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Church Planting CITIES ARE THE KEY FOR NAMB

H U G E I M PA C T I N S M A L L TOW N S

SPRING 2022

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Table of Contents 7

SBC Life is published by the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee. 901 Commerce Street Nashville, Tennessee 37203 615-244-2355 E-mail: sbclife@SBC.net

The Call to Anaheim F E AT U R E D A R T I C L E S

Willie McLaurin Interim President and CEO

12 Cities Mark Bullseye of NAMB Church Planting

Jonathan Howe Executive Editor Andy Beachum Creative Director Allison Young Publication and Project Coordinator

18 NAMB Seeks ‘Huge’ Impact in Small Towns

24 The Twentieth Century Southern Baptist Journey from the South to the West

SBC Life is published three times per year: Fall, Spring, and Summer. It is distributed to pastors, ministers of education, ministers of music, full-time denominational workers, chaplains, missionaries, and vocational evangelists. Workers retiring from any of these groups may continue to receive the magazine upon request. Subscriptions are free of charge. Bulk subscriptions are available at reduced prices. For SBC Life subscriptions, call 866-722-5433 (toll-free). Any article without attribution is by SBC Life staff.

S B C U P D AT E S

35 McLaurin Named SBC Executive Committee Interim President/ CEO

52 Lifeway Embraces Future of Work with Upcoming Move to New ‘Teaming Space’

38 Baptist Press Releases New Weekday Podcast

56 Search Team Formed to Fill SBC Executive Committee President and CEO Post

40 Litton, Wright Visit Storm Ravaged Town, See Southern Baptist Cooperation ‘At Its Best’

60 Vance Pitman Leads NAMB’s Send Network

44 Barber to Chair Committee on Resolutions for Anaheim Meeting 48 NAMB Church Planter Luis Soto New Puerto Rico Executive Director

For advertising information, contact Hillary Krantz at hkrantz@sbc.net. SBC Life (ISSN 1081-8189)

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North American Mission Board Week of Prayer

31 Voice of the Martyrs

FROM THE SBC PRESIDENT

The Call to Anaheim BY ED LITTON

ellow Southern Baptists, I am so excited about the upcoming annual meeting in Anaheim, California. It has been more than forty years since Southern Baptists have convened in the Golden State. Many who will attend our meeting in June were not yet born when Bailey Smith was elected president of our Convention in Los Angeles back in 1981. And certainly since that time much has changed both in the state of California and within our own family of churches. Today, California has more cultural diversity than any other state, and its population stands at roughly forty million people. To put that in perspective, one out of nine Americans call California home. More than a staggering statistic, that is a tremendous mission field. I’m excited for Southern Baptists to gather this year in California because I am convinced that our churches and pastors can learn from our brothers and sisters there. I believe we will benefit greatly by seeing and hearing from those doing ministry in a state where the contrast between the church and the world is so apparent. Christians in California have no choice but to engage the lostness all around them because they are confronted by it every day. But rather than seeing this as a burden, our faithful partners in the Gospel there see it as an opportunity. In a state where millions of people reject the Gospel or have yet to even hear it, myriad believers in California are committed to doing whatever it takes to reach their neighbors and communities for Christ. This brings me to a second reason I’m grateful our gathering is being held in Anaheim. As the

majority of our churches are still anchored in the South, I believe it is important for our Convention to visit the West Coast to see examples of those who’ve learned to innovate and adapt for ministry in a secularized environment. Assuming the current trends hold, many of the obstacles our brothers and sisters in California have faced in the recent past and into the present will be challenges churches in the South and elsewhere will face in the days ahead. I am confident Southern Baptists will leave our annual meeting inspired by the dynamic, thriving ministries there as we seek to highlight them throughout the program. The strength of these ministries—from local churches and associations to our state convention partners to Send Network and Send Relief to Gateway Seminary and California Baptist University, to name a few—gives me great hope not only about the future of ministry in California but across the whole of the United States. This year our annual meeting theme will be “Jesus: The Center of It All.” There is much business that awaits us in June. It is my prayer that Jesus will be the focus of our gathering, because He belongs at the center of everything. If our convention of churches is serious about fulfilling the Great Commission, we must place Jesus at the center of all that we are and all that we do. As we gather this year in Anaheim, I pray that Jesus will be at the center. Thank you, Southern Baptists, for the privilege of serving as your president. I look forward to seeing you in Anaheim.

Week of Prayer

FOR NORTH AMERICAN MISSIONS

MARCH 6 – 13, 2022 Lead your church to pray and share these mission stories that your gifts make possible. Find resources at AnnieArmstrong.com. Michael & Traci

Itamar

St. Louis, Missouri

Guaynabo, Puerto Rico

Byrd

Elizalde

Dear Pastors and Missions L eaders Thank you for your amazing generosity to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering in 2021 which set a historic record! Because of you, thousands of missionaries are reaching communities that desperately need the gospel. And more are needed! This year, you can maximize the momentum you created by leading your church to pray and give again. Together, we can reach the 275 million people without Christ in North America. Thank you for your continued support. It is our privilege to be your partner on mission as we work to transform lives.

Ser ving together, Kevin Ezell

President North American Mission Board

Jared & Jennifer

Steven & Cindy

Brianna

Amer & Vicky

Washington, D.C.

St. Catharines, Ontario

Denver, Colorado

Cincinnati, Ohio

Huntley

Martins

McKinney

Safadi

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F E AT U R E D A R T I C L E

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Cities Mark Bullseye of NAMB Church Planting BY DAVID ROACH

ourteen years after planting Journey Church in Charleston, South Carolina, Will Browning was settling in for the long haul. He had just delivered to church leaders his vision for the next twenty-five years. Then the fateful phone call came. A friend from seminary called to ask if Browning would consider leading church planters for the North American Mission Board (NAMB) in Los Angeles, 2,500 miles away from home. It seemed crazy. At first, Brown tried to “Jesus juke” his way out of the new assignment, he said, claiming he couldn’t move his fourteen-year-old son. But God led, and Browning began work in July 2021 as Send City missionary for Los Angeles. “When I tried to explain to my family that I was moving to California, they seemed to think, ‘Who would move to California?’ Every joke that has ever come from a South Carolinian is about California,” Browning quipped. “But when we dig in with these people, we actually see that we have a lot of commonalities.” His message to Southern Baptists: If a South Carolina pastor can help reach Los Angeles, any

Some of our urban areas have lostness rates similar to the most unreached parts of the world, so the need is great. But this is also where we are seeing some of the most encouraging results. In cities that used to be places where church plants went to die, we are seeing new life and real church planting movements and God is blessing the faithfulness of our churches.” Kevin Ezell, president North American Mission Board

