2015 SBC Annual Meeting

COLUMBUS, Ohio (BP) -- The Southern Baptist Convention's annual meeting drew 5,406 messengers to Columbus June 16-17 from the nation's 46,000-plus Southern Baptist churches. The unofficial total is a 2 percent rise from last year's 5,295 messengers in Baltimore. SBC registration secretary Jim Wells said the results were slightly below his pre-annual meeting guess, but good nonetheless, especially from Ohio.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (BP) -- Messengers proposed 10 motions during the Southern Baptist Convention's June 16-17 annual meeting. All but one were referred to SBC entities or ruled out of order.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (BP) -- Thousands of messengers at the 2015 Southern Baptist Convention knelt in prayer and raised their hands to heaven June 16 as they prayed for revival in the church and a great awakening across the United States. Spiritual leaders from America's churches -- including Hispanic, Korean, Native American and African American pastors -- prayed for an end to racism and prejudice as they pledged to work together "as one family." The SBC's National Call to Prayer included participants around the world, connected by broadcasts from the Daystar worldwide television network and the Salem satellite radio network, as well as a live stream on the Internet.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (BP) -- The SBC Committee on Nominations for the coming year has the most diversity in its history, Committee on Committees chairman Bryan Smith reported at the SBC annual meeting June 16.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (BP) -- Sixty-eight Southern Baptists from 34 state Baptist conventions have been named to serve on the 2015-16 SBC Committee on Nominations.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (BP) -- The living former Southern Baptist Convention presidents elected since 1980 issued a joint statement Wednesday declaring they will stand on the biblical truths concerning marriage despite anticipated legal and civil changes to the definition. Pastor Jack Graham called it “the most critical issue of our times -- religious freedom and the very definition of marriage itself.”

COLUMBUS (BP) -- Southern Baptists must take the Gospel to the ends of the earth to let hurting people know they are not alone, Frank S. Page told messengers to the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention, and Southern Baptist churches are not alone in that task. "We believe there are people who need to hear the Gospel who need to know they are not alone. In their struggles, in their hurt, they need to know that someone cares about them," Page, president of the Executive Committee, said June 16 in Columbus.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (BP) -- A mission and vision committee of the new Hispanic Pastors and Leaders Network set forth an outline of organizational and strategic plans during the AVANCE conference June 14 in Columbus, Ohio. The five-member team was named during a meeting last December sponsored by the SBC Executive Committee and LifeWay Christian Resources in Nashville, attended by 65 Hispanic leaders from 23 Baptist state conventions.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (BP) -- Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting attendee Joel Helms -- a veteran of the U.S. Army Infantry Special Forces -- remembers the mid-1960s as years when he was afraid to wear his uniform in public. "There was a time when people would spit on you when you wore your uniform. It was very depressing," he said. Helms was one of the many Vietnam veterans honored in Tuesday's (June 16) opening session of the SBC.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (BP) -- An amendment to the mission statement of the North American Mission Board and a name change for Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary were among the recommendations affirmed by messengers during the Executive Committee's report to the Southern Baptist Convention June 16 in Columbus.