local association encourages support for Angels’ Cove
Mount Vernon | Providing liquid nutrition is an obvious way baby bottles can help babies. However, Salem South Baptist Association launched a campaign in June that shows another way baby bottles can help babies.
And their mothers.
Baby Bottle Collection for Angels’ Cove provides people with a way to use baby bottles to help Angels’ Cove residents. Robin Mayberry, SSBA ministry assistant, said that people were encouraged to fill up baby bottles with change and submit them to the Mount Vernon ministry by June 30.
Mayberry said neither coins nor baby bottles were necessary to participate in this campaign.
“We have had people who have written a check,” she said. There is also the option of putting paper money in the bottles.
Collecting change with baby bottles is an ongoing tradition to help support the ministry that provides housing for young women with crisis pregnancies. “It has evolved over time,” Mayberry said. The project began as a baby shower with people donating typical baby shower gifts. However, Mayberry said those associated with the
ministry thought it over and decided it would be better to give those at Angels’ Cove cash and let them determine where the money should be spent.
So, Baby Bottle Collection for Angels’ Cove was born.
In May, the Baptist Children’s Home and Family Services in Carmi, a multifacted ministry partner with the Illinois Baptist State Association, collects the Mother’s Day offering. In the same spirit, Mayberry said the local association of churches decided to have a collection in June for Angels’ Cove.
“Angels’ Cove provides resources for pregnant women and their children. Services include residential housing, prenatal care, education, counseling, family care, aftercare, and spiritual opportunities,” the Angels’ Cove website states. “Pregnant women 18 and older at any point during their pregnancy are eligible for the program. Acceptance to the Angels’ Cove maternity care program is based upon our ability to meet the applicant’s needs and her willingness to abide by the program.”
BCHFS opened its first maternity home, Brooks Clark Maternity Center, in Carmi in 1979. In 1985 the program moved to Mount Vernon, providing care through specialized foster homes. Later, BCHFS built the current facility in Mount Vernon. In January 1993, the present facility, a home-like setting, was opened.
—By David Belcher. This article first appeared in the Mt. Vernon
—IB Staff
Sentiniel
SBC: IN FOCUS
Busy convention
With multiple reports, extra discussions, and so many motions.
Indianapolis | If you judged by secular news reports, or even other Christian media, you might think that the vote to limit the pastorate to men only was almost all the 2024 Southern Baptist Convention addressed. Or you might think that messengers opened a can of worms with the resolution on in vitro fertilization that grew far beyond their statement on respecting life and protecting frozen embryos.
That’s not all the messengers did in Indianapolis June 11-12. SBC President Bart Barber promised a very busy annual meeting, with an extra session to accommodate more business and more time at the microphones for messengers.
“Roll up your sleeves!” Barber declared in the first session. And the advice was well timed as messengers brought 50 motions. They heard three major reports from study groups about abuse reform and the effectiveness of a realignment more than a decade ago. They considered (again) abolishing the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, and debated
censuring three top SBC leaders for following their lawyers’ advice and joining an abuse lawsuit in Kentucky.
And a lot more.
Yes, the ‘Law Amendment’ to the SBC constitution failed, but messengers also dismissed a church that has a woman as pastor for women and children and whose views did not align with the complementarian stance expressed in the Baptist Faith and Message (2000). So the actions, which may on the surface seem contradictory, left the Convention with the same position on pastors and gender: male-only senior pastors, but some wiggle room on the titling of other positions held by women. (See full story starting on page 1.)
But other actions taken by messengers have equally long-ranging impact from a meeting that will be remembered for its many highspeed laps around the track—starting with the inaugural report from new SBC Executive Committee President and CEO Jeff Iorg.
A mostly business meeting
Some SBC Annual Meetings are remembered for celebrations and anniversaries and colorful missions events. This one will be remembered for being mostly business, most of the time. There were a few chuckles, a lot of serious discussion, and repeated trips to the podium by “the Mayor,” Don Currence, asking messengers to raise their ballots. Instead of yellow, the booklet cover was orange this year. And frequently in play.
Iorg cautions against distractions
“The mission matters most,” Jeff Iorg told messengers in his initial report as SBC Executive Committee President and CEO. Iorg’s first action as he took office a month earlier was to publish a document explaining why the ‘Law amendment’ to the SBC Constitution was unnecessary, although at the time its passage seemed likely. At the podium in Indianapolis, he took another risky step as he offered cautions about the distractions of national politics and doctrinal policing.
Iorg said one challenge to pursuing God’s mission comes from the common mission substitutes of political activism, social justice, convention reform, and doctrinal conformity.
“God’s eternal mission is not political, social, or organizational. Our mission must not be either,” Iorg said. “Our overarching eternal mission is introducing people to Jesus Christ and teaching them to live as his disciples.
“We must have the courage, every one of us, the courage to resist media pressure, social media attacks and agenda-driven advocates who are convinced we should devote ourselves to these priorities.”
“We must learn the spiritual discipline of not allowing the good to crowd out the best,” he told Baptists presently engaged in doctrinal debate and national politics.
“While many things matter, God’s eternal mission matters most.”
The EC proposed an SBC budget of $190 million for 2024-25, down $5 million from the previous year.
‘Friendly cooperation’ defined
The term ‘friendly cooperation’ in the SBC Constitution has been the defining measure for removing churches from the SBC rolls since the Credentials Committee was charged with the responsibility in connection with seating messengers in 2019. Some 19 churches have been dismissed: six for abuse claims and seven, including Saddleback Community Church previously led by Rick Warren in 2023, and FBC Arlington in 2024, were dismissed for having women as lead or teaching pastors or, in the 2024 case, a ministry philosophy that would allow for it.
The Cooperation Study Group appointed by Barber brought four recommendations. All were approved. “This SBC was chartered for the purpose of directing the energies of Baptists for the propagation of the gospel,” said Jared Wellman, the
Texas pastor who chaired the group. “We understand that there are times that there are churches that step outside this phrase ‘closely identifies with’” the SBC in faith and practice, as stated in the constitution.
The group recommended a longer process for amending the Baptist Faith & Message, and exploration of publishing a national list of SBC churches.