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Christian can play a role in reaching North America’s major cities for Christ. NAMB President Kevin Ezell echoed that sentiment. Every Southern Baptist church can play a role in reaching the vast mission field of North American cities, he said. NAMB is committed to facilitating that work. “We help Southern Baptists plant churches everywhere for everyone, but we started the city emphasis because more than eighty percent of North Americans live in and around large cities,” Ezell said. “If Southern Baptists are serious about reaching North America for Christ, we must aggressively plant churches in our population centers. “Some of our urban areas have lostness rates similar to the most unreached parts of the world, so the need is great,” he said. “But this is also where we are seeing some of the most encouraging results. In cities that used to be places where church plants went to die, we are seeing new life and real church planting movements and God is blessing the faithfulness of our churches.” ‘IMPAC T THE WORLD’

NAMB has identified thirty-two strategic metro areas in the US and Canada and labeled them Send Cities—focal points for church planting. Those cities span every region of North America. The strategy is fitting, said Steve Canter, Send Network regional director for the Northeast, because cities must be central to any effort at reaching America with the Gospel. “So much of contemporary culture is shaped by our cities. If we can impact those cities, we can really impact the world,” Canter said. In the Northeast alone, Boston is “the educational capital of North America, if not the world,” New York is “the financial capital,” and Washington “the political capital.” The magnitude of the task has left mission leaders asking whether enough Southern Baptists can be mobilized to reach North America’s cities.

With forty-one state conventions and thirty-two Send Cities, if each state convention adopted a Send City, we could have a state convention connected to each major city we are trying to reach.” Will Browning, chief church planting strategist—Los Angeles North American Mission Board

In Los Angeles, the answer is a resounding yes. Browning has a strategy to do it. First, he and his team divided Greater Los Angeles’s nineteen million residents into three regions: Los Angeles County, which Browning calls “super urban”; Orange County, the “nice side of town” that resembles stereotypical Southern California; and the Inland Empire east of the city with its “suburban feel.” Browning assembled a team of pastors in each area to support church planting there and recruited a “lead partner” church for each region—a congregation somewhere else in the US that can adopt the region and recruit other churches to help with church planting there. He’s aiming for a five-year relationship with each lead partner as they saturate the city with church plants. Lead partners also will facilitate care for the spiritual and physical needs of church planters. Forest Hills Baptist Church in Nashville became lead partner for the Inland Empire in January. Pastor Jay Hardwick said the role will involve “multiple layers of partnership” with Send

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NAMB Send City— Los Angeles, California NAMB has identified thirty-two strategic metro areas in the US and Canada and labeled them Send Cities—focal points for church planting. Those cities span every region of North America.

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Image by iStock.com/Sean Pavone

LA. Forest Hills will serve NAMB’s LA leadership team, support church planters financially and through mission trips, and aid churches seeking to send planters to the Inland Empire. Taking pastors of other churches on vision trips to LA is another facet of the lead partner role. Forest Hills will do that at least once each year. “The avenues of partnership are diverse enough that any church of any size can be engaged,” Hardwick said. “It’s not how much you can give or how many people you have. It’s really more about your heart for seeing the mission of God and the incredible opportunities.” This year’s SBC Annual Meeting in Anaheim, California, presents one opportunity for churches to join the Send LA team. Browning hopes twenty pastors will agree to stay an extra day after the convention to see God’s work among area church plants.

The avenues of partnership are diverse enough that any church of any size can be engaged. It’s not how much you can give or how many people you have.” Jay Hardwick, pastor Forest Hills Baptist Church Nashville, Tennessee

EVERY MA JOR CITY

State conventions are another layer of the mission partnership in each Send City. In LA, that includes the California Southern Baptist Convention, which Browning calls part of the “family focused on mission together” for Southern California. The South Carolina Baptist Convention (SCBC) is another key partner. Through the SCBC’s relationship with Browning, a native South Carolinian, it is connecting churches of all sizes with the work in Southern California. That occurs through vision trips for pastors subsidized by the state convention and annual mission trips to LA for college students involved in South Carolina Baptist Campus Ministries. Additionally, the lead partner for Orange County is First Baptist Church in Taylors, South Carolina. Partnering with a Send City “doesn’t take money,” SCBC executive director Gary Hollingsworth said. “It really takes people more than anything.” While Browning’s focus is LA, his vision for state convention partnerships extends much further.

“With forty-one state conventions and thirty-two Send Cities, if each state convention [in the Southern Baptist family] adopted a Send City, we could have a state convention connected to each major city we are trying to reach.” Baptist associations are yet another layer of the partnership. They can generate interest and recruit pastors for vision trips, Browning said, with state conventions helping to sponsor the trips. The “bullseye” for the Send Cities effort, Canter said, “is to help each church become a multiplying church.” “A multiplying church,” he said, “would discover, develop, and deploy church planting teams from within.”

DAVID ROACH is a writer and senior pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church in Saraland, Alabama.

F E AT U R E D A R T I C L E

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NAMB Seeks ‘Huge’ Impact in Small Towns BY DAVID ROACH

f you think the North American Mission Board (NAMB) only ministers in trendy urban centers, a trip to western Oklahoma’s Great Plains Baptist Association might be in order. With fifty-seven churches scattered over 150 miles just east of the Texas Panhandle, the association’s largest city is Altus, population eighteen thousand. Hardly an urban center. But NAMB’s presence is strong. One of the association’s three evangelism trailers came from NAMB, a bargain purchase three years ago; churches there have access to online resources for rural churches through NAMB; and Mark Clifton, senior director of NAMB’s church replant team, encourages area congregations. When he spoke at last November’s associational annual meeting, leaders from a fifteen-member church recorded the message on a smart phone and played it for their entire congregation.

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Mark Clifton, senior director of NAMB’s church replant team, encourages area congregations. When he spoke at last November’s associational annual meeting, leaders from a fifteen-member church recorded the message on a smart phone and played it for their entire congregation.

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“People have a misconception that the North American Mission Board is only reaching thirty-two Send Cities,” said Danny Ringer, associational mission strategist for the Great Plains Association. “That is absolutely false.” Indeed, NAMB resources, plants, consults with, and encourages rural churches to help them fulfill the Great Commission. That’s no small task. Though most Americans live in and around cities, rural America is growing—contrary to the stereotype purveyed in media outlets and coffee shops. Approximately sixty million people, one in five Americans, live in a rural area. The US rural population increased eleven percent from 1970–2010, according to the Aspen Institute, a Colorado-based think tank. About half of the nation’s two thousand rural counties grew in population between 2016 and 2018. What’s more, a whopping ninety-seven percent of America’s landmass is rural. Those realities left NAMB asking whether a strategy could be developed to blanket that land with Gospel witness. Their answer was yes, and Clifton played a major role in that answer. After growing up in rural America, Clifton planted churches in Atlanta, Montreal, and Kansas City before receiving a call in 2020 from Linwood (Kansas) Baptist Church, a

