ST LOUIS (BP) -- Although an announcement of a new Southern Baptist Convention president was expected on Tuesday (June 14), no clear winner was determined the day of election. A run-off between nominees North Carolina pastor J.D. Greear and Memphis-area pastor Steve Gaines failed to provide a clear majority, as required by Roberts Rules of Order. A second run-off election between the two pastors has been scheduled for the Wednesday morning session at 10:58 a.m. SBC President Ronnie Floyd reported results of the run-off election at the beginning of the Tuesday night session. Of the 7,230 messengers registered at the time of the first runoff, 4,824 ballots were cast. To be declared a winner, a nominee is required to win 50 percent plus 1 of ballots cast, or 2,413 or more votes. Gaines received 2,410 votes or 49.96 percent while Greear received 2,306 votes or 47.80 percent. However, 108 votes were considered illegal because the wrong ballot was used or an indistinguishable mark was made. In explaining the first runoff results, lead parliamentarian Barry McCarty said "there is no doubt what the vote is. It has been counted and recounted." But Roberts Rules of Order require that the 108 illegal votes be counted to determine a … [Read more...]

By Benjamin Clapper, Louisiana Right to Life CHICAGO – At its annual meeting June 13, the American Medical Association (AMA) rejected a Louisiana State Medical Society proposal to reaffirm the AMA's long-standing policy against physician assisted suicide. Instead it approved a study-resolution to explore AMA adoption of a neutral position on physician assisted suicide, which was often referred to as "aid-in-dying" in the debate. The study will be led by the AMA Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs, which will study a possible change to the AMA policy and report back with recommendations to the AMA Annual Meeting next year. Dr. Jeff White, a member of the Louisiana State Medical Society and physician ally of Louisiana Right to Life, said the following after the AMA vote: "The AMA's decision to study a possible change in position on doctor-prescribed suicide is very concerning for the future of the integrity of the medical profession. For millennia, the medical profession has been in unison that physicians prescribing death for their patients is antithetical to the mission of healing integral to the role of a physician. “If the AMA changes it long-standing policy of opposition to doctor-prescribed suicide,” he said. “It will … [Read more...]

by Tammi Reed Ledbetter/TEXAN ST LOUIS (Christian Examiner) — Following an unanticipated two-hour, closed-door session labeled as a "workshop," trustees of the North American Mission Board meeting in St. Louis June 13 unanimously approved a recommendation by officers indicating their satisfaction with a "thorough examination and review" of the Southern Baptist entity's relationship with the Mid-Atlantic Baptist Network (MABN). "Representatives of this board have conducted a thorough examination and review of the dealings between NAMB leadership and the Mid-Atlantic Baptist Network and have fully reported those findings to the full Board of Trustees, who discussed the findings at length and considered them when making this recommendation," the board was told as a part of background information before the vote. "In addition, the trustees were kept informed about challenges regarding the relationship between NAMB and MABN as the challenges developed, and NAMB's executive leadership sought input from the chairman and other officers of this board regarding such challenges." The motion approved by trustees without discussion during their June 13 meeting a day before the annual Southern Baptist Convention convenes indicated by the … [Read more...]

By David Roach & Art Toalston, Baptist Press ST LOUIS (BP) -- The Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee's June 13 decision not to recommend amending SBC Bylaw 26 has forced the cancelation of a panel discussion scheduled for June 15 with SBC entity heads fielding questions from messengers to the convention's annual meeting in St. Louis. Instead, each entity president will answer messenger questions for four minutes at the end of his report. The EC also referred back to its Bylaws Workgroup for further discussion of a proposal to grant EC representation to Baptists in five pioneer regions of the United States. In other action at the EC's meeting in St. Louis prior to the June 14-15 SBC annual meeting there, committee members elected new officers, honored retiring Woman's Missionary Union executive director Wanda Lee and heard a report from outgoing SBC President Ronnie Floyd. Entity questions at SBC annual meetings The EC's Administrative Committee considered a recommendation to amend Bylaw 26 that would have permitted two or more entities to be grouped together by the Committee on Order of Business for a messenger Q&A session. The recommendation stipulated that each Q&A session would allot "no less than … [Read more...]