Abuse reform returned to EC Messengers accepted recommendations from the Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force (ARITF) that effectively returned responsibility for tracking abusers back to the SBC EC, whose mishandling of abuse claims under a previous administration at least in part prompted the abuse investigation.
ARITF, successor to the Sexual Abuse Task Force, has operated for two years, trying to imple-
ment reforms approved by messengers in 2022— including a tracking system. “This undoubtedly has been the most difficult part of our work as a task force,” Chair Josh Wester told messengers.
“I wish that standing before you today I could say that the Ministry Check website is now online, but I can’t do that,” he said. “What I can tell you is that even though we have encountered unbelievable obstacles in the process and the course of trying to establish the Ministry Check website, we are closer than we’ve ever been.”
But possible legal liabilities have made it almost impossible to keep a public record of credible abuse claims and abusers. A separate non-profit was formed by some task force members in early 2024, but its development got stuck. Now EC will take up the issue—again—under new management.
GCR failure admitted
The Great Commission Resurgence of 2010 was a failure, the task force assigned to study the more than decade old realignment of SBC functions and entities’ program assignments reported. As previously published, the panel said only two of the seven original recommendations were implemented, and the actions intended to address evangelism put distance between the North American Mission Board and state conventions whose big-city and frontier works had been supported in large part by NAMB prior to 2013.
“There’s plenty of blame to go around,” chair Jay Adkins said, deflecting attention from NAMB alone. He also cited the observation by National WMU Executive Director Sandy Wisdom-Martin
“The Great Commission cannot be parceled and assigned to boards… This responsibility cannot be abdicated,” Wisdom-Martin said. “We have church members who get married in the church, get buried in the church, and live their entire life without once sharing their faith… It really doesn’t matter what strategy we put into place if we don’t change the culture of our community of faith, this has to be the foundation.”
Messengers approved six new recommendations.
BART BARBER BRENT LEATHERWOOD JEFF IORG
INCOMING LEADERS — New SBC officers elected in Indianapolis are (l-r) Registration Secretary Don Currence of Ozark, Mo., 2nd Vice President Eddie Lopez of Forney, Texas, President Clint Pressley of Charlotte, N.C., 1st Vice President Brad Graves of Ada, Okla., and Recording Secretary Nathan Finn, of Taylors, S.C. (BP photo)
ERLC saved, censure denied
With considerable debate from the floor, messengers turned away efforts to abolish the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), declined to censure three key leaders, and refused to appoint a study group to revisit the Baptist Faith and Message on its 100th anniversary. The votes marked a subcurrent to avoid stirring additional controversy.
The debate on a resolution on in vitro fertilization proved interesting and emotional, as messengers who have used IVF to have children or who have lost embryos through the process told their stories from the floor. Eventually, the body approved the resolution. (See story on page 10.)
Given additional time for their participation, messengers brought 50 motions. Most of them were ruled out of order or referred to the entities they would affect. Among them was a motion to abolish the ERLC. The SBC’s voice in the public square has come under criticism for political actions, especially in the previous administration under Russell Moore.
Florida pastor Tom Ascol, previously a candidate for SBC president, brought the motion, which would have required a two-thirds majority in two consecutive annual meetings. “A positive vote will give them one full year to make a course correction,” Ascol said.
Current ERLC President Brent Leatherwood came to a floor mic to defend the entity. He characterized a 2018 example cited by Ascol of an ERLC-produced video supporting animal rights as irrelevant, as it was removed from the ERLC website soon after complaints were raised, and it occurred under Moore’s tenure.
Leatherwood defended ERLC’s work in Washington D.C. as vital to Southern Baptists’ interests. “This commission speaks truth with a capital T. And the grace that it also speaks with is exactly what is needed now,” he said. Of the continued lobbying to end ERLC, Leatherwood said, “Send a signal that the political tactics that are being used in this room are not for us.”
Messengers agreed, with only about onefourth raising ballots to abolish the ERLC.
A motion to censure three leaders for signing on to an amicus brief involving the statute of limitations in a Kentucky abuse suit failed after some debate. The motion would have censured Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Albert Mohler, Lifeway Christian Resources President Ben Mandrell, and SBC President Bart Barber.
As one messenger from the floor pointed out, Barber apologized for his participation. Barber received a standing ovation. Mandrell and Mohler both pointed to legal advice to join the suit that they received at the time. “The presidents of your Southern Baptist institutions are not the lawyers for your institutions and for good reason,” Mohler said. “We believe that justice and righteousness will come by the application of the rule of law.”
first round: Bruce Frank, lead pastor of Biltmore Baptist Church, Asheville, North Carolina; Mike Keahbone, senior pastor, First Baptist Church, Lawton, Oklahoma; and Jared Moore, senior pastor, Cumberland Homesteads Baptist Church, Crossville, Tennessee. Both Frank and Keahbone were prominent in handling the abuse claims in vestigation and attempts to implement reform.
Pressley has been senior pastor of Hickory Grove Baptist Church in Charlotte since 2010 and is a member of the board of directors for the Bap tist State Convention of North Carolina. He served as vice president of the 2013 SBC Pastors’ Confer ence and first vice president of the SBC from 201415. Since 2015, Pressley has been a trustee for the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, with a stint as chairman. He has pastored churches in Mississippi and Alabama.
In his appearance at a presidential candidate forum Monday night, Pressley reiterated his support for the ‘Law amendment’ to the SBC Constitution limiting pastors to male-only.
“It sounded like BFM (Baptist Faith and Message 2000), which we hold to,” Pressley said. “It sounded like the Bible and felt like it made sense, and it will provide some clarity, so that’s why I’ve thought it makes sense to me. I’m for it.” But he conceded at a press conference after his election that churches can have “robust theology” about pastoral leadership without amending the constitution.
Although Barber joked about having three major study groups in a single year under his watch, and said that he would support the new president if another task force were requested, messengers declined to call for any studies ahead of the Dallas convention in 2025.
The Annual Meeting next year will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Cooperative Program, and perhaps have a little less busyness.