congregation between Kansas City and Lawrence with three members. The town has five hundred people. He agreed to become their pastor for free, and over the ensuing two years, God moved. Today, Linwood runs forty to fifty in worship and baptized five people last year. “That’s huge!” Clifton said. Their outreach efforts have included helping with the town Christmas tree lighting, providing breakfast for parents at the local school’s drop-off line, and pouring new sidewalks for the city. The experience reminded Clifton of the need for churches in rural America, the challenges there (like rising crime and drug use), and that rural churches can make an oversized impact on their communities. He began to lead NAMB’s replant team in a focus on rural areas last year. The definition of a church revitalization is “creating a church that makes disciples that make disciples, that results in that community being noticeably better,” Clifton said. “That’s not necessarily tied to large numbers. I don’t have to have 150 people show up to do that. I can do that with two or three people.” Clifton encourages pastors to consider serving in rural churches and looks for opportunities to replant and revitalize congregations in rural communities. He also urges each suburban church to find a rural area within a three- or fourhour drive and pour Gospel witness into it. Despite the strong presence of conservative values and politics in rural America, it can be a “Gospel desert,” he said. Andy Addis comprises another piece of NAMB’s rural strategy. Nearly two decades ago, he accepted a call to pastor Westbrook Baptist Church in Hutchinson, Kansas. The day Addis was called, the church had 127 in worship. They grew to four hundred and realized buying a nearby auto parts store was cheaper than constructing a new building, so they started a Saturday evening service in that facility. One thing led to

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In the spring of 2022, NAMB plans to launch The Replant Hub. It is an online portal offering free resources to any rural church that signs up. The resources include video sermons, downloadable notes, small group materials, graphics packages, children’s ministry helps, and worship videos—all from multisite churches that want to lend a hand to rural congregations. 22

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Image by iStock.com/Ultima_Gaina

We want to be contextual and plant a church that succeeds in its community. We need more church plants in rural areas, but first, we need more planters. We have the best assessments, training, coaching, and care in the world, but we are dependent on churches to raise up the next generation of church planters.” Kevin Ezell, president North American Mission Board

another, and now the church—known as CrossPoint Church—has twelve locations across rural Kansas with 2,500 weekly attendees. Through that journey, Addis realized resources were a key to expanding rural ministry. So he is helping NAMB launch The Replant Hub this spring, an online portal offering free resources to any rural church that signs up. The resources include video sermons, downloadable notes, small group materials, graphics packages, children’s ministry helps, and worship videos—all from multisite churches that want to lend a hand to rural congregations. “Imagine you’re a deacon body in the middle of very rural Iowa,” said Addis, NAMB’s volunteer rural strategist for the replant team. “You don’t know up or down. You just know you haven’t had a pastor in a year and half and you have a group of people that still want to do church. We can be a part of this. They can use resources [from The Replant Hub] and know that they’re trusted.” State conventions and Baptist associations, Addis said, will help publicize The Replant Hub,

which will launch in March at NAMB’s AMS Replant Lab in Atlanta. NAMB President Kevin Ezell underscored the board’s commitment to partner with churches in reaching rural America for Christ. “We help Southern Baptists plant churches everywhere for everyone, but we don’t have a cookie cutter approach,” Ezell said. “Most of the time a rural church planter will need to be bivocational. That looks different than in San Francisco. “We want to be contextual and plant a church that succeeds in its community,” he noted. “We need more church plants in rural areas, but first, we need more planters. We have the best assessments, training, coaching, and care in the world, but we are dependent on churches to raise up the next generation of church planters.”

DAVID ROACH is a writer and senior pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church in Saraland, Alabama.

F E AT U R E D A R T I C L E

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The Twentieth Century Southern Baptist Journey from the South to the West BY AMY WHITFIELD

n 1949, the Southern Baptist Convention met in Oklahoma City, and the exhilaration of expansion was in the air. The Fortress Monroe Conference of 1894, holding the two major Baptist bodies in America to territorial boundaries, was in the rearview mirror of conventional minds. Northern Baptists and Southern Baptists were learning how to coexist in a broader landscape, and a new frontier had opened for the SBC. The recommendation “that the Baptist churches in Oregon and Washington that have petitioned for affiliation with the Southern Baptist Convention be received” was adopted, and the general missionary for the Northwest states presented a new gavel to President R. G. Lee to commemorate the occasion. The Committee to Discuss Common Problems with Northern Baptists was adopted, stating that “churches, associations, and state conventions of Baptists may co-operate with whomsoever they will, irrespective of geographical location.” It was against this backdrop that Dr. A. F. Crittendon, executive secretary of the California

In his book A Messenger’s Memoirs, Dr. Robert Naylor recounted an upbeat convention with an impressive opening attendance of 4,126 and the observation that “California had already become a growing, maturing Southern Baptist state.” Among his many remembrances, this 1951 meeting held a special place.

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Southern Baptist Convention, stepped to the microphone to bring a substitute motion. The Committee on Time, Place, and Preacher had just recommended that the SBC meet in Houston in two years, returning to that city for the third time in the Convention’s history. Dr. Crittendon moved that San Francisco should be the location of the 1951 meeting instead, and his motion won by a mere 37 ballot votes (875–838). With that, Southern Baptists were off to the West. The theme for the San Francisco meeting was “The Whole Gospel for the Whole World,” which President R. G. Lee took from a sentiment often expressed by the late Dr. George W. Truett. Local pastors and missionaries began preparations in January to host a Convention that now boasted 27,788 affiliated churches with a combined total of over seven million members. The Southern Baptist Housing Bureau encouraged messengers to send deposits of five or ten dollars to guarantee their hotel rooms, while railroad companies requested mailing lists in the hopes of soliciting new travelers from the South. Their requests were politely declined, but they received new train riders anyway, including Dr. Robert Naylor of Columbia, South Carolina, who would later become president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. In his book A Messenger’s Memoirs, Naylor recounted an upbeat convention with an impressive opening attendance of 4,126 and the observation that “California had already become a growing, maturing Southern Baptist state.” He also described the joy of visiting the American West, seeing Glorieta Assembly for the first time from his train car window, touring California, and visiting Canada before returning to his home. Among his many remembrances, this 1951 meeting held a special place. Southern Baptists would return to California two more times in the twentieth century, in what would prove to be important meetings in our history. In 1962, San Francisco hosted 9,396 messengers convening under the leadership of President Herschel Hobbs. The controversy surrounding

Southern Baptists would return to California two more times in the twentieth century, in what would prove to be important meetings in our history. In 1962, San Francisco hosted 9,396 messengers convening under the leadership of President Herschel Hobbs.

Ralph Elliott’s The Message of Genesis loomed large and the Committee to Study Baptist Statement of Faith and Message was named, leading up to the 1963 revision of the Baptist Faith and Message. In 1981, Bailey Smith presided over 13,529 messengers in Los Angeles in the beginning days of what would later come to be known as the Conservative Resurgence. Herschel Hobbs rose to the microphone to move that the Convention reaffirm the 1963 statement of faith, giving special emphasis in his floor speech to the Bible containing “truth without any mixture of error,” an action which the messengers would enthusiastically support. Matters of doctrine would occupy the minds and the microphones of Southern Baptists for some time, but cooperation remained the rallying

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cry with mission as the purpose. Yet, it would take more than forty years for the SBC annual meeting to return to the westernmost state. In 2016, Executive Committee member Steve Swofford, chairman of the Convention Arrangements work group, recommended on behalf of the EC that Anaheim be selected as the annual meeting site for 2022. Messengers to St. Louis affirmed the recommendation with no debate, and prepared to travel to California for a fourth time. It has been seventy-three years since messengers first decided to take their meeting to the West, with the tangible acknowledgement of geographic borders that had far outgrown the South. Since that time, the impact of California Southern Baptists has been evident, with multi-ethnic congregations now meeting across the state, reaching about eighty different language groups. The world around us has changed, but the mission has not. As Naylor said in his 1981 reflections, “For a Southern Baptist Convention to meet in California was to invite our host to participate in a mission journey.” That mission journey continues today, showing God at work across North America, from the South to the West, with Jesus at the center of it all.

