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American Southern Baptists to elect new president at annual meeting American Southern Baptists elect new president at annual meeting
(35 minutes later)
American Southern Baptists are electing a new president to succeed the Rev Fred Luter Jr, who became the denomination's first black president in 2012. An Arkansas mega-church pastor was elected Tuesday to lead the country's Southern Baptists as the conservative denomination tries to turn around declining membership, church attendance and baptisms and faces increasing conflict with mainstream culture, especially over its conviction that gay sex is immoral.
Contenders include the Rev Dennis Kim, pastor of a Korean church in Silver Springs, Maryland, and the Rev Ronnie Floyd, pastor of Cross Church, with several locations in northwest Arkansas. Members meeting in Baltimore will vote for the new president Tuesday. Later on Tuesday, the nation's largest Protestant denomination is scheduled to consider a resolution opposing the idea that gender identity can be different from a person's biological sex. And a motion made from the floor by one Southern Baptist Convention delegate asks the group to discipline a Southern California church that has stopped preaching against homosexuality.
The Southern Baptist Convention is the nation's largest Protestant denomination, with 15.7 million members, but leaders are concerned about recent membership declines. One of the bright spots in the effort to reverse that trend has been an increase in churches that are predominantly African-American, Hispanic and Asian, according to SBC statistics. The ratio of member churches that are not predominantly white moved from 1-in-20 in 1990 to 1-in-5 in 2010. In nominating the Rev Ronnie Floyd for president, the powerful head of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, the Rev Albert Mohler, told the crowd of 5,000 meeting in Baltimore, "The nation is embracing a horrifying moral rebellion that is transforming our culture before our very eyes."
"One of the untold stories of evangelicals, Southern Baptists included, is their incredible ethnic diversity," said Ed Stetzer, executive director of Lifeway Research, publishing arm of the SBC. But that diversity is not well reflected in the SBC's leadership, he said. He warned of "direct challenges to our religious freedoms and churches" and said Floyd is the person who can "convey our message in the midst of the most trying times."
The president of the SBC's executive committee is white, as are the heads of the seminaries, the mission boards and the other large entities that carry out the day-to-day work of the convention. Floyd received 52% of votes from delegates to the SBC annual meeting. Floyd beat out the Rev Dennis Kim, the Korean-American pastor of a bilingual Maryland church, who received 41% of votes.
Still, some members – including some of Kim's supporters – are uncomfortable with the idea of making a conscious effort to diversify the leadership. Supporters of both candidates downplay the significance of race and agree the next president should be someone who can help halt the denomination's decline in membership. For 27 years Floyd has been the pastor at Cross Church in northwest Arkansas, where about 8,500 people worship each week at its several locations.
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President, the Rev Albert Mohler, who announced plans to nominate Floyd months before Kim became a candidate, said he is pleased to be part of a denomination that has many qualified leaders. But he said he thinks Floyd has the right qualifications to lead the SBC now. Floyd succeeds the Rev Fred Luter Jr, who became the 15.7-million-member denomination's first African-American president in 2012.
"I don't think it sends any big signal about diversity in leadership," he said. "The SBC is becoming diverse in leadership at every conceivable level." Kim's supporters had hoped to make history again by electing the Nashville-based SBC's first Asian president and sending a signal that the denomination associated with white Southern culture is becoming ethnically and geographically diverse. But supporters of both candidates downplayed the significance of race and agreed the next president should be someone who could help revitalize the denomination.
Texas pastor Dwight McKissic, who will nominate Kim at the annual meeting, said he thinks Kim is the best man for the job. Delegates will consider resolutions later Tuesday. One declares that gender identity is determined by biological sex and not by self-perception. The resolution states that the SBC opposes hormone therapy, gender reassignment surgery and other efforts to "alter one's bodily identity."
"Everything about him represents what the Southern Baptists need to impact the nations of the world with the gospel of the kingdom," he said. According to the resolution, "God's design was the creation of two distinct and complementary sexes, male and female."
The convention does not announce in advance what resolutions it will consider at its annual meeting, but recent controversies include the admission of a Muslim student to a Southern Baptist seminary and the decision of one Southern Baptist church to stop preaching that homosexuality is immoral. The resolution expresses opposition to government efforts to "validate transgender identity as morally praiseworthy."
The resolution also condemns the bullying and abuse of transgender people and expresses love and compassion for "those whose sexual self-understanding is shaped by a distressing conflict between their biological sex and their gender identity."
Other resolutions that will be considered include a denunciation of government sponsorship of casinos and lotteries as exploiting "poor, vulnerable and disadvantaged citizens by promoting participation in highly addictive behaviors which often result in financial disadvantage or ruin."
There is also a resolution that denounces predatory payday lending and urges churches and individuals to "provide viable solutions for meeting short-term financial needs within their local communities."