By Baptist Message staff
INDIANAPOLIS (LBM) – Messengers to the 2024 Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting now will have the opportunity to submit resolutions 14 days earlier than in previous years under a change approved during last year’s SBC Annual Meeting in New Orleans.
Resolutions can be submitted between April 1 and May 22.
Additionally, the resolutions committee will meet in late May and release their initial report no later than 10 days before the start of the first session.
Previously, resolutions could be submitted as early as April 15 and as late as 15 days before the start of the annual meeting. The committee then met a few days before the annual meeting to go over submitted resolutions.
In “The Road to Indy” video released on March 26, SBC Committee on Resolutions Chair Kristen Ferguson outlined the changes. Ferguson, associate dean of educational effectiveness and director of online education at Gateway Seminary, said the change will allow messengers more time to consider each resolution.
“This year, we still do have two-and-a-half days of in-person work time,” she said. “But then we have almost a week afterwards to publish the preliminary report. So the thing that I think that does is we get the bulk of our work done in the in-person meeting time. But then we get to go home and take a rest and then look at it with fresh eyes again, after we’ve met in person.”
According to sbc.net regarding the submission of resolutions, messengers are limited to offering three resolutions, which must be accompanied by a letter from a church qualified to send a messenger. Those interested in submitting a resolution must include the following information:
- The name of the person submitting the resolution, the church of which he or she is a member, and the name of its pastor (or church clerk if there is no pastor);
- The address of the person submitting the resolution and the address of the church of which the he or she is a member;
- The phone number of the person submitting the resolution and the phone number of the church of which he or she is a member;
- The email address of the person submitting the resolution, the church of which the he or she is a member, and of its pastor (if each has one); and
- The website URL of the church (if it has one).
Individuals without access to a computer should contact the SBC Executive Committee office of the vice president for communications at 615.782.8645 to receive the proper submittal form.
