2016 SBC Annual Meeting

ST. LOUIS (BP) -- The Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee's June 13 decision not to recommend amending SBC Bylaw 26 has forced the cancelation of a panel discussion scheduled for June 15 with SBC entity heads fielding questions from messengers to the convention's annual meeting in St. Louis. Instead, each entity president will answer messenger questions for four minutes at the end of his report. The EC also referred back to its Bylaws Workgroup for further discussion of a proposal to grant EC representation to Baptists in five pioneer regions of the United States.

ST. LOUIS (BP) -- The mass shooting in Orlando and ongoing racial tension should lead Americans to place a high value on all human life, Ronnie Floyd said June 13 in his final press conference as president of the Southern Baptist Convention. "This is a great time to remind everyone that each person in this world has been made in the image of God, and we need to value human life. What happened in Orlando is inexcusable and deplorable," said Floyd, pastor of Cross Church in northwest Arkansas, regarding the massacre at a gay nightclub, where reportedly 50 people -- including the shooter -- lost their lives. Southern Baptists "stand against any prejudice, any bigotry, anything that is wrong in relation to devaluing human life, regardless of what someone does or how someone chooses to live. We value people. That's who we are, and that's what we need to continue to be," Floyd said.

ST. LOUIS (BP) -- Aimed at giving pastors a charge like the one the apostle Paul gave his son in the ministry, Timothy, in 2 Timothy 4:5-6, the 2016 Southern Baptist Convention Pastors' Conference kicked off Sunday (June 12) at the America's Center Convention Complex in St. Louis. With the theme "Live this!", the Sunday evening and Monday morning sessions focused on issues such as suffering, endurance, the Gospel, cross-cultural ministry and evangelism.

ST. LOUIS (BP) -- About 500 Southern Baptists gathered June 12 for the opening sessions of WMU's 2016 Missions Celebration and Annual Meeting in St. Louis, Mo. With a theme of "By All Means," the two Sunday programs recognized current and retired missionaries, as well as International Mission Board staff, and celebrated Wanda Lee's service as she retires as executive director of WMU.

ST. LOUIS (BP) -- Approximately 150 Southern Baptist leaders, family members and friends from across the country gathered in St. Louis on June 11 to honor Wanda Lee and her leadership of national WMU over the past 20 years -- 16 as executive director and four as president. Frank S. Page said he got to know Lee in 2010 when he assumed his current role as president and CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Committee. Page recited Micah 6:8, "What does the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

ST. LOUIS (BP) -- Tower Grove Baptist Church culminated a weeklong outreach in a nearby Hispanic community by launching its first-ever Spanish service. Spanish-speaking students from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary engaged in door-to-door evangelism in the mostly Hispanic community called Cherokee during the yearly Crossover evangelistic emphasis prior to the Southern Baptist Convention's annual meeting.

SBC President Ronnie Floyd sets forth his call to "stand together in love" as the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting convenes in St. Louis.

ST. LOUIS (BP) -- AVANCE 2016 drew more than 100 Hispanic attendees from across the nation for an evening focused on "Firmly Standing on the Gospel -- Boldly Committed to the Mission." During the June 12 gathering, Hispanic pastors and leaders were recognized for their work in the Kingdom and were encouraged to immerse themselves in missions in order to reach other Hispanics for Christ.

ST. LOUIS (BP) -- Indiana pastor Jose Burgos will be nominated for second vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention, Missouri pastor Scott Gordon announced June 12. Burgos has been pastor of the Chicago-area New Creation Ministry in Highland, Ind., since he served as the congregation's lead church planter in 2011. He also serves as an officer with the Hammond, Ind., police department, a post he has held since 1994. Formerly he was in the U.S. Army.

ST. LOUIS (BP) -- Worldwide audiences will have opportunities to support the impassioned pleas of Southern Baptists for the next great awakening, revival and other concerns at the Southern Baptist Convention’s National Call to Prayer June 14 in St. Louis.