2010 SBC Annual Meeting News

ORLANDO, Fla. (BP)–A resolution on the “scandal of Southern Baptist divorce” was an attempt “to speak first to ourselves,” the chairman of the Resolutions Committee said after its approval by messengers to the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in Orlando, Fla. In what appeared to be a unanimous vote June 16, messengers endorsed […]

ORLANDO, Fla. (BP)--Messengers adopted a resolution calling for reaffirmation of the centrality of the Gospel of Jesus and endorsed other resolutions addressing the implications of the Good News at the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention June 15-16 in Orlando, Fla.

ORLANDO, Fla. (BP)--Amendments to the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force's final report strengthened one of its recommendations and caused it to better reflect the priorities of Southern Baptists, task force members said at a news conference June 15.

ORLANDO, Fla. (BP)--Newly elected Southern Baptist Convention President Bryant Wright wants to see Southern Baptists return to their first love, radically reprioritize their lives, funding and ministries to fulfill the Great Commission and directly participate in overseas mission work.

ORLANDO, Fla. (BP)--Bryant Wright, pastor of the Atlanta-area Johnson Ferry Baptist Church, was elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention in a June 15 runoff election, leading a slate of officers that includes two new vice presidents and two re-elected secretaries.       Messengers elected Tennessee evangelist Ron Herrod as first vice president and Arkansas pastor Eric Moffett as second vice president.       By acclamation, messengers elected John Yeats, director of communications for the Louisiana Baptist Convention, as SBC recording secretary -- a position he has held since 1997 -- and Jim Wells, director of missions for the Tri-County Baptist Association in Nixa, Mo., as registration secretary for the eighth consecutive year.       Wright defeated Florida pastor Ted Traylor in a runoff for the presidency. With 7,667 messengers voting, Wright received 4,225 votes, or 55.11 percent. Traylor, pastor of Olive Baptist Church in Pensacola, Fla., received 3,371 votes, for 43.9 percent. Nearly 11,000 messengers were registered at the time of the runoff.       While nominating Wright, David Uth, pastor of First Baptist Church in Orlando, said Wright is a pastor whose commitment to the Great Commission is evident: "While we've been talking about Great Commission stuff, Bryant's been quietly leading his church to do it," Uth said. "He wasn't waiting on a resurgence; he wasn't waiting on a vote of a convention. He heard his Lord speak, and he did it."       Started by Wright 28 years ago in Marietta, Ga., Johnson Ferry baptized 478 people last year, has started seven churches in Cobb County, Ga., co-sponsored five other church plants, and in four of the past six years has given more than any other church in the SBC to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions. "Ask one of our missionaries if that's doing the Great Commission," Uth said.       More than 1,500 members of the church participated in 70 mission trips to 27 countries last year, recording more than 2,900 decisions for Christ, Uth reported. Johnson Ferry gave more than $2.7 million to missions last year. Uth said Wright would "be quick to say that is the Lord's blessing" on the church that has caused such results.

ORLANDO, Fla. (BP)--Morris H. Chapman delivered his last address to the Southern Baptist Convention as president of the Executive Committee June 15 in Orlando, Fla., standing on his conviction that the convention's greatest needs ...

ORLANDO, Fla. (BP)--Bryant Wright, pastor of the Atlanta-area Johnson Ferry Baptist Church, defeated Florida pastor Ted Traylor in a runoff for the presidency ...

ORLANDO, Fla. (BP)--By an estimated 3-to-1 margin, the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force report was adopted June 15 by messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Orlando, Fla.       After the historic vote, task force chairman Ronnie Floyd recalled the statement issued by northern and southern Baptists after the 1845 founding of the Southern Baptist Convention and told the assembly: "Following the pattern of our leaders of old, we also would say to the watching world that the differences between those who support the Great Commission Resurgence report and recommendations and those who do not should not be exaggerated.       "We are still brothers and sisters in Christ. We differ on no article of faith. We are guided by our shared commitment to the Gospel itself and to the articles of faith identified in the Baptist Faith and Message 2000. The Southern Baptist Convention is a convention of churches that is committed to a missional vision of presenting the Gospel of Jesus Christ to every person in the world and to make disciples of all the nations. We are a Great Commission people."       The seven recommendations of the report were adopted on a show of ballots after about an hour and a half of debate, with one significant amendment.       Early in the debate, John Waters, pastor of First Baptist Church in Statesboro, Ga., offered an amendment to the third recommendation, which would institute a category of "Great Commission Giving" to recognize designated gifts to Southern Baptist mission causes outside the convention's 85-year-old unified giving channel, the Cooperative Program. Waters' amendment would have replaced the Great Commission Giving language with a statement affirming only the Cooperative Program.

ORLANDO, Fla. (BP)--With the passion that typifies his preaching, SBC President Johnny Hunt used his presidential address to appeal to messengers of the Southern Baptist Convention to embrace the recommendations of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force.

ORLANDO, Fla. (BP)–Frank Page cited two goals he is envisioning as president-elect of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee: “that there would be a unity amongst the brethren and sistren such as we’ve never seen before” and that the world “finally realize Baptists are loving sharing people who will care and who will minister in […]