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The world around us has changed, but the mission has not. That mission journey continues today, showing God at work across North America, from the South to the West, with Jesus at the center of it all.

AMY WHITFIELD is executive director of communications at The Summit Church in Durham, North Carolina.

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COMMUNISM IS NOT DEA DEAD D Although Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union about three decades ago, its global influence continues to threaten and oppress God’s people today.

ommunism was upheld as an answer to corruption and greed that would eliminate conflict between the classes, or “the exploitation of one part of society by the other.” In theory, it would create a utopian paradise on earth. In practice, however, it was what Richard Wurmbrand, founder of The Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) who spent 14 years in Communist prisons for his faith, called the “principal enemy.” When Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels published The Communist Manifesto in 1848 with the aim of “liberating” the working class, they wrote, “The history of all hitherto existing societies is the history of class struggles.” They believed these class struggles could be resolved by abolishing the ownership of private property and allowing the government to manage it for public use. In the process of obliterating class

barriers, the Communists also suppressed what they viewed as a major threat to their ideology — religion and the church. Marx famously called religion “the opium of the people,” a tool used by capitalists to suppress and deceive the working class. And in The Communist Manifesto, Marx and Engels brashly asserted that “Communism abolishes eternal truths, it abolishes all religion, and all morality.” They were not alone in that belief. Vladimir Lenin, who in 1917 led the Bolshevik Revolution that transformed Russia into a bastion of Communism, stated his intent toward the church: “We demand complete disestablishment of the Church so as to be able to combat the religious fog with purely ideological and solely ideological weapons.” The Communist Party had become atheistic in word and deed. This is the atheistic Communism that

Richard Wurmbrand experienced when the Soviet Union occupied his Romanian homeland in 1944. After being ransomed out of Communist Romania, he boldly spoke out about Communism’s effects on Christians and Christianity: I cannot agree … that the principal foe today is the materialism of the West. Today the principal enemy is Communism. Capitalism might have its evils, but it gives to the church the liberty to work at the salvation of souls. Communism ... uproots religion. The missionary energies must be concentrated upon the Communist lands. Although he wrote these words in 1969, they are still relevant today. Communism has a global influence that continues to threaten and oppress God’s people.

vom.org

THE VOICE OF THE MARTYRS

All About Control After the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, many of the remaining Communist countries became economically unstable without the financial support of the Soviet Union. These countries therefore shifted tactics, focusing more on global economic expansion and control than on territorial and political expansion. In the late 1970s, years prior to the collapse of Soviet Communism, Deng Xiaoping had adjusted China’s economic policies and begun to engage in the world economy. China continued to implement capitalist principles over the next two decades to bolster its wealth and global image. Some Western leaders thought China’s international business dealings would force its government to relax restrictions on human rights, including the treatment of Christians, particularly house church Christians. But doing business with the world has not forced Communist power brokers to relinquish control over the country’s citizens. As China’s wealth has grown, so has the government’s ability to track, monitor and control the Chinese people. Recent crackdowns on the church in China have resulted in more arrests and harassment, and Chinese believers are once again being forced “underground.” Similarly, in the relatively tiny and economically weak nation of Cuba, little has changed for Christians in 60 years under Communism. In the words of one Cuban pastor, “The world has to understand that Cuba is still a Communist country.” In 1959, Fidel Castro’s Communists overthrew the regime of Fulgencio Batista in Cuba. For Castro and his followers, Communism was a plausible answer to the corruption and greed that had flourished in Batista’s government. The revolution, however, resulted in no improvements. Cubans must still use ration books to purchase food, there is no private banking system and even doctors

earn only the equivalent of about $40 a month. In typical Communist style, the government inventories what each citizen owns; if a person has too much, the government confiscates it. In addition to these economic hardships, the church in Cuba has faced ongoing persecution and harassment from the Communist government. Cuban pastors have told VOM that they know the government plants spies in their church services, hoping to catch the pastors saying something that can be used against them. Pastors are also routinely detained and questioned for hours or days at a time before being fined and released. In addition, many Christian students are refused diplomas unless they bow before a statue of Ernesto “Che” Guevara, the Argentinian Marxist revolutionary who helped Castro overthrow the Batista government. No legal Christian bookstores exist in Cuba, and no new church buildings have been constructed since the Communist takeover in 1959. Existing churches face constant harassment, with the government cutting electricity and water to some church buildings, and demolishing others.

Global Influence While China, Vietnam, Laos and Cuba are considered some of the last “Communist” nations, the ideology remains influential in several other nations, including India and Nepal. In India, Communist groups are called Naxalites, a name originating from the town of Naxalbari in northeastern India where an uprising occurred in the late 1960s. The Naxalites claim to represent the poorest in Indian society, especially those from a low caste or no caste in the Hindu-dominated country. Although the Naxalites don’t commonly persecute Christians, VOM field leaders say Hindu extremists often pay or incite Naxalites to persecute Christians. Naxalites were responsible for

the 2019 murders of two Christians in separate incidents. In Nepal, Communist Maoist guerrillas were instrumental in the Nepalese Civil War that led to the 2008 overthrow of the country’s monarchy, which had ruled the Himalayan nation for more than two centuries. Today, the Communist Party holds seats in parliament, and Maoist groups have been known to persecute Christians. In restricted nations like Eritrea and North Korea, dictatorial leaders educated in Communist doctrine apply the ideology’s values without a Communist political party. Eritrea’s president, Isaias Afwerki, studied in China during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), absorbing Chairman Mao Zedong’s strong-arm approach to governance. Upon his return to Eritrea, Afwerki founded his own Marxist revolutionary movement — the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front, later renamed The People’s Front for Democracy and Justice. Afwerki and his followers joined in a 30-year battle for independence from Ethiopia that resulted in defeat for Ethiopia, independence for Eritrea and a presidency for Afwerki in 1993. While many Eritreans had looked with hope toward their new nation’s government, Afwerki’s totalitarian tendencies became more apparent with each

E Ernesto “Che” Guevara with Fidel Castro, who overthrew Fulgencio Batista to establish Communism in Cuba. Today, students in Cuba are required to bow before a statue of Che Guevara before they can obtain their diploma.

Communism Today

Areas of the World Where Christians Are Significantly Oppressed by Communism Today

World Population: 7.7 billion Approximately 3 billion people live in countries where Christians face Communist oppression.