—IB team in Indianapolis and Springfield, with additional reporting from Baptist Press and The
2 1
Messengers ultimately ruled the motion out of order.
Final laps
Charlotte, N. C., Pastor Clint Pressley won the SBC presidency on the third ballot, defeating five other pastors for the top spot. Pressley received 4,244 votes (56.12%), while Dan Spencer, senior pastor of First Baptist Church, Sevierville, Tenn. received 3,305 votes (43.71%). A total of 7,562 votes were cast with 13 disallowed.
The three candidates were eliminated in the
1. Jennifer Smith of Jacksonville (yellow shirt) was among NAMB endorsed chaplains honored at the opening ceremonies. She is standing between Ric and Gwenn Worshill of Lindenhurst.
2. Janet Craynon (left) and Evelyn Tully (right) of Springfield were at the CP Stage with former Illinoisan Beki Mattingly Wade
3. Registration Secretary Don Currence returned to the podium frequently to give instructions for voting, often to cheers. He is also the mayor of Ozark, Missouri.
4. Worship was the order of business during the Ministers’ Wives gathering.
3 4
58,123 ballots were cast, collected, and counted during the Indy SBC.
Baptist Paper
Abuse Reform Implementation
SBC addresses in vitro fertilization
Resolutions also speak to just war, ongoing conflict in Israel
Indianapolis | A resolution that calls on Southern Baptists to support only those reproductive technologies that affirm the “unconditional value and right to life of every human being, including those in an embryonic stage” criticizes in vitro fertilization, which often leads to destruction of embryos that are not implanted.
The resolution was written by Southern Seminary President Albert Mohler and Illinois native Andrew Walker, a professor at Southern. It came after an Alabama Supreme Court ruling that said frozen embryos are legally considered children.
Support for the measure was not unanimous on the convention floor.
Michigan messenger Daniel Taylor told the story of friends who used IVF to have children. “This resolution would castigate and condemn the entirely moral and ethical actions of these two friends of mine calling their faithful sacrifice, struggle and blessing a wicked thing,” Taylor said. “It would also unnecessarily make it more difficult for all of us to reach those who have gone through IVF as parents or children.”
A Kentucky messenger who had abandoned embryos implanted in an unsuccessful effort to save them spoke for the resolution. “There is no way to describe the treatment of embryos at any point in the IVF process as ethical or dignified,” said Monica Hall. “Nothing in the process of IVF upholds the sanctity
of life.”
Adoption of the SBC’s pro-life resolution may spark additional criticism of IVF in response of the Alabama case. USA Today reported approximately 2% of births involve in vitro fertilization.
This was the first time Southern Baptists addressed the issue of in vitro fertilization. The resolution “On the ethical realities of reproductive technologies and the dignity of the human embryo” called on Southern Baptists to utilize only those reproductive technologies consistent with that affirmation, especially in the number of embryos generated in the IVF process.”
IVF “routinely generates more embryos than can be safely implanted,” “most often participates in the destruction of embryonic human life” and has generated 1-1.5 million unborn children currently stored in cryogenic freezers in the U.S., “with most unquestionably destined for eventual destruction,” according to the resolution.
conversation.
Resolutions Committee chair Kristen Ferguson said IVF is a complex issue on which Southern Baptists need to say more in the future. This year’s resolution merely opens the
FIRST STEP — Resolutions Committee chair Kristen Ferguson said IVF is a complex issue on which Southern Baptists need to say more in the future. Illinois native Andrew Walker was a coauthor of the resolution with Southern Seminary President Al Mohler.
More resolutions
→ Integrity in SBC leadership
Messengers agreed that “the legacy of faithful leadership in the Southern Baptist Convention has been tarnished by public failures of leadership that have exposed private sin, indifference to abuse, financial impropriety, sexual scandals, deceptive practices, and abuse of power.” Messengers affirmed “righteous and godly leaders within this Convention” and called others to repentance, while voluntarily removing themselves from their position.
→ Religious liberty
A resolution titled “On Defending Religious Liberty” affirmed that “God has endowed every human with religious liberty,” citing Scripture and the Baptist Faith and Message in support of religious liberty. Messengers advocated “robust Christian engagement in the public square” and opposed “any effort to establish a state religion of any nation.”
→ Just war Messengers affirmed “the historic, Christian principles of the just war tradition” in the resolution “On Just War and the Pursuit of Peace.”
Just war theory is an ideology that claims waging war is morally legitimate under certain conditions.
Among the resolution’s affirmations were that “war must be fought for a just cause,” war “must be fought” by “a duly constituted sovereign government,” “war must be fought with right intention and love for our enemies” and “war, so far as possible, must be waged only as a last resort.”
→ October 7 attack on Israel
The Convention condemned Hamas’ terrorist attacks of October 7, committed to standing with the Jewish people and those suffering in the Middle East region, and opposed all forms of antisemitism. Messengers said they “deny assertions of moral equivalence between Israel and Hamas.” They also addressed protests on college campuses, stating they were “appalled by anti-Israel and pro-Hamas activities on university campuses.”
Palestinians also drew an expression of messengers’ care, but messengers also accepted by unanimous consent an amendment stating that they oppose “calls for the nation of Israel to lay down its arms.”
—with reporting by Baptist Press
“This is the first step for us to be able to speak to” IVF, said Ferguson, vice president of student services and enrollment at Gateway Seminary. The resolution “reiterates our long-held belief of the sanctity of human life. It’s the committee’s belief that Southern Baptists will continue to apply their long-held theology of the sanctity of human life as they continue to have the conversation.”
Among the resolution’s other calls to action, it:
→ asked Southern Baptists to “advocate for the government to restrain actions inconsistent with the dignity and value of every human being, which necessarily includes frozen embryonic human beings”;
→ encouraged couples “to consider adopting frozen embryos”;
→ urged couples struggling with infertility “to consider the ethical implications of assisted reproductive technologies as they look to God for hope”;
→ commended “couples who at great cost have earnestly sought to only utilize infertility treatments and reproductive technologies in ways consistent with the dignity of the human embryo as well as those who have adopted frozen embryos.”