By Tobin Perry, NAMB communications ST. LOUIS (BP) - Southern Baptist volunteers reported more than 350 professions of faith in Jesus Christ during Crossover events throughout metro St. Louis this year. One man who made a decision for Christ had been considering suicide just a few days earlier, said Eloy Rodriquez. Rodriquez, a longtime Crossover volunteer, serves as Hispanic pastor of Idlewild Baptist Church in Lutz, Fla. Rodriquez said his team knocked on the door of the man's house and asked if they could pray with him. The man told the team about a friend who was struggling with cancer. As they were preparing to pray, the man then opened up about his own struggles. "Last Sunday, he closed his eyes while driving," said Rodriquez, who has been bringing teams of volunteers to share Christ during Crossover since 1999. "He was willing to have whatever happen to him, happen -- suicide basically. Then he opened his eyes, he was in the other lane, but there was no one else there. He pulled over and just cried -- not because he was about to kill himself but because he realized he could have killed someone else." Rodriquez then prayed with the man to receive Christ. That was one of more than 50 Gospel conversations that took place … [Read more...]

By Kathie Chute, Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary communications ST. LOUIS (BP) - About 500 Southern Baptists gathered June 12 for the opening sessions of WMU's 2016 Missions Celebration and Annual Meeting in St. Louis, Mo. With a theme of "By All Means," the two Sunday programs recognized current and retired missionaries, as well as International Mission Board staff, and celebrated Wanda Lee's service as she retires as executive director of WMU. "I believe just as strongly today as I did 16 years ago that WMU is important to the Kingdom," she said. "We have the opportunity to make a difference. Our charge first and foremost is to be a light to the nations. There is strength in our union. There is strength in our collective purpose of missions. May our song truly be a song for the nations." Lee said she was working as a nurse when God called her to missions. When she returned home to serve in the U.S., her call to missions did not end. "My calling was to go wherever God leads," she said. "My call has not changed, only the place. No other ministry in Baptist life devotes itself exclusively to missions. What we do matters because we are shining a light." Jeff Iorg, president of Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary, … [Read more...]

By Julie Walters, WMU communications ST. LOUIS (BP) - Approximately 150 Southern Baptist leaders, family members and friends from across the country gathered in St. Louis on June 11 to honor Wanda Lee and her leadership of national WMU over the past 20 years - 16 as executive director and four as president. Frank S. Page said he got to know Lee in 2010 when assumed his current role as president and CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Committee. Page recited Micah 6:8, "What does the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? "I believe Wanda Lee has exhibited that great trio of imperatives from our Lord," Page said. "I believe she has done what is right, what is just. She is merciful, and many of you are the recipients of her mercy and ministry in your own life. She is a strategist, an organizational genius, yet is always humble and gives credit to those around her. I am honored to call her my friend, and I thank God for her." The three women who served with Lee as president of national WMU - Debby Akerman of Myrtle Beach, S.C. (2010-2015); Kaye Miller of Little Rock, Ark. (2005-2010), and Janet Hoffman of Farmerville, (2000-2005) - each reflected on their years … [Read more...]

By Butch Blume, South Carolina Baptist Courier CLEMSON, S.C. -- When Father's Day rolls around this year, Dabo Swinney won't be able to pick up the phone and call his dad. But Clemson's head football coach still has a few voicemail messages from the man he calls "Big Erv," who passed away last August. Maybe he'll listen to them again, as he does from time to time. Last summer, in the months before he died, Ervil Swinney had been receiving treatments in Greenville for a recurrence of lung cancer. Still, he seemed to be doing pretty well. By August, he was back at his appliance shop at the M&M Hardware in Alabaster, Ala., where he enjoyed "holding court" with his buddies. He felt tired and sat down to take a nap. He never woke up. He was going to return to South Carolina the next day for a checkup and a week's stay with his son and his family. He was 70. "I think about him every day," Swinney said, pointing to a framed photograph among the scores of pictures covering the walls, shelves and desktop of his office. The photo shows his dad watching a game at Clemson's Death Valley, both arms raised in the air, celebrating a big play by the team coached by his youngest son. "I look at that picture all the time," Swinney said. … [Read more...]