NORTH KOREA NEPAL

INDIA

CHINA

LAOS

CUBA VENEZUELA

ERITREA VIETNAM

COLOMBIA (FARC)

E North Korean dictator Kim Il Sung received training from the Communists in the Soviet Union.

passing year. In keeping with his Marxist governmental policies, he also embraced atheism. Christians in Eritrea are harshly persecuted to this day, some enduring years of imprisonment in extreme conditions. Like Eritrea’s leader, North Korea’s Kim Il Sung underwent military and political training in the Soviet Union in the 1930s after joining a Communist youth organization. With the help of the Soviets, specifically Joseph Stalin, Kim Il Sung formed what we know as North Korea, one of the most repressive nations in the world today. North Korea is unique among Communist-influenced governments. While most Communist countries embrace and promote atheism, North Korea upholds Communist principles in a totalitarian-style government that requires

citizens to worship Kim Il Sung, who is venerated as a god. The state religion, Juche, was created as a distortion of Christianity. For example, instead of the Ten Commandments, North Koreans are to follow the “Ten Principles,” among which is this revealing statement: “We must make absolute the authority of the Great Leader comrade Kim Il Sung.”

The Last Victory Communism is not dead. As economically empowered Communist nations strengthen and expand their global influence, their governments continue to actively persecute our Christian brothers and sisters in Christ. And contrary to the ideals of Marx and Engels, Communist and Communistinfluenced countries around the world are rife with corruption, greed and gross social injustice. Despite the efforts of Communist nations in Eastern Europe to suppress and eradicate the church by imprisoning and torturing pastors, destroying church buildings and banning Bibles, the church simply went underground and remained faithful to Christ. Some Christians, like Richard Wurmbrand, emerged stronger,

calling out the evils of the atheistic Communist system while emphasizing the urgency to win Communists for Christ. And Christians in Communist and Communist-influenced countries live and act in that same spirit today. During a television interview in Australia in 1970, Richard Wurmbrand was asked if Communism was a threat to the church in the country. “Not the church of Christ,” he replied. “Even the gates of hell cannot prevail against her. It is Communism which is rather endangered by the existence of the church, because the last victory is ours. … We don’t tremble before Communism. They should be in panic because of us.” The faithful witness of our brothers and sisters in Christ causes panic and fear within Communist governments. These courageous believers know their promise of an eternal kingdom far outweighs any suffering they may endure under the godless agenda of a temporal kingdom. While their witness inspires us to stand with them and reach out to our neighbors with the gospel, may our knowledge of Communism’s atheistic roots and agenda keep us vigilant in prayer and action.  vom.org

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Baptist Press

McLaurin Named SBC Executive Committee Interim President/CEO BY BRANDON PORTER

illie McLaurin is the interim president and CEO of the SBC Executive Committee. The EC officers made the announcement Tuesday, February 1. Since 2020, McLaurin has served as the vice president for Great Commission relations and mobilization at the EC. “We hope that he will help us to reset the tone by which the EC serves Southern Baptists,” said Rolland Slade, EC chairman. McLaurin, forty-eight, served for fifteen years at the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board before joining the EC staff in January 2020. “Our EC staff is committed to serving our Convention well. Jesus’s last words to us in Acts 1:8 should be our first priority as a network of churches. My prayer is that we will continue to put a laser-sharp focus on cooperation and collaboration,” McLaurin told Baptist Press.

He said he is grateful for the opportunity to lead during this season. “I want to express deep appreciation to Chairman Rolland Slade and the Executive Committee officers for entrusting me with the opportunity to serve. It is an honor to partner with Southern Baptists in advancing the mission of winning the world to Jesus,” McLaurin said. Prior to serving at the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, McLaurin was executive pastor at Greater Missionary Baptist Church in Clarksville, Tennessee, and senior pastor at Greater Hope Baptist Church in Union City, Tennessee. He has also served as an interim pastor for numerous Southern Baptist churches. It was McLaurin’s pastoral experience, Slade said, that made it clear to the EC officers that he should be their choice. “The messengers and

Our EC staff is committed to serving our Convention well. Jesus’s last words to us in Acts 1:8 should be our first priority as a network of churches. My prayer is that we will continue to put a laser-sharp focus on cooperation and collaboration.” Willie McLaurin Interim president and CEO SBC Executive Committee

churches of all sizes throughout the SBC need to know that they are seen, heard, and appreciated,” he said. McLaurin takes over the role after a challenging season for the EC. The process of waiving attorney-client privilege related to the ongoing investigation over allegations of mishandling reports of sexual abuse in the Convention took a heavy toll on EC members and the way they are viewed by the SBC. McLaurin said he hopes to begin restoring trust in the EC during the interim period. “No network of churches is without challenges. My prayer is that this season will bring healing and unity to our Convention,” McLaurin said. “When we love each other the way Jesus loves people then we create the atmosphere for cooperation.” Slade believes this should be McLaurin’s central focus. “Immediately before us is the challenge to regain the sense of trust of Southern Baptists,”

SBC.NET | SPRING 2022

Slade said. “Regaining that trust includes focusing on relationships within as well as outside of the Southern Baptist Convention. That has been the assignment [McLaurin] has carried [during his time] at the EC. It is also an assignment he carried for more than fifteen years on behalf of the Tennessee Mission Board while serving as their associate executive director.” SBC EC bylaws mandate the interim president and CEO be chosen by the EC officers from the current EC vice presidents. Jonathan Howe serves as the vice president for communications. Chief Financial Officer Jeff Pearson resigned from the EC February 15. McLaurin previously served on the SBC Resolutions Committee in 2018 and as president of the Black Southern Baptist Denominational Servants Network in 2011–2012. He also was on the Executive Board of the Tennessee Baptist Convention from 2003–2005 and was the inaugural president of the African American Fellowship of the Tennessee Baptist Convention. McLaurin is a member of Simeon Baptist Church in Antioch, Tennessee. He and his wife Antonia have two daughters, Sierra and SiChanna. He is the first African American to lead an SBC entity and follows Ronnie Floyd, who resigned as EC president and CEO last October. Floyd served in the role for less than thirty months before leaving the post. Slade said that while this is an important step for the EC, there will be more information regarding additional leadership assignments at a later date. A version of this article was published in Baptist Press on February 1, 2022.

BRANDON PORTER is associate vice president for Convention news.

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The world needs to hear more good news about our awesome God. The news industry is typically driven by controversy, conflicts, and issues, but Baptist Press has the unique opportunity and ability to share good news stories of our good and loving God.”