—with reporting by Baptist Press
→
Parents’ rights and responsibilities
The resolution “On the God-given Rights and Responsibilities of Parents” lamented that “it is becoming increasingly common for some in the medical, educational, business, and legal sectors to encroach upon and attempt to supersede” the “God-given rights and responsibilities of parents.” In response to that trend, messengers “affirm[ed] that parents are the primary stewards of and decision-makers for their children.”
The resolution also expressed a desire for culture to embrace the biblical model of family and encouraged legislation “that protects and upholds parental rights.”
→ Evangelism and the Great Commission
The Convention committed to make every effort as a witness to share the gospel message of Jesus Christ. The resolution support for the International Mission Board and the North American Mission Board. It also called “churches to evangelistic cooperation through all means possible,” including “joint mission trips,” “the sharing of church buildings,” “Vacation Bible School” and “sports evangelism.” The resolution urged Southern Baptists to encourage believers called to vocational evangelistic ministry.
WALKER
Pressley expresses confidence
New SBC president finds much to celebrate
Indianapolis | “There’s a lot to celebrate within in the Southern Baptist Convention especially as it points to biblical fidelity (and) real clear mission focus,” newly elected SBC President Clint Pressley said in his first press conference.
Pressley expressed confidence in Southern Baptists as he responded to questions on issues dealt with in the 2024 convention. He also looked ahead to the 100th anniversary of the Cooperative Program which will be celebrated at the 2025 convention in Dallas.
“I think that’s part of what the president’s job is to do all you can by way of influence to make sure as a convention of churches we are focused what our mission is,” Pressley said. “So, I look forward to next year. It’s a great time to celebrate.”
Pressley spoke to the failed passage of the amendment to Article 3 of the SBC Constitution which required a two-thirds vote.
“The constitutional amendment, what is known as the ‘Law amendment,’ was there to provide some clarity,” Pressley said. “That’s what it was given to us for, what it was voted on about. But it’s not necessary [in order] for our convention of churches to maintain a real sense of complementarianism. We are just as complementarian as we were before that vote ever came into play.
“I was for the ‘Law amendment.’ I thought it provided really great clarity. I have brothers that are just as theologically robust as I would like to be myself, that were against it. Then we have maintained a real sense of God’s good design, not only
CP’s
future discussed on stage
Illinoisans bring insight to 100th anniversary
Indianapolis | IBSA Executive Director Nate Adams was one of three panelists featured on the CP Stage hosted by National WMU Executive Director and Illinois native, Sandy Wisdom-Martin at the SBC Annual Meeting. The panel focused on the Cooperative Program’s history, its impact on missions, and its future.
The stage’s other panelists were Lifeway CEO Ben Mandrell and Carolyn Fountain, a member of the SBC Executive Committee and Human Resources Director at Baptist Community Health Services in New Orleans. It was sponsored by the SBC Executive Committee on June 10.
missionaries somewhere sharing the gospel. There’s a church somewhere being planted. There are seminary students somewhere being prepared. It’s not just a cost-benefit thing.”
Expressing agreement, Fountain said, “We’re not teaching missions and the value of our missionaries and the value of service.”
“You hear rustling in the treetops that it’s past its prime, it’s over,” Wisdom-Martin asked. “Is the Cooperative Program still relevant?”
in marriage, but how he’s given us to live as men and women.”
Pressley addressed how Southern Baptists can unite despite their differences regarding certain issues such as the ‘Law amendment.’
“We need to be unified around not only our understanding of the Bible and our love for the Bible, love for the gospel, love for the mission. We’re unified around the Baptist Faith and Message that we affirm. And within it, you read it, and it’s undeniably complementarian. So there’s a lot we can really be glad of.”
Pressley addressed sexual abuse reform and expressed confidence in the Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force (ARITF) and their work in moving the Convention forward on this issue.
“I think you can be really confident as you’ve seen in the last couple of years that the Southern Baptist Convention takes sexual abuse terribly seriously and that people have worked really hard. We’ve had a whole lot of discussion about it,” Pressley said.
“The ARITF has worked so long and hard by way of being volunteers, giving so many hours to bring this to the forefront of our attention as Southern Baptists. I think they’ve done a great job, not only bringing it to our attention, but then providing resources.
“Now with Jeff Iorg at the Executive Committee, it’s great now to have a leader who seems to be very sympathetic to the plight that we’ve seen in the last few years. So, I have lots of confidence.”
—Marilyn
Stewart for Baptist Press
Adams shared about his great grandmother’s commitment to its forerunner, the Baptist $75 Million Campaign, a story familiar to Illinois Baptists. In 1919, she committed to save $25 from her egg money for the campaign. It was major sacrifice which took her three years to save he explained. In 1919, she wrote across the card “paid in full.”
He also shared about a mis sionary who recently Zoomed into an IBSA chapel service from a mission field where there are no known believers. The mis sionary and his family were told they would probably spend their whole lives there ministering and just planting seeds without seeing anyone come to Christ.
But the missionary decided not to settle for that. “He started praying for fast fruit,” said Adams. “And he said, ‘I want you to know we’ve been there for over 10 years, and we now have a small congregation of 16 believers that are thought to be the first ones in this people [group] that have happened in our generation.’”
“Absolutely. It’s the foundation,” Adams immediately replied. “I think there are times when you get an offering, and you see exactly what it goes to or you meet the person that it goes to. But in Southern Baptist life, those people wouldn’t be there if the foundation of the Cooperative Program didn’t make it possible for the whole ecosystem to work, for the whole organism to work together.”
Mandrell answered cautiously, “I really think a lot of things that
Wisdom-Martin asked panelists “some hard things.” “We’ve seen the Cooperative Program [giving] go from averaging about 10% per church down to less than 5%,” she said. “Why do you think that has happened and what can we do about it?”
“I think there’s a lot of generational dynamics there,” Adams replied. “Not just in the Cooperative Program giving, but in the culture where there’s suspicion about institutions… you don’t actually benefit from or touch yourself.”
Adams advocated for generational education to help people know “when you give to the Cooperative Program, there are
can’t get there, the convention is going to continue to get smaller and smaller. Cooperation will get smaller and smaller. The Cooperative Program will be threatened, greatly.”
