By Will Hall, Message executive editor
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (LBM) – Ed Litton, pastor of Redemption Church in Saraland, Alabama, was elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention, June 15, in Nashville, Tennessee, during the 2021 SBC Annual Meeting.
Litton won a runoff vote against Georgia Pastor Mike Stone, by a margin of 556 votes, 6,834 to 6,278.
The messenger count peaked at 15,691 prior to the election, according to registration secretary Don Currence. However, only 13,112 ballots were cast.
FIRST ROUND
Stone, pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church, Blackshear, Georgia, led Litton after the first round of voting among four contenders, who included R. Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky, and Randy Adams, executive director of Northwest Baptist Convention, Vancouver, Washington.
First Vote: Stone, 5,216, or 37.2 percent; Litton, 4,360, or 31.1 percent; Mohler, 3,764, or 26.9 percent; and Adams, 673, or 4.8 percent (out of 14,013 total votes counted).
Fred Luter, former president of the Southern Baptist Convention and pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church, New Orleans, nominated Litton with a strong endorsement of Litton’s ability as a “uniter.”
CAJUN COMMENDATION
Fred Luter, pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church, New Orleans, nominated Litton with a strong endorsement of Litton’s ability as a “uniter” who has “uniquely shown his commitment to racial reconciliation.”
Luter described the SBC as “no longer shoulder to shoulder, but face to face” adding that “we are no longer fighting an enemy on the battlefield, we are now fighting our brother in the barracks.”
“Southern Baptists, it is time to get out of the barracks,” he said, adding that “if we don’t get out of the barracks, we miss out on what God is doing in a lost and dying world.
“This is our moment to get focused on the Great Commission,” Luter urged. “Friends, take it from Fred. Let’s vote for Ed. Ed Litton for president of the Southern Baptist Convention!”
