I have the honor of serving as the Recording Secretary of the Southern Baptist Convention. My main responsibility is to record the proceedings of the SBC Annual Meeting. I’m one of the relatively few people who is present in the hall for the entire meeting and required—constitutionally!—to pay close attention to everything that happens. I’m also one of the few people who has the honor of sitting on the front row of the “business stage,” from which I have a view of the entire hall.
In light of the above, I want to offer a few reflections on the 2024 Annual Meeting from my particular vantage point. My thoughts are not intended to be exhaustive commentary on everything that transpired. Rather, I’m hitting on what I think are some of the high points and significant decisions from the meeting. Of course, only time will tell how the Indianapolis Convention affects the Southern Baptist tradition long-term.
Missions
Nearly everyone agrees that the highlight of any annual meeting is the IMB Sending Celebration. This year, we commissioned 83 missionaries to serve in international fields. Many of those missionaries needed to have their identities protected because of the dangers of their future fields. The missionary silhouettes were a reminder that the Great Commission of global disciple-making includes the hard places.
Presidential Election
I have been following the SBC Annual Meeting for over two decades and have attended nearly every meeting since 2006. I have never seen so many elections and run-offs. (Side note: following all this for the purposes of recording the proceedings was . . . interesting.) Clint Pressley was elected President on the third ballot. I’ve known Clint for many years. He is a faithful preacher, a convictional conservative, and a down-to-earth leader with no arrogance or pretense. He will serve Southern Baptists well and I look forward to working with him.
Southern Baptist Superstars
My kids like to joke about people who are “Baptist famous.” They mean folks who are well-known in SBC circles but might not have much name recognition in other places. Is there anyone more “Baptist famous” these days than Registration Secretary Don “Giggles” Currence? Over the past four years, he has become a Southern Baptist superstar. Don—who is one of the nicest humans on the planet—is easily The Most Popular Man in the SBC™. But this year also cemented Parliamentarian Craig “Shoulder-tap” Culbreth as the Second Most Popular Man in the SBC™. He might look intimidating when he slowly come behind a verbose nominator, but I can assure you that Craig is a stand-up nice guy.
The Law Amendment
There has been much talk about the failure of the so-called Law Amendment to gain the necessarily 2/3 vote to be added to the SBC Constitution. No doubt more is forthcoming, especially on social media. Here are some facts. First, the Law Amendment passed the 2/3 threshold in 2023 and then it barely fell short of the 2/3 threshold in 2024. Second, messengers voted by far larger margins in both 2023 and 2024 (88-92%) that churches with female pastors should not remain in friendly cooperation with the Convention. Third, the Baptist Faith & Message (2000) is clear in its affirmation of complementarianism, which ensures the fidelity of our Convention entities, boards, and commissions. My takeaway: Southern Baptists are nearly unanimous in their commitment tothe biblical principle of complementarianism, but we also have some honest disagreements about certain applications of thatprinciple. I suspect these debates will continue in the coming years.
Resolutions
Kristen Ferguson did an excellent job leading the Resolutions Committee. For the first time, their work was made available to Southern Baptists prior to the Annual Meeting. There was not enough time to get to all the resolutions, which might mean future Conventions should reduce the number of resolutions to five or six rather than eight or ten. I especially resonated with the resolutions On Defending Religious Liberty and On Justice and Peace in the Aftermath of the October 7 Attack on Israel, two issues I’ve written about quite a bit in recent months.
The resolution On the Ethical Realities of Reproductive Technologies and the Dignity of the Human Embryo is getting a lot of attention from the secular media, much of which is distorted. I believe the resolution is fully consistent with a pro-life ethic, even though it is counter-cultural and (arguably) puts Southern Baptists out-of-step with both major political parties.This resolution will help pastors counsel church members who are struggling with infertility to think through the most ethical means of pursuing pregnancy. It will also give a “green light” for the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission to produce further resources to help Southern Baptists (and others) think through this issue.
The Work of the Executive Committee
As Recording Secretary, I serve as one of three ex officio members of the Executive Committee, along with the SBC President and the President of the Woman’s Missionary Union. We will have our work cut out for us in the next twelve months as we think through our ongoing response to sexual abuse (per the recommendations of the Abuse Reform and Implementation Task Force) and matters of cooperation (per the Cooperation Group recommendations and the GCR Task Force recommendations), in addition to the various referrals sent to us from the messengers. We will also be hard at work planning for the 100th anniversary of the Cooperative Program and the Baptist Faith & Message next year in Dallas. But I could not be more confident in Jeff Iorg as he leads us in these matters. His leadership of the Executive Committee is a breath of fresh air and a great encouragement to me and many, many others.
Bart Barber
Speaking of great leaders, Bart Barber has been an outstanding Convention President. None of us thought he would be President as recently as spring of 2022, but in God’s providence he is exactly who we needed. Bart has approached the role as a Christ-like servant leader. He has worked harder than most folks will ever know to give every messenger a voice—at times to the chagrin of other Convention personalities. He has represented the SBC well to outsiders when given the opportunity to do so. He has made some mistakes along the way. But he has also admitted as much, which is both admirable and refreshing. Historians get in trouble when they make predictions, but I’ll risk it anyway: history will demonstrate Bart to be the most consequential SBC President in a generation.
South Carolina Baptists
I’ll close this already too-long post with one of my favorite recent traditions in SBC life: the state convention evening gatherings. The South Carolina Baptist event has become a highlight of the Annual Meeting for me. We have such a healthy state convention, filled with convictional but warm-hearted pastors who enjoy laboring together for kingdom advance. I’m thankful to be a South Carolina Baptist. I appreciate my friend Tony Wolfe, the Executive Director-Treasurer of the South Carolina Baptist Convention, who nominated me for a third term as Recording Secretary. I’m also delighted that the messengers selected Tony to preach the Convention sermon next year. I’m already looking forward to seeing what God does in Dallas at next year’s Annual Meeting.
Editor's Note: As a part of its commitment to fostering conversation within the Southern Baptist Convention, the Baptist Review may publish editorials that espouse viewpoints that are not necessarily shared by the TBR team or other contributors. We welcome submissions for responses and rebuttals to any editorials as we seek to host meaningful conversations about the present and future of our convention.
Nathan Finn
Nathan A. Finn serves as Professor of Faith and Culture at North Greenville University, where he also directs the Center for Transformational Leadership. He is also Teaching Pastor at Taylors First Baptist Church and a Senior Fellow for both the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission and the Land Center for Cultural Engagement. Nathan writes widely on topics related to Baptist history, theology, and the intersection of faith and culture. He is also very involved in Southern Baptist life, where he serves as the current Recording Secretary and an ex officio member of the SBC Executive Committee.