Because of this, he suggested Southern Baptists “rethink the way we dialog with one another in public.
“Cooperative Program is about fueling missionaries and fueling church plants. It’s not about agreeing on everything.”
—Lisa
Misner in Indianapolis
ADAMS MANDRELL WISDOM-MARTIN
Churches urged to join the ‘Great Pursuit’
Mission boards report, missionaries commissioned in Indy
The sending celebration for new IMB missionaries has become a beloved tradition at the SBC Annual Meeting. In Indianapolis, 83 missionaries were introduced.
Some were presented publicly as they will be serving openly in distant countries. Others were introduced behind a screen, as their mission fields are dangerous for people who identify as Christians. And one couple had their testimony read for them. They are deaf. They met on the mission field, married, and are now returning to serve the deaf community, one of six contexts targeted by IMB.
“This Great Pursuit of the lost is the most important work in the universe.”
Paul Chitwood IMB President
“We’re seeing big numbers…but we can’t rest and be satisfied until everyone across the globe hears the Good News.”
Kevin Ezell NAMB President
“The greatest need in their life is salvation through Jesus Christ.”
Bryant Wright Send Relief President
The heads of the International Mission Board, North American Mission Board, and Send Relief presented reports to the messengers.
“From the Great Commission to the Great Multitude, we unite in a Great Pursuit of those who have yet to hear
the good news of the gospel,” IMB
President Paul Chitwood said. “We work together to address lostness as the world’s greatest problem, to make disciples in every nation, all tribes and peoples and languages.”
He unpacked IMB’s work in the most recent reporting year as the great pursuit. He said IMB’s Annual Statistical Report (ASR) “represents reporting from every IMB overseas missionary team on what God is doing through their work and the work of their Baptist partners on the ground. The ASR affords IMB an incredible opportunity to communicate to every cooperating Southern Baptist church the global reach of your ministry.”
Chitwood pointed to gospel work in 155 countries. More than 451,000 people heard a complete gospel presentation; 141,000 professed faith in Jesus Christ; 800,000 people heard the gospel online; and 116,992 new believers were baptized through the work of IMB missionaries.
“Among a global population of 8.1 billion people, growing at a rate of 200,000 every single day, the number of people who die lost each day is also growing,” Chitwood said. “This year, that average number reached 174,202 souls who will enter a Christless eternity each day and spend forever in hell.
“If we are not sufficiently motivated in the work of missions because of the joy of more going to heaven, might we be motivated by the sorrow of more going to hell,” he said.
“This Great Pursuit of the lost is the most important work in the universe.”
Ezell brings back-up
NAMB President Kevin Ezell brought Executive Directors from six state conventions to the platform to demonstrate the cooperation
between his administration and states. NAMB’s engagement with states and effectiveness in evangelism were analyzed by the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force during the convention, with criticism for the effects of the realignment that began in 2010.
State leaders from Ohio and New England were on the platform to report recent increases in baptisms, mostly through church planting.
“We help churches plant churches to reach people for Christ in big cities and in small towns, in suburban neighborhoods and rural communities, next to college campuses and near military installations,” Ezell said. “And it’s working: 27% of all baptisms in states outside the South last year came from churches planted since 2010.”
Ezell mentioned that Annie Armstrong Easter Offering giving is up nearly 30% since 2010, and in six years since 2017, giving broke records. “Your faithful giving is fueling a church planting fire,” Ezell said.
Ezell jokingly referred to the race car at the NAMB exhibit, inviting
people to try to drive it. “It doesn’t have a motor,” he pointed out, responding to questions about the cost of the exhibit.
NAMB’s presentation concluded with a focus on Send Relief, a joint compassion ministry between NAMB and IMB.
“Send Relief is not another humanitarian organization. We are a gospel ministry of compassion,” Send Relief President Bryant Wright said, “and we recognize that the greatest need in anyone’s life—no matter how much they are hurting from a physical and material perspective—the greatest need in their life is salvation through Jesus Christ.”
Wright said more than 162,000 people came to Christ through Send Relief’s ministry projects around the world in 2023.
Chitwood featured the upcoming Global Hunger Sunday Aug. 25, encouraging churches to participate and support the Global Hunger Relief fund that provides immediate and long-term solutions to food insecurity.
Crossover Indy
The host city engages messengers with local people during the weekend prior to the convention. Ministries in Indy included the Send Relief medical clinic, and a variety of community events for fun and faith development. NAMB reported 1,469 volunteers served at Crossover events; 9,211 homes were visited, 5,393 people heard the gospel, and 185 people made professions of faith.
—IB Staff, with additional reporting from Baptist Press
New discipling curriculum
Indianapolis | Sharing that WMU has a treasured artifact that went to the moon and back, Sandy Wisdom-Martin, executive director-treasurer of national WMU, told her listeners how Astronaut Charlie Duke, the youngest man to ever step on the moon, carried an emblem of the WMU pin to the moon and back in 1972.
Also among the artifacts at National WMU, she shared, is a handwritten note from Jim Irwin, astronaut on Apollo 15, which says, “To the Wom-
an’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 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. She asked, “Are you projecting His light? Let’s suit up and show a lost world we love them to the moon and back.”
Wisdom-Martin shared 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
Checkered flag experience
Indianapolis | People packed tightly around the roped racetrack in the SBC Indy exhibit hall to watch, as brightly painted pinewood derby cars were placed shoulder to shoulder atop the incline track. This was the national Royal Ambassadors Derby race held following the WMU Missions Celebration on Sunday, June 9. Xander Tallman, age 9, from Patoka First Baptist Church, was one of eight boys from different states participating.
“We received an email that said WMU is looking for representatives from different states to do the RA race,” said Jill McNicol, WMU Director at Patoka First. “And I said, well, we’ve got a fourth grader that comes to Mission Journey Kids, which is the mission’s discipleship curriculum for children first through sixth grade. Would that work?”
That led to a flurry of activity to research a kit and build a car, Reed Tallman, Xander’s dad, said. They finished the car just two days before the race. Reed is pastor of Patoka First and stood trackside with his wife, Anna, and their other three young children, who all cheered Xander on while mom and dad talked about how his car finished in each successive round.
