[1]SAN ANTONIO (BP)–In an unopposed race for president of the Southern Baptist Convention, Frank Page, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Taylors, S.C., was elected to serve his second term.
Messengers to the nation’s largest non-Catholic denomination with 16.3 million members voted unanimously to give Page a second term on the first day of the 150th session of the SBC annual meeting in San Antonio June 12-13.
After the ballot had been cast, Page thanked messengers for the opportunity to serve another term.
“I will serve for yet another year so that somehow I might bring glory to our Lord to lift high His name; to continue to attempt to bring us together for the task of world missions and evangelization,” Page said. “I will not back up, back down, back away from that which God has called and that in which we must be involved.”
Dale Morell, pastor of Maine Street Baptist Church in Brunswick, Maine, in his nominating speech praised the attitude of the president and his heart for churches and the lost.
“You know, a year ago, a lot of you didn’t really know him. Now as you look back and you reflect on this year, you’ve had occasion to see his heart and spirit and how he responds…,” Morell said. “He’s a special man. He’s got a passion for souls, for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
[2]Morell relayed to convention messengers a story about Page’s visit to Maine to speak at a pastors’ conference for the “handful” of pastors in the state. Morell said that although Page’s flight was delayed and he traveled through the night, he still met with the men on a Saturday morning.
“We knew he was there because he wanted to be there. And that makes a difference, doesn’t it?” Morell said. “We fell in love with the man.”
At the 2006 SBC annual meeting in Greensboro, N.C., Page was elected over Ronnie Floyd, pastor of First Baptist Church in Springdale, Ark., and Jerry Sutton, pastor of Two Rivers Baptist Church in Nashville, Tenn., with a majority vote of 50.48 percent.
Page has served in Taylors nearly seven years. His previous pastorates include Warren Baptist Church in Augusta, Ga.; Gambrell Street Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas; and LaFayette Baptist Church in Fayetteville, N.C. In addition, Page has served on the executive boards of the South Carolina, Georgia and North Carolina state conventions.
Page earned a doctor of philosophy degree in Christian ethics and a master of divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth. He and his wife, Dayle, have three grown daughters.
Information for First Baptist Church in Taylors from the Southern Baptists’ Annual Church Profile survey for the most recent year, lists 104 baptisms and primary worship service attendance of 2,184. The church gave $629,505, or 12.5 percent, through the Cooperative Program from total undesignated receipts of $5,028,496. According to the ACP, the church’s total mission expenditures were $1,652,845, including $252,685 for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions and $44,182 for the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions.
The election of Page to his second term came early in the afternoon Tuesday, June 12. Further elections of officers are slated for later in the day, with the final elections on Wednesday morning followed by the official presentation of new officers Wednesday evening.
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