GREENSBORO, N.C. (ABP) — The final days before the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting, set for June 13-14 in Greensboro, N.C., featured last-minute announcements of new candidates for office and the addition of a high-profile official from President Bush's administration as a featured speaker.
SBC President Bobby Welch announced through the denomination's Baptist Press news service June 8 that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will be a featured speaker during the convention's morning session June 14. Rice will speak in person, but Bush himself has addressed messengers to previous SBC annual meetings by teleconference or videotape.
Rice, a Presbyterian, has been secretary of state since 2005. She previously served as Bush's national security adviser, and was provost of Stanford University and a Russian studies expert before that. She is a native of Birmingham, Ala.
Earlier in the week before the convention, a third presidential candidate and two new vice-presidential candidates announced they would run for office. They join at least eight other potential nominees for what promises to be the most contested field of candidates for SBC office in the last 15 years.
Tennessee pastor Jerry Sutton confirmed June 6 that he would be nominated for SBC president. He is the third announced presidential candidate, joining Arkansas pastor Ronnie Floyd and South Carolina pastor Frank Page.
If elected, Sutton said he would work to address what he termed “confusion” in and among SBC entities and state conventions over their roles and relationships. He said he also would seek to clarify who Southern Baptists are and help the SBC establish clearly defined mission strategies.
Sutton will be nominated by Alabama pastor Rick Evans who described Sutton as “a consistent leader and a convictional conservative.”
In addition to the three announced presidential nominees, there are eight announced vice presidential candidates, including two announced this week: Virginia pastor Kelly Burris who will be nominated for first vice president and Colorado pastor Bob Bender who will be nominated for second vice president.
The anticipated officer nominees include 10 pastors and one vocational evangelist.
The flurry of nominees was announced after an ad hoc committee of state convention executive directors encouraged convention officers to come from churches that give at least 10 percent of undesignated receipts through the Cooperative Program. Officers of the SBC Executive Committee proposed striking the percentage suggestion from the recommendation. That proposal is expected to be considered next week by the full Executive Committee and SBC messengers.
The average CP percentage among the nominees' churches is 5 percent. Several nominees indicated their church's CP giving was low because they designated funds directly to the SBC, bypassing state convention ministries.
The list of announced nominees and their churches' CP contributions include:
President
— Ronnie Floyd, pastor of First Baptist Church of Springdale, Ark. According to the SBC's Annual Church Profile statistics, his church contributed 0.27 percent of undesignated receipts through the Cooperative Program. (An additional 1.6 percent was given directly to the SBC).
— Frank Page, pastor of First Baptist Church of Taylors, S.C.: 12.1 percent of undesignated receipts through CP.
— Jerry Sutton, pastor of Two Rivers Baptist Church in Nashville, Tenn.: 1.8 percent of undesignated receipts through CP (2.7 percent given directly to the SBC).
First vice president
— Kelly Burris, pastor of Kempsville Baptist Church in Virginia Beach, Va.: 8.7 percent of undesignated receipts through CP.
— Mark Dever, pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C.: No gifts to CP (7.5 percent of undesignated receipts sent directly to the SBC).
— Keith Fordham, vocational evangelist and member of Harp's Crossing Baptist Church in Fayetteville, Ga.: 10 percent of undesignated receipts through CP.
— Jimmy Jackson, pastor of Whitesburg Baptist Church in Huntsville, Ala.: 4.3 percent of undesignated receipts through CP.
Second vice president
— Jay Adkins, pastor of First Baptist Church of Westwego, La.: 6 percent of undesignated receipts through CP.
— Bob Bender, pastor of First Baptist Church of Black Forest in Colorado Springs, Colo.: 9.8 percent of undesignated receipts through CP.
— Wiley Drake, pastor of First Southern Baptist Church of Buena Park, Calif.: 1 percent of undesignated receipts through CP.
— J.D. Greear, pastor of Summit Church in Durham, N.C.: 1 percent of undesignated receipts through CP.
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— Based on reporting by Associated Baptist Press and Baptist Press