NEW ORLEANS (BP) — Dave Miller, pastor of Southern Hills Baptist Church in Sioux City, Iowa, will be nominated for second vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention during its annual meeting Tuesday-Wednesday, according to an Alabama pastor.
Alan Cross, pastor of Gateway Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala., announced on his blog Friday that he would nominate Miller, who also is the editor of SBCVoices.com, an SBC-centric blog.
“Dave is fair, balanced, and generous in his role as editor,” Cross wrote. “He also has a great wit and a fantastic sense of humor as well as a sharp theological mind and love for Christ and people. Whenever I see Dave chime in, I know that I am going to hear a perspective that is well thought out, reasonable, fair, and Christ-centered.”
Miller has been pastor of Southern Hills Baptist Church since 2005. He previously was pastor of Northbrook Baptist Church in Cedar Rapids for about 14 years. He also served as pastor of a church in Virginia for four years.
Miller is a native of Iowa, and his parents were Baptist missionaries in Taiwan.
“Dave is exactly the kind of guy that Baptists need in leadership right now,” Cross wrote. “… He has the background to know how the SBC functions in all respects, but he has also served outside of the South and knows where the SBC should be headed if it is going to thrive in an increasingly post-Christian America.
“In addition to Dave’s experience, his passion is to see Baptists continue to work together in ever increasing ways,” Cross added. “Dave believes strongly (as do I) that our true unity is in Christ, that the Baptist Faith & Message (BF&M) is our standard of doctrinal unity and that all who agree with it should be able to work together in Baptist life and mission. He also believes and promotes the fact that we should cooperate in the Great Commission both locally and globally and that we should do that through the Cooperative Program. Dave’s church, Southern Hills Baptist, is the leading CP church in Iowa as well as in Lottie Moon and total missions giving. Dave clearly articulates his hopes and prayers for the SBC in this post at SBCVoices. Good and needed words.
Cross concluded, “Dave’s heartbeat is that we would work together as Baptists according to what we already have in common to know Christ and make Him known to the ends of the earth. He provides a platform for discussion and mutual understanding every day through SBCVoices and he leads his local church in faithful mission both in Iowa and around the world. Dave is exactly the kind of leadership that Southern Baptists can hope to have to lead us forward, and for that reason, I will gladly give him my support.”
Miller graduated with a bachelor’s degree in communications from Palm Beach Atlantic College and a master of divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Two other Southern Baptists are expected to be nominated for second vice president: Eric Hankins, pastor of First Baptist Church in Oxford, Miss., and Brad Atkins, pastor of Powdersville First Baptist Church in Easley, S.C.
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Compiled by Michael Foust, associate editor of Baptist Press.