Baptist Press Releases New Weekday Podcast BY BAPTIST PRESS STAFF

aptist Press, the official news service of the Southern Baptist Convention, has launched a new daily three-minute podcast called “Good News for Today.” “Good News for Today” spotlights the good God is doing in the world. Through the positive news stories of Baptist Press, listeners will be introduced to Christians and churches making a difference for the glory of God. Examples of stories heard on “Good News for Today” include a Colorado church that saw the impact of 1,500 Gospel conversations, disaster relief efforts following deadly tornadoes that tore across multiple states, and the generosity of churches to support missionaries reaching around the world. The new podcast is hosted by Baptist Press Editor Brandon Porter. Porter was a Southern Baptist pastor for more than twenty years and the former editor of Kentucky Today, the Kentucky Baptist Convention’s news outlet. There he reported on state and national news, religious

SBC.NET | SPRING 2022

Brandon Porter Host, Good News for Today Editor, Baptist Press

liberty issues, tragedy and disaster, and published policy pieces and op-eds. Since 2003 Porter has also hosted a weekly thirty-minute teaching and talk radio program. “The world needs to hear more good news about our awesome God,” Porter said. “The news industry is typically driven by controversy, conflicts, and issues, but Baptist Press has the unique opportunity and ability to share good news stories of our good and loving God.” “Good News for Today” joins “SBC This Week” as the second audio news program produced by the SBC Executive Committee. “Brandon combines his passion for the Gospel, his love of radio, and his expertise in news to create this much-needed positive podcast,” said Jonathan Howe, vice president for communications at the SBC Executive Committee and host of “SBC This Week.” “Good News for Today” is available across numerous podcast platforms, such as Apple Music, Amazon Music, Spotify, etc. A version of this article was published in Baptist Press on January 10, 2022.

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Litton, Wright Visit Storm Ravaged Town, See Southern Baptist Cooperation ‘At Its Best’ BY BRANDON PORTER

outhern Baptist leaders prayed with pastors and residents as they recovered from the deadly line of storms that stretched across the Midwest and South in December, leaving more than seventy-five fatalities. According to the National Weather Service, at least forty-one tornadoes with winds of up to 190 mph cut a two hundred-mile path across Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, and Tennessee on December 10 and 11.

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“It was shocking to see the devastation,” said Bryant Wright, Send Relief president. “I can’t imagine what those folks experienced by going to bed one night and having the storms pounce on them.” Jamie Ward, co-lead pastor at Hillvue Heights Church in Bowling Green, Kentucky, took Wright, Southern Baptist Convention President Ed Litton, and Sam Porter, national director

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The Gospel impact of relief is amazing because satisfying an immediate need helps to open the heart. This is something we’re proud of as Southern Baptists, in the right sense, and we should be.” Ed Litton, president Southern Baptist Convention of Southern Baptist Disaster Relief with Send Relief, to an area where two entire families were killed on one street and dozens were left homeless. “We just appreciate Send Relief, the Southern Baptist Convention, and the help you all are bringing,” Ward said. “You all are certainly bringing physical help, but you’re bringing spiritual help as well.”

Litton said reaching physical needs opens the door to speak to spiritual needs. “The Gospel impact of relief is amazing because satisfying an immediate need helps to open the heart,” Litton said. “This is something we’re proud of as Southern Baptists, in the right sense, and we should be.” Litton hopes Southern Baptists will be encouraged to continue to give and support those

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affected by the storms. “This is our life together as Southern Baptists at its best,” Litton said. “Out here everyone knows we need each other from the associational, state level, to the national level.” Kentucky Baptist Disaster Relief Director Ron Crow finds hope in knowing that Southern Baptists will continue to respond as the recovery moves forward. “We’re expecting the recovery process to be several months and the rebuild process to last several years,” Crow said. “Our disaster relief teams will keep coming, and then the rebuild teams will begin coming. That is seeing the Cooperative Program lived out in real life.” Todd Gray, Kentucky Baptist Convention executive director-treasurer, is overwhelmed by the support pouring from across the SBC. “The ministry and compassion is just incredible,” Gray said. “Right now in Kentucky, DR workers from all across the country are wanting to come in. They’re ready the minute they get the word go. All we can say is thank you.”

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Litton said tragedies can show what’s truly important. “It reminds us that material things are easy to destroy, but the basic necessities of life—which are emotional and spiritual—matter most,” Litton said. “My hope is and dream is that people will look on Southern Baptists and say, ‘Oh, how they love one another and how they love others.’” Wright said it is the love of Christ that opens the door for the Gospel of Christ. “All of this is about us working together as brothers and sisters in Christ to share the love of Christ tangibly,” Wright said, “but also to share the Gospel as opportunities arise.” To donate to Southern Baptist disaster relief efforts, go to SendRelief.org. A version of this article was published in Baptist Press on December 16, 2021.

BRANDON PORTER is associate vice president for Convention news.

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Barber to Chair Committee on Resolutions for Anaheim Meeting BY SCOTT BARKLEY

armersville, Texas, pastor Bart Barber will serve as chair for the 2022 Committee on Resolutions at the annual meeting in Anaheim, Southern Baptist Convention President Ed Litton announced on February 14. Barber, who will celebrate twenty-three years at First Baptist Church in Farmersville in July, served on the committee last year alongside Dana McCain, a member of First Baptist Church in Dothan, Alabama, who will be vice chair. “I believe with all of my heart that whenever two or three believers gather in His name, Christ is present among them to speak to them and through them,” Barber said. “Our resolutions play a beautiful role in that divine process.

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It is not my ambition to shape Southern Baptist opinion, but instead to state Southern Baptist opinion—to empower our messengers to speak as Christ has laid it upon their hearts to speak.” For McCain, involvement in crisis pregnancy ministries is what spurred her passion for seeing the Gospel’s impact on people’s lives. “It’s humbling to participate in the process of helping Southern Baptists reflect the Gospel to the world by speaking to contemporary issues, both within the church and in the public square,” she said. “I’m honored to be able to serve the SBC in this way, and look forward to the good things God will do during our time together at the 2022 Annual Meeting.”

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OTHER COMM ITTEE MEMBERS ARE:

• Julio Arriola—director, Send Network SBTC, and a member of Thompson Station Church, Thompson’s Station, Tennessee • J. T. English—lead pastor, Storyline Fellowship, Arvada, Colorado • Kristen Ferguson—11th Street Baptist Church, Upland, California • Donna Gaines—Bellevue Baptist Church, Cordova, Tennessee • Mike Keahbone—senior pastor, First Baptist Church, Lawton, Oklahoma • Jon C. Nelson—lead pastor, Soma Community Church, Jefferson City, Missouri, and president of the Missouri Baptist Convention • David Sons—lead pastor, Lake Murray Baptist Church, Lexington, South Carolina • Jared Wellman—lead pastor, Tate Springs Baptist Church, Arlington, Texas “For many decades, the resolutions process has served our Convention by allowing us to speak forcefully to significant matters upon which we are resolved,” Litton said. “I have the highest confidence in the men and women I have asked to serve on the 2022 Committee on Resolutions. Each of them are faithful and capable leaders who embody what it means to be a Great Commission Baptist. “I am particularly grateful for Dr. Bart Barber’s willingness to serve as chair of the committee. Across our Convention, Dr. Barber is esteemed for his character and wisdom, as well as his conviction and charity. I have no doubt that Dr. Barber, along with Vice Chair Dana Hall McCain, will serve all of us by leading this committee to present resolutions for consideration that reflect the biblical priorities and convictions of our Great Commission people.”

