[1]NASHVILLE (BP) – Matt Henslee, pastor of Mayhill Baptist Church in Mayhill, N.M., was elected president of the 2022 SBC Pastors’ Conference Monday afternoon over four other nominees. Also elected to join him next year will be Vice President Cam Triggs, pastor of Grace Alive Church in Orlando, and Treasurer Sam Greer, pastor of Red Bank Baptist Church in Chattanooga.
[2]The 2022 Pastors’ Conference will precede the SBC Annual Meeting to be held in Anaheim, Calif.
Josh Reavis, associate pastor of North Jax Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Fla., described Henslee’s ministry experience as being representative of most Southern Baptist pastors. Mayhill is a town of 56 people where the nearest McDonald’s is an hour away. Each Sunday Henslee goes through the progression of turning on the church lights, starting the coffee and praying over the 30 pews that will soon hold more than 100 people.
“It’s what he does every Sunday – Sunday after Sunday – because he’s a pastor,” Reavis said.
The Pastors’ Conference, Reavis noted, should provide a picture of those from numerous ministry settings, including a “Who’s Who” but also a “Who’s That.” Various backgrounds on the stage shouldn’t be a novel idea, but the norm.
In addition to being a pastor, Henslee has managed social media programs for Lifeway Christian Resources and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary as well as authored several books and served as co-host for Not Another Baptist Podcast. In short, Reavis said, concerns over the pastor of a small church having the skills to lead such a large-scale event as the Pastors’ Conference “is some 1990s thinking.”
[3]“When Matt Henslee tells you that he can bring you a Pastors’ Conference that is for pastors, by pastors, he’s not guessing about what he might be able to do,” Reavis said. “He’s talking about what he’s already doing. … In God’s eyes there are no small churches and no big pastors. [There are] just churches and pastors.”
[4]In his nomination, Fred “Chip” Luter III called Triggs “a Great Commission church planter” who has made Grace Alive Church a light in the neighborhood officially called Pine Hills, but known by many as “Crime Hills.”
“That’s what the Great Commission does,” Luter said. “It goes into some of the hardest places and changes lives and changes communities. Cam Triggs has been doing that.”
Luter, senior associate pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, also cited Triggs’ role as “a bridge builder.” Next year’s Pastors’ Conference, he added, can be an opportunity to show a more enduring picture of unity in the SBC.
Greer is “a motivated man to serve Jesus … with a passion to see lost people saved,” said Chuck Herring, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Collierville, Tenn., in his nomination speech.
Herring said he has been Greer’s mentor for 18 years, and in that time has witnessed his dedication to spreading the Gospel, including leading Red Bank to lead in a local church replant.
“He is a young man dedicated to the Lord Jesus … and preaching the Word,” he said.
Other nominees for president were Austin Adams, campus pastor of Crossroads Community Church in Carol Stream, Ill.; Jamar Andrews, senior pastor of Word Baptist Church in Jonesboro, Ark.; Matt Carter, lead pastor of Sagemont Church in Houston; and Greg Davidson, pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in Vacaville, Calif. For vice president, Triggs defeated Victor Chayasirisobhon, lead pastor at First Southern Baptist Church in Anaheim, Calif. For treasurer, Greer defeated Charles Boswell, director of Pastoral Care and Church Health for the Colorado Baptist General Convention.
When contacted by Baptist Press after the results were announced, Henslee said: “Thank you, Southern Baptists, for trusting me and our team with the 2022 SBC Pastors’ Conference. Please pray for us, prepare to join us in Anaheim, and persevere until then. 2020 was tough. 2021 is rough. But we’ll gather together in 2022 … hold on!”