NASHVILLE (BP) – The board of trustees for the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) announced their annual award recipients, elected new officers and heard an update from the presidential search team chairman during their spring meeting Friday, March 20.
ERLC trustees, meeting via zoom, heard various reports and approved recommendations from the committees of the board during the meeting.
“Our board is grateful for the faithful work of Dr. Hollingsworth and the staff during this season of transition and opportunity,” said Scott Foshie, ERLC trustee board chairman.
“We are also encouraged by the prayers, support and encouragement we have received as our staff and trustees have travelled thousands of miles listening to Southern Baptists from every corner of America. The trustees are committed to ensuring that the ERLC is trustworthy and effective, serving churches and representing Southern Baptists faithfully in the public square.”
As part of the meeting, the trustee board heard a brief report from presidential search team chairman Mitch Kimbrell, who indicated the committee believes they are still on track to have a new president elected by the SBC annual meeting in June.
Trustees also elected new officers to serve the board, effective either at the end of a special called trustee meeting to elect a new ERLC President/CEO or at the conclusion of the SBC annual meeting this June (whichever comes first).
- Heather Sells (Va.) was elected Chair (Sells formerly served as Vice Chair)
- Mitch Kimbrell (Vt.) was elected Vice Chair (Kimbrell formerly served as Secretary)
- Eric Costanzo (Okla.) was elected Secretary (Costanzo formerly served as Chair of the Administrative & Finance Committee)
Trustees approved committee chairs for the board.
- Brad Gwartney (Fla.), Administrative & Finance
- Jason Marlin (Mo.), Research & Public Policy (no change)
- Stan Oschman (Pa.), Communications (no change)
The board welcomed new trustee Chad Murrell (Ariz.). Murrell replaces former trustee Anthony Cox who recently resigned. Murrell will serve through the SBC annual meeting when the SBC nominating committee considers trustee appointments.
Each spring meeting, ERLC trustees also select two Christians or Christian groups as the recipients of their annual awards.
The first award is the Richard D. Land Distinguished Service Award, which is given to someone who has made an outstanding contribution in the field of Christian ethics over an extended period of time.
The recipient for the 2025 award was Steve Gaines, who served as senior pastor at Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tenn., from 2005 to 2025.
Gaines pastored churches in Texas, Tennessee and Alabama before coming to Bellevue, and was known for focusing his ministry primarily on evangelism, prayer and preaching. Over the years, Gaines preached at hundreds of churches and denominational events at the national, state and local levels.
He served as the President of the Southern Baptist Convention (2016-18) and in several other denominational positions over the years, notably as a trustee for Lifeway (1998-2000) and on the Baptist Faith & Message Committee (1999-2000) that resulted in the adoption of the Baptist Faith & Message 2000 as the denomination’s confession of faith.
The Baptist Faith & Message 2000 has served as one of the ERLC’s main guides for public policy engagement on behalf of Southern Baptists since its passage.
Gaines passed away the same day he was selected for this award by the trustee board at the age of 68. He is survived by his wife Donna, four married children and 18 grandchildren.
ERLC Interim President Gary Hollingsworth was one of the many Southern Baptist leaders to remember Gaines and his legacy, calling him “a gift” to Southern Baptists.
Foshie spoke about Gaines as the recipient of the Distinguished Service Award.
“We are deeply grateful for the contributions Dr. Gaines made in Southern Baptist life, including his faithful Gospel preaching, his tireless advocacy for life and his unifying leadership of our convention,” Foshie said.
The second award was the John Leland Religious Liberty Award, which is given to an individual (or a group of people) who has been a “courageous champion of religious liberty both in the United States and around the world.”
The 2025 recipient was Grace Jin Drexel, an American citizen who has dedicated her time and efforts to advocating for religious liberty on behalf of those who are being persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party.
Drexel’s father, Ezra Jin Mingri, is the founder and pastor of Zion Church in Beijing. In October 2025, he was arrested in his home by Chinese authorities and charged with the crime of illegal online dissemination of information because he used Zoom to proclaim the gospel in house churches.
At the time of his arrest, Zion Church was reaching 10,000 people daily with the gospel message. His arrest, along with targeting dozens of fellow pastors, was part of one of the largest mass crackdowns of underground Christian churches across China in the last 40 years, representing a significant escalation in the Communist Party’s animosity toward non-state-sanctioned religion.
Drexel has publicly spoken out in support of their release, appealing to the Trump administration, testifying before the U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom and delivering remarks at the U.N. Opening for the 18th Annual Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy.
“Grace Drexel’s persistent advocacy is helping to keep the persecution of Chinese Christians in the public eye,” ERLC chair-elect Heather Sells said.
“We are thrilled to honor her and applaud her work as it reminds us to intercede on behalf of her father and other Chinese pastors arrested in the most recent church crackdown.”
The next meeting for the full ERLC board trustees is scheduled for this September.
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