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According to Bylaw 20, the committee must include at least two members who served the previous year, a requirement fulfilled by Barber and McCain. Keahbone, Sons, and Wellman meet the stipulation that three Executive Committee members also be on the committee. Wellman served on the committee last year as well. According to Bylaw 20, the procedure for submitting resolutions is as follows: 1. Proposed resolutions may be submitted as early as April 15 but no later than 15 days prior to the SBC annual meeting, giving the Resolutions Committee a two-week period in which to consider submissions. The committee also may propose resolutions for consideration during its deliberations. Resolutions may not be submitted during the annual meeting. 2. Proposed resolutions must be accompanied by a letter from a church qualified to send a messenger to the SBC annual meeting certifying that the individual submitting the resolution is a member in good standing. 3. Proposed resolutions preferably should be submitted by email or mailed to the Committee on Resolutions in care of the SBC Executive Committee, 901 Commerce St., Nashville, TN 37203. The drafts must be typewritten, titled, dated and include complete contact information for the person and his or her church. 4. No person will be allowed to submit more than three resolutions per year. 5. If a properly submitted resolution is not forwarded by the Committee on Resolutions to the SBC annual meeting, a two-thirds vote of messengers would be required to bring the proposed resolution to the convention floor. A version of this article was published in Baptist Press on February 14, 2022.

SCOTT BARKLEY is national correspondent for Baptist Press.

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NAMB Church Planter Luis Soto New Puerto Rico Executive Director BY DIANA CHANDLER

ongtime church planter Luis Soto, pastor of Iglesia Bautista Sin Paredes in Guayama, Puerto Rico, is the new executive director of the Convention of Southern Baptist Churches of Puerto Rico (CSBCPR). “We are experiencing historic days at the Puerto Rico convention and we thank God for what he is doing and will continue to do in the coming years,” Soto told Baptist Press.

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CSBCPR executive members elected Soto to the post January 10 to lead the convention of fifty-two Southern Baptist churches. On the island of 3.4 million people dispersed among seventy-eight municipalities, forty cities do not have a Southern Baptist church, according to figures from the North American Mission Board (NAMB). Soto continues as a NAMB Send Network church planting catalyst and as pastor of Iglesia

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My plan is to continue working with NAMB to see more churches that preach the Gospel to all of Puerto Rico and see hundreds of thousands of people . . . come to the feet of Christ.” Luis Soto, executive director Convention of Southern Baptist Churches of Puerto Rico

Bautista Sin Paredes in Guayama. He formerly served eight years as a NAMB church planter in Utah, where he planted and pastored Roca de los Siglos in Salt Lake City and Gracia Eterna in West Valley. “My plan is to continue working with NAMB to see more churches that preach the Gospel to all of Puerto Rico,” Soto said, “and see hundreds of thousands of people . . . come to the feet of Christ.” In addition to growing the number of Southern Baptist churches on the island, Soto has goals aimed at increasing and improving discipleship, giving, seminary preparation, international missions, and prison ministry. Specifically, Soto told Baptist Press, he would like to lead Puerto Rican Southern Baptists to increase giving to the Cooperative Program from $80,000 to $100,000; start a chaplaincy ministry in state prisons and train men for prison ministry;

SBC.NET | SPRING 2022

better equip pastors in discipleship, leadership development, and biblical counseling; and offer alternatives to theological studies spanning from certificates to doctorate degrees through a partnership with Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (SWBTS) in Fort Worth, Texas. Soto would like to lead Puerto Rican Southern Baptists to continue supporting international missionaries from Puerto Rico, to continue to provide various resources for pastors’ wives, and to motivate churches to continue supporting North American and international missions in financial giving and prayer. As executive director, Soto succeeds Felix Cabrera, senior director of Send Network Español and associate director of Hispanic Programs at SWBTS. “We had our hands full for the past three years, in the midst of political instability, earthquakes, [the COVID-19] pandemic, and [are] still recovering from hurricanes,” Cabrera told Puerto Rican Southern Baptists in announcing his resignation as executive director. “After these past thirty-six months, our convention is in a healthy position and ready to continue fulfilling the Great Commission that our Lord Jesus Christ left us in Matthew 28.” Soto is earning a Doctor of Ministry degree from SWBTS. He holds a Master of Theology degree from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and a bachelor’s degree in social work from the InterAmerican University of Puerto Rico. He and his wife Beatriz Castillo have two children, daughter Eliana Valentina and son Samuel Adrián. A version of this article was published in Baptist Press on February 14, 2022.

DIANA CHANDLER is Baptist Press’s senior writer.

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Lifeway Embraces Future of Work with Upcoming Move to New ‘Teaming Space’ BY CAROL PIPES

ifeway Christian Resources recently announced plans to take up residence at Maryland Farms in Brentwood, Tennessee, by the end of 2022. In the wake of strong performance in 2021, Lifeway will relocate to a mixeduse, state-of-the-art facility with a layout that promotes creativity and collaboration. “We look forward to being a part of the Maryland Farms community,” said Lifeway CEO Ben Mandrell. “This will be an exciting area and a great space for our team to create and collaborate. Our new space will be a haven for fresh ideas and creative thinking.”

SBC.NET | SPRING 2022

Lifeway will move from their current location in Nashville’s Capitol View neighborhood to 46,000 square feet of leased office space about eleven miles south of its current facility. Located at 200 Powell Place, the building is part of the Maryland Farms mixed-use community with access to restaurants, shopping, a greenway and park, and home to a variety of businesses. “Selling our large building downtown and moving to a smaller, more open footprint is part of a larger, strategic vision for the organization,” Mandrell said. “The new location allows us to be better stewards of our resources and is a better

We look forward to being a part of the Maryland Farms community. This will be an exciting area and a great space for our team to create and collaborate. Our new space will be a haven for fresh ideas and creative thinking.” Ben Mandrell, president and CEO Lifeway Christian Resources

fit for the culture we’ve created at Lifeway.” Mandrell said employees will continue to work remotely the majority of the time and will come to the building for collaborative work. With Lifeway’s work-from-anywhere culture, he said they decided to forgo a traditional office-space model and instead create a space designed for strategic meetings and creative brainstorming. “Lifeway has been a leader when it comes to remote-based work and redefining the corporate office. We’ve moved from a corporate-headquarters mindset to a teaming-space mindset. Imagine an environment that feels more like a college student union than a corporate headquarters,” he said. “Lifeway had already embraced a remote work culture, before Zoom was a household word,” Mandrell said. “We learned during the pandemic that our team was just as efficient working from

SBC.NET | SPRING 2022

home as they were from the office—maybe more. We want to continue to offer that flexibility and maximize those efficiencies while providing opportunities for face-to-face interaction.” Connia Nelson, Lifeway’s chief human resources officer, acknowledged that work styles have changed among the staff since moving to a fully remote, flexible work environment. “The layout of the new building will provide all types of creative spaces where employees will be motivated and inspired to work together in community. Teams will have collaborative spaces to meet in groups, while individual employees will have a variety of quiet workspaces to choose from based on their work style,” Nelson said. “We want to support a culture of hybrid work where flexibility leads the way with an emphasis on connectivity, giving employees the power to work from anywhere, anytime.” The new space will be a mix of meeting rooms, drop-in workstations, a social hub, private spaces for phone and video calls, as well as spaces for individualized work that requires concentration. The plans also call for state-of-the-art podcast, video, and photography studios, as well as post-production suites. Technology throughout the building will allow for connectivity and interaction with employees working around the country. Lifeway has occupied its current home in Nashville’s Capitol View neighborhood since 2017. While Lifeway sold the Capitol View building in 2021, they are leasing back space until the move can be completed. A version of this article was published in Baptist Press on January 13, 2022.

