By Staff
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (SBCEC)—The President Search Team charged with finding the next leader of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee is asking for Southern Baptists’ prayers, and has provided a 21-day prayer guide with specific points of focus and focal Scripture references.
SBC Bylaws assign the Executive Committee to serve as the fiduciary, the fiscal, and the executive entity of the Convention (in all matters not assigned to other SBC entities).
BACKGROUND
The position became vacant after Ronnie Floyd, the former Executive Committee president and CEO, resigned, nine days following a 44-31 vote, Oct. 5, 2021, by members (trustees) to waive attorney-client privilege in an investigation of the Executive Committee about mishandling sexual abuse allegations in the SBC and the mistreatment of sexual abuse survivors.
There are no allegations of sexual abuse against Executive Committee staff or trustees.
The Executive Committee vote was the result of a motion adopted by messengers to the 2021 SBC Annual Meeting which asked the Executive Committee to waive attorney-client privilege to facilitate an investigation into whether the Executive Committee properly addressed such matters.
The motion followed leaked letters by Russell Moore, the former president of the SBC’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, who charged that the Executive Committee had mishandled reports of sexual abuse by churches and had not been responsive to sexual abuse survivors.
The leaked letters surfaced after the report by a third Executive Committee task force investigation of Moore and the ERLC (regarding harm to cooperation among SBC churches caused by Moore and the ERLC), which found that Moore had caused some churches to depart the Convention and other churches to withhold gifts through the Cooperative Program, the main channel for funding cooperative missions and ministries among Southern Baptists.
Floyd’s resignation was preceded three days by the resignation of the Nashville law firm of Guenther, Jordan & Price, who withdrew as general counsel for the Executive Committee and the Convention after serving Southern Baptists for 56 years.
Additionally, 14 Executive Committee members (trustees) resigned because of the attorney-client privilege waiver.
Executive Vice President Greg Addison resigned Oct. 20, 2021, but it is not known if his decision was predicated on the Executive Committee’s waiver of attorney-client privilege.
It was in this context that the President Search Team was launched.
PRAYERFUL PROCESS
The President Search Team has not begun to receive applications for the position, according to Baptist Press; and the prayer guide indicates the team is seeking a candidate with the qualities of:
— “great humility”
— “strong, relational, unifying” leadership
— “Christlike character”
— “a heart for the lost and hurting”
— “deeply rooted in God’s Word”
— “committed to the Cooperative Program, the BF&M 2000, SBC entities, the Great Commission, and the Great Commandment”
Adron Robinson (Country Club Hills, Ill.) is chairman of the President Search Team, which includes Mollie Duddleston (Springdale, Ark.), Mike Keahbone (Lawton, Okla.), Jeremy Morton (Woodstock, Ga.), Philip Robertson (Pineville, La.), Rolland Slade (ex officio as Executive Committee chairman, El Cajon, Calif.) and David Sons (Lexington, S.C.).