Their Wednesday night children’s program is not currently large enough to support splitting boys and girls into Royal Ambassador and Girls in Action groups, so they are using the Mission Journey Kids curriculum.
“We have at least nine, usually, maybe up to 15 elementary kids. And then there’s always five, six preschoolers,” Anna said. “We do kids worship
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.”
Wisdom-Martin challenged, “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? Just think of the significant Kingdom impact that could be made!”
The celebration was marked by a variety of testimonies, including a couple from Granite City, Illinois. Gay and John Williams shared their life-long missions journey, which culminated in their current role as disaster relief directors in Honolulu,
together on Wednesday night with the preschool ers, then we split (the age groups).
The church is hoping that activities like the derby cars can change that. “The pastor and I have talked about how this can be something for our community, the boys in our community, and the men to step up and start getting some interest again in a boys group,” McNicol said, as she stood watching the race with Lindsay Wineinger, Illinois WMU President.
If Xander’s experience is any indication, they have something to build on. As the rounds progressed, he could be spotted with head-tilted, leaned in close, eye-level with the top of the track. He carefully placed his car, hoping to get it pointed squarely toward the finish line 32 feet away. He then joined the other boys at the finish line as their cars blazed down the track in under three seconds.
And while his car wasn’t the fastest Sunday afternoon, Xander thoroughly enjoyed the experience, from hand-painting on the RA emblem to the cheers of the crowd at SBC 24.
after serving in student ministry for 26 years in three different countries and five U.S. states.
John shared about 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,” said John Williams, thanking WMU for their prayers. “When part of the islands hurt, we all hurt.”
—excerpted from Baptist Press
PINEWOOD DERBY — Xander Tallman (top, left) joined the big race in the SBC Exhibit Hall in Indianapolis to promote the WMU’s Missions curriculum for children.
PROMOTING DISCIPLES — National WMU
President Connie Dixon (left) and Executive Director Sandy Wisdom-Martin shared stories about effective discipling with messengers as WMU released a new curriculum written by an Air Force Chaplin and his wife.
JOY OF MISSIONS — The Native Praise Choir performed at the National WMU Annual Meeting, singing in English and indigeneous languages.
Our Family Album From Indy
1. Doug Nguyen and messengers from Uptown Baptist Church gathered at the Illinois reception following the Pastors’ Conference.
2. Pastor Donald Johnson of Rock Island (left) chats with Pastor Bob Dickerson of Marion First Baptist Church.
3. Interstate rivals: SBC President Bart Barber wore his Cards jersey, a gift from IBSA, when he visited the Illinois reception with IBSA Executive Director Nate Adams and WMU Executive Director Sandy Wisdom-Martin, both avowed Cubs fans.
4. Adams showed messengers what he jokingly called a “voter’s guide.” They laughed. IBSA wasn’t taking stances, but helped messengers to know when the important matters were scheduled.
5. Pastor Rob Schneider of Calvary Church in Edwardsville (center) talks with Lisa and Cliff Woodman in the exhibit hall. Cliff is pastor of Emmanuel Church in Carlinville and a Zone Consultant for IBSA.
6. Jill McNicol of First Baptist Patoka is interviewed in the hallway about WMU. She helped promote the Pinewood Derby. (See page 11.)
7. IBSA Executive Administrative Assistant Barb Troeger and her husband, Kip, made the journey from Springfield. They are members of Together Church on North Grand.
8. Situated in downtown Indianapolis, the Indiana Convention Center was within walking distance for many messengers.
LOGOS—The word is cookies featuring the IBSA logo at the Illinois reception, along with other sweet treats.
GROWING
MEET THE TEAM
Ashley Parsons IBSA Accountant
Hometown: Charleston, SC.
Family deets: I’m married to Josh, and we have three sons, Clark (12), Lance (10), and Brett (6)
Education: B.S. in Business Administration from Old Dominion; M.S. in Accounting from UConn
How did you come to IBSA? The day that they called me about the accountant job was the day I found out I was expecting my youngest, Brett. I said that I could not commit to the job, but I would be happy to come in once a week to help until they could find someone else. Five months later they offered me the position permanently, and I am so grateful.
Favorite verse. Ezekiel 36:26: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” Serving in ministry can sometimes cause you to grow callous to the wonder and awe of God at work. I am so thankful that God continually allows me to feel those things again.
Favorite Bible person: Moses. I identify with his reluctance to step into the role to which God was calling him, because I too “have never been eloquent” (Exodus 4:10). Yet look at all that God was able to do through him!
Favorite ice cream flavor: Mom’s Makin’ Cookies from Baskin Robbins
Favorite book: I love to read. Some of my favorites are Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden, Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell, and anything by John Grisham.
Desert island disc: The Beach Boys’ Sounds of Summer
MConclusions at the finish line
Doctrinal fidelity without methodological conformity
ark Twain is often credited with saying “a lie can travel around the world while the truth is still putting on its pants.”
That’s apropos for how several prominent national media outlets are interpreting the events of the Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting. You may have even seen headlines that read that the SBC voted to affirm female pastors. That is simply not true.
Here is what really happened.
The SBC made two decisions in Indianapolis that, at first glance, may appear to be contradictory.
On June 11, the Convention found First Baptist Church of Alexandria, Virginia, not to be in friendly cooperation with the SBC because of its egalitarian position on the pastorate. Then on Wednesday, a proposed constitutional amendment requiring churches in friendly cooperation to affirm, appoint, or employ only men as “any kind of pastor or elder as qualified by Scripture” failed to receive the needed two-thirds vote to become adopted into the SBC Constitution.
So what’s going on? Does the SBC affirm female pastors or not?
The answer is fairly straightforward: the SBC exercised its ability to walk and chew gum at the same time, to act with wisdom as it took action on two related but distinct questions. In short, the convention maintained doctrinal fidelity without requiring methodological
SBC messengers have determined in two successive years to exclude from cooperation churches they deemed to be egalitarian and not closely identified with the Convention’s adopted statement of faith, which says, “While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor/elder/overseer is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.” The Convention has demonstrated its willingness to draw a line when a church does not identify closely enough with the adopted statement of faith.