CAROL PIPES is director of corporate communications for Lifeway Christian Resources.

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Baptist Press

Search Team Formed to Fill SBC Executive Committee President and CEO Post BY TIMOTHY COCKES

he Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee has created a search team to begin the entity’s search for the new president and CEO. EC PRESIDENTIAL SEARCH TEAM MEMBERS

• • • • • •

Mollie Duddleston (Springdale, Arkansas) Mike Keahbone (Lawton, Oklahoma) Jeremy Morton (Woodstock, Georgia) Philip Robertson (Pineville, Louisiana) Adron Robinson (Country Club Hills, Illinois) David Sons (Lexington, South Carolina)

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EC trustees nominated fellow trustees to serve on the team. In total, twenty-three trustees were nominated for consideration. Following the nominations, trustees selected their top six candidates in a secret ballot vote. The first five candidates were elected outright, while Keahbone was elected after a runoff that included fellow nominees Rolland Slade (El Cajon, California) and John Yeats (Jefferson City, Missouri). Three candidates tied for the sixth spot, leading to the runoff. During the runoff vote, Keahbone

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I’m going to encourage the search team to approach their work with a prayerful attitude from the beginning, and God will lead them to the person that He’s going to elevate. I think it’s going to be clear and we should not try to politicize it or pick a certain ‘group,’ but who is it that God is bringing forward for this hour.” Rolland Slade, chairman SBC Executive Committee

and Slade tied, and Slade, who is current chairman of the full EC, removed his name from consideration to avoid another runoff. Slade told Baptist Press he hopes the strategy of the search team will not just be practical, but also prayerful. “I’m going to encourage the search team to approach their work with a prayerful attitude from the beginning, and God will lead them to the person that He’s going to elevate,” Slade said. “I think it’s going to be clear and we should not try to politicize it or pick a certain ‘group,’ but who is it that God is bringing forward for this hour.” EC bylaws require the chairman to be an ex-officio member of the team. Slade will serve on the search team until both his chairmanship and his EC term expire in June. The new chair will then take the spot.

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Slade offered a few suggestions and strategies for the search team. “We’re the cheerleaders, we’re the encouragers, we’re the folks who are really supposed to be out there sharing about the Cooperative Program,” Slade said. “One of our strategies will be to listen and to familiarize ourselves with the relationships the candidate has. I believe the person is going to have to be a relational person, and that’s going to be really important in doing this.” Regarding the ongoing sexual abuse investigation, Slade said implementing the suggestions and recommendations from the Sexual Abuse Task Force in response to its upcoming report will be one of the first major responsibilities of the new president and CEO. “We’re going to hear loud and clear about these things in May and it’s going to be the first thing to come up in terms of how are we going to respond,” Slade said. “They (the new president and CEO) have to be able to listen and then relationally be able to respond to that. Our response needs to be a biblical and relational response, not a sort of cardboard response. We’ve really got to say, ‘We’ve really got to uncover this. Here’s where we’ve seen some things that we need to work on together.’” In terms of a timetable for the selection of the candidate, Slade said, “To me, it needs to be as long as it takes.” Slade asked Southern Baptists to pray for the search team. “Pray for protection of our hearts,” Slade said. “The best thing people can do is pray for that team.” A version of this article was published in Baptist Press on February 22, 2022.

TIMOTHY COCKES is a staff writer for Baptist Press.

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Vance Pitman Leads NAMB’s Send Network BY NAMB STAFF

ance Pitman, who planted Hope Church Las Vegas in 2000 and pastored there twenty-one years, leads the North American Mission Board’s (NAMB) church planting efforts as the new president of Send Network. Pitman and NAMB President Kevin Ezell shared the announcement in a video released on December 3, 2021. “I’ve been part of Send Network since its inception, but I’ve been part of it on the field—as a church planter, a pastor, and a Sending Church. Now I get to be part of it from a different vantage point,” Pitman said.

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Pitman has led Hope to be a reproducing church. Under his leadership, Hope has played a part in planting more than seventy new churches. Throughout its history, more than three hundred members of Pitman’s congregation have been sent out to help start new churches. “I want to take what the Lord has allowed us to be able to do at Hope Church and help be part of raising up the next generation church planters and pastors across North America,” Pitman said. Pitman resigned from Hope Church and began his new role at NAMB on March 1, 2022.

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I’ve been part of Send Network since its inception, but I’ve been part of it on the field—as a church planter, a pastor, and a Sending Church. Now I get to be part of it from a different vantage point.” Vance Pitman, president Send Network North American Mission Board

“I am excited about the days ahead for NAMB and Send Network,” Ezell said. “Vance is a church planter at heart, and he has already had a great influence on Send Network. We look forward to seeing what God has in store for us as we continue to meet needs, share the hope of the Gospel, and plant churches throughout North America.” Pitman has been closely involved in Send Network for several years. He contributed significantly to the development of the network’s church planter assessment process, which helps ensure that church planters are well qualified for their role. He is also regularly featured as a speaker at NAMB church planter training events. Pitman follows Dhati Lewis, who led Send Network for three years. In mid-November, Lewis shared his plans to leave NAMB at the end of the year to concentrate more fully on developing and mentoring young leaders who will plant churches in the urban context.

SBC.NET | SPRING 2022

Vance is a church planter at heart, and he has already had a great influence on Send Network. We look forward to seeing what God has in store for us as we continue to meet needs, share the hope of the Gospel, and plant churches throughout North America.” Kevin Ezell, president North American Mission Board

“Vance is a close friend, fellow pastor, and church planter,” Lewis said. “I’ve learned a lot from him, and I look forward to the ways he will help Send Network continue to plant churches everywhere for everyone.” Pitman and his wife, Kristie, relocated to Las Vegas in 2000 to plant Hope Church. Their sending church was First Baptist Church in Woodstock, Georgia. What started as a small group meeting in their living room eventually grew to a church of more than four thousand members with fifty-four languages spoken among them. “For me, it’s always been about the Kingdom being expanded,” Pitman said. “I want us to trust God for an even greater future than we’ve already seen in Send Network.”

A version of this article was published in Baptist Press on December 3, 2021.

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