On the other hand, the Convention chose not to require methodological conformity.
There are a number of churches in our convention which are complementarian but have female staff members who have the word “pastor” in their title, though they do not function as a senior pastor. For instance, many churches title their female children’s director as a children’s “pastor.”
Some in the SBC were concerned the adoption of the “Law amendment” would have required us to exclude such churches from cooperation. The messengers instead determined not to adopt this requirement. There may be other better ways to have a conversation with these churches about how best to title their staff members, but the Convention determined that requiring conformity in how staff members
He seems to be saying, “Enter your password... and then press pound.”
in the Baptist Faith and Message was understood by many to refer to the office of senior pastor and not staff positions. As a result, we have cooperated with churches which use these titles in a variety of ways. We have churches with one senior pastor and a board of lay elders. We have churches with a plurality of elders. We have churches who use “minister” as a title for their staff-level positions instead of “pastor.”
Truly, Southern Baptists have a good degree of variety when it comes to how staff are titled. However, when a church signals that it is egalitarian in its belief regarding the pastorate, the Convention has been willing to exclude it from cooperation. At the same time, the messengers have determined not to require conformity in terms of how staff positions are titled. This is a good approach for Southern Baptists. It is a historical approach. It is an approach which reflects Baptist polity. It allows us to maintain our convictions while being charitable with those who disagree on more minor matters. And it allows us to maintain doctrinal fidelity without requiring methodological conformity.
While the vote on the “Law amendment” reflects a difference in opinion on how best to approach the question of polity, Southern Baptists remain unified on the question of our theology.
We cheerfully affirm God’s good design for the wonderful “complementarity” of how men and women together reflect God’s image and together serve the body of Christ, while not requiring our churches to have conformity on how this conviction is implemented in our churches.
Andrew Hébert is the lead pastor of Mobberly Baptist Church in Longview, Texas. He is the author of Shepherding Like Jesus: Returning to the Wild Idea that Character Matters in Ministry
Reporter’s notebook
Messengers leave Indy revved up
Indianapolis | Road crews wheeled their black boxes out the Indiana Convention Center doors onto Maryland Avenue. Messengers with their bright red convention bags in hand marched away toward their hotels, toward restaurants, toward home. The 166th annual Southern Baptist Convention was over. And while some no doubt felt disappointment that a candidate, a motion, or a resolution they supported did not go as desired, the spectacle that is sometimes called the world’s largest deliberative body did not disappoint.
They came
Just under 11,000 messengers and over 3,000 guests packed the downtown Indianapolis meeting, significantly more than in the city’s previous two hostings in 2004 and 2008. Illinois Baptists took advantage of the close location, and 352 made the shorter than usual drive to take part. Most were on hand, talking and laughing together, at a Monday evening Illinois reception held just across the hallway from the SBC Pastors Conference.
They saw
The exhibit hall was expansive and always bustling with activity. Convention goers gathered bags full of swag and information from booths featuring everything from Baptist universities and colleges to Branson’s Sight and Sound Theater. (It’s great, you should go!) They also saw Indianapolis. Numerous conversations could be overheard discussing Indy’s wonderful zoo, children’s
museum, and canal walk.
More significantly, they saw 83 new IMB missionary appointees on stage Tuesday morning. Most stood behind the screens, with only their silhouettes visible, due to future security concerns in the countries where they will serve. In a moving moment, one couple only appeared as silhouettes on the video screens, in a pre-recorded message. The deaf couple, who met as singles serving on the mission field, are going back as career missionaries to the deaf.
They voted
Bright orange ballots were raised again and again. And crowd favorite Don Currence, SBC Registration Secretary (and mayor of Ozark, Mo.), reported Wednesday that tellers had counted 58,123 ballots during the week. A new slate of officers was elected, with North Carolina pastor Clint Pressley winning the race between six candidates that went three rounds. Messengers affirmed the recommendations of important study groups on the efforts and effects of the 2010 Great Commission Resurgence and Cooperation within the convention. And they affirmed moving forward with the important ARITF recommendations. And significantly, the high profile second year vote on the ‘Law amendment’ fell just 5% short of the two-thirds majority needed to pass.
No turn signals
So as Southern Baptists go home, where are they headed? Many saw this year’s meeting as an
Molen honored for seven decades of ministry
“Seventy years was quite an honor for me—God has been so good!”
Family, friends, and church members gathered Sunday, June 2, at Bunker Hill Baptist Church to honor J. Darrell Molen’s 70 years in ministry.
“I met Darrell back in 1986 shortly after I began my first pastorate,” said Cliff Woodman, IBSA Zone 6 Consultant and pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Carlinville. Molen has been a constant source of help in Macoupin Baptist Association church life, he said. “Darrell is a source of encouragement and experience
to all of our pastors. As far as faithful longevity, he has set the bar high.”
Dwight
Eisenhower was president when a 20-year-old Molen first stepped into the pulpit at Cross Baptist Church near Pinckneyville in 1954. Since then, he has pastored three other Illinois churches and a fourth in Tennessee. He also served four more churches as interim pastor.
Always in bi-vocational ministry, he also spent a lifetime shaping young lives in public schools. With education degrees from Union and Illinois State Universities, he started his career as a teacher, then principal, retiring after 37 years of service to Southwestern CUSD 9, in Piasa. His wife, Betty, died in 2015.
Over the course of his seven decades of ministry, Molen was always connected to associational life, serving on numerous committees with both his local Baptist association and the Illinois Baptist State Association. In 2010, he was recognized by IBSA with the Bi-vocational Pastor of the Year award.
The soft-spoken pastor may have slowed a bit in his ninetieth year, but he continues his faithful service to the church as pastor of the Bunker Hill church since 2007.
opportunity to signal a shift right or left, theologically. Yet as the messengers often do, they defied expectations.
The ‘Law amendment’ did not pass, but messengers voted overwhelmingly (6,759 to 563) to deem a Virginia church as “not in friendly cooperation” and unseat their messengers due to endorsing and ordaining female pastors. This is the third year in a row for messengers to take similar actions.
Messengers also spurned attempted motions to write a new Baptist Faith and Message, dissolve the ERLC, investigate NAMB, and censure Bart Barber, Al Mohler, and Ben Mandrell. It appears that rather than a turn to the right or left, messengers have kept the steering wheel mostly pointed forward, trying to keep the convention on the road to mission and out of the ditches of controversy.
—Ben Jones in Indianapolis
WELCOME
Trent Duncan accepted the call to serve as lead pastor of McKinley Avenue Baptist Church in Harrisburg. Duncan earned a M. Div. in Leadership from Liberty University, after he became associate pastor at McKinley Avenue Baptist Church in October 2021. In June 2022, when the previous pastor retired, and he began serving as the church’s interim pastor.
Prior to serving at McKinley Avenue, he was an assistant Sunday school director and teacher at Ledford Baptist Church as a lay leader for several years. The Pope County native is married to Jessica, and they have three children, two daughters, ages 13 and 6, and one son, age 10.
IBSA LEADERSHIP NOMINATIONS SOUGHT
The Nominations Committee will soon draft a slate of candidates for at least 30 elected positions in IBSA leadership. Organizers emphasize the important role committee members play in IBSA. In addition to IBSA’s six committees, the Nominating Committee will recommend people to serve on the Association’s three boards: IBSA, the Baptist Foundation of Illinois (BFI), and Baptist Children’s Home and Family Services (BCHFS).
The deadline to receive nominations is August 5, 2024. The online nominations forms are posted at IBSA.org. Questions may be directed to BarbTroeger@IBSA.org or 217-391-3107.
TIME ROLLS ON — In a photo from the 1970’s, Pastor Darrell Molen preaches before a baptistry mural painted by his wife, Betty.
EVENTS
July 19-20
Guys’ Camp
Where: Streator Baptist Camp, Streator
What: Dads, grandpas, and mentors to spend some “guy time” with their boys in a spiritual retreat setting.
Cost: $75 per adult. Kids 18 and under no cost. Meals included.
Info: IBSA.org/events/guys-camp-streator/ Contact: TammyButler@IBSA.org or JacobKimbrough@IBSA.org
July 22-28
GO Chicago
Where: Chicagoland, overnighting at the Chicagoland Association Building
What: This immersive student mission experience engages church planting, missions, and inner-city ministry. There will be different mission projects and experiences each day.
Cost: $275
Info: IBSA.org/events/go-chicago/ Contact: KevinJones@IBSA.org, ShannonFord@IBSA.org
August 5-6
Associational Leadership Roundtable
When: Begins at noon Monday, ends at 11 a.m. Tuesday
What: A gathering of leaders of each local Baptist Association in Illinois for fellowship, training, and encouragement.
Cost: Free
Info: BarbTroeger@IBSA.org or (217) 391-3107
Contact: MarkEmerson@IBSA.org or BarbTroeger@IBSA.org
August 25-26
Pursuing God Together: Marriage Retreat
Where: Springfield
What: Our pastor and wife retreat focuses on replenishing couples spiritually, maritally, and missionally, as they pursue their calling as a team. Spots are limited.
Cost: Free
Info: IBSA.org/events/pgt2/
Contact: MarkEmerson@IBSA.org
September 8-15
Mission Illinois Offering and Week of Prayer
What: When your church gives to the Mission Illinois Offering, you’re investing in missions and church ministry right here in our state, impacting the communities we all call home. Your MIO giving stays 100% here, working in and through Illinois churches.
Goal: $350,000
Info: MissionIllinois.org
Contact: MissionIllinois@IBSA.org
Multiply Hubs
What: Multiply IL is a collaborative space for growth and learning. These gatherings will help pastors and leaders take their churches to the next level with best practices for growing, healthy, thriving churches. Explore proven strategies. Connect with passionate peers. Deepen your knowledge.
September 17 – South, FBC Metropolis 5:30-8:30 p.m.
September 19 – Metro East, FBC Fairview Heights 9 a.m.noon and 5:30-8 p.m.
September 25 – Central East, FBC Rochester 9 a.m.-noon
September 26 – Chicago, SEND Relief Ministry Center/ Chicago West Bible Church 9 a.m.-noon
October 3 – Central West, The Journey Church, East Peoria 9 a.m.-noon
October 5 – Hispanic Chicago, TBD 9 a.m.-noon
Info: MissionIllinois.org
Contact: MissionIllinois@IBSA.org
October 11-12
Northern Ladies Retreat
Where: Streator Baptist Camp, Streator
What: An extended sabbath retreat designed for women to get away for rest, fellowship, fun, and most of all to grow in their walk with the Lord.
Cost: Friday and Saturday- $50, Saturday only- $35 Info: IBSA.org/events/northern-ladies-retreat-streator/ Contact: TammyButler@IBSA.org
see the IBSA calendar for more events. www.ibsa.org/calendar/
NeTworkiNg
Send NetworkiNg items to IllinoisBaptist@IBSA.org
Long Branch Baptist Church, 2480 Hamburg Rd near Galatia, is a historic, mission minded, small country church in southern Illinois that is seeking a co-vocational pastor with good biblical knowledge and a desire for church shepherding and growth. Send resume to Pastor Search Committee, 600 Galatia Rd., Galatia IL 62935 or email LBBC2480@gmail.com
First Baptist Church of Dupo seeks a fulltime pastor for medium-size traditional church with traditional Baptist theology. Experience preferred. fbcdupopastorsearch@gmail.com.
Dorrisville Baptist Church in Harrisburg seeks a senior pastor after their former pastor retired. The church has a regular attendance of 300 and is mission minded. Submit a résumé and three references to churchsearch@gmail.com.
Lincoln Avenue Baptist Church in Jacksonville, IL seeks a senior pastor to lead a thriving church in the next season of growth. LABC is a multi-staff church in a college town averaging almost 300 in worship. Please apply through “Senior Pastor Search” tab at LABCjacksonville.org.
Search more church openings at IBSA.org/pastor-search or scan this code.
