Here’s what didn’t happen at this year’s SBC meeting

The most notable thing about this year’s Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting is what didn’t happen.

The convention did not advance a third try at the so-called Law Amendment that would enshrine a Constitutional ban on females in any role called “pastor,” with a vote once again surpassing a majority but not reaching the required supermajority.

The convention did not opt to abolish its Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, despite vast criticism of its effectiveness that teed up a dramatic vote.

The convention did not require its entities to be more transparent in financial reporting, despite years of criticism that set up another floor vote.

The convention did not take any significant new action to address the sexual abuse crisis, other than allocating $3 million toward future legal fees with hardly an objection raised.

The convention did not make any statement on Israel, Gaza, Ukraine, immigration, education or a host of other contemporary issues despite adopting eight resolutions.

More than 10,500 “messengers,” as voting members are called, registered for the two-day event at Kay Bailey Hutchison Dallas Convention Center June 10-11. As usual, the program included sermons, agency reports, luncheons, dinners and plenty of business sessions.

Notable at this year’s gathering was the enormous number of younger messengers, often young couples pushing strollers or escorting children to the vast child care facilities set up for their use. By observation, the crowd was overwhelmingly white.

The convention’s exhibit hall was so large that as I walked through it, my Apple Watch asked if I wanted to record my outdoor walk. Imagine the largest trade show you’ve ever been to, and that will give you a feel. Many of the largest exhibitors — seminaries, Lifeway, mission boards — had enormous signage hung from the ceiling so you could find your way to their spaces from afar.

For a summary of the resolutions the convention did pass, see my earlier report here.

Jeff Iorg weighs in

Also notable this year was Jeff Iorg’s first convention after a full-year cycle as president of the SBC Executive Committee, the denomination’s coordinating body that runs things between annual meetings. He appeared repeatedly on stage and took strong stands on issues that appeared to help sway votes toward protecting the institution.

One of the most fascinating exchanges happened during debate over a motion to amend the SBC Business and Financial Plan to require all agencies to provide the equivalent of IRS Form 990 reports annually. While all SBC agencies provide annual audits, they do not offer the level of detail some in the SBC believe should be provided. Because the IRS classifies the SBC and all its entities as “churches,” they are not required to file Form 990 like most nonprofits.

Iorg gave a lengthy and stern response to the motion, urging messengers to defeat it. SBC entities are not like other nonprofits with self-perpetuating boards, he said. The convention elects about 500 trustees to guide these entities, and those trustees already are accountable to the convention, he said.

And, in so many words, he said there are some things you don’t need to know. In other words, “Trust us.”

His comments drew a rebuttal from the maker of the motion — and others — who said it would be easier to trust the trustees if the financial reports were more transparent. One messenger speaking for the motion to require more detailed reporting said he had polled a number of current agency trustees and learned even they were not given detailed financial reports, including executive compensation. Another messenger later countered that he is a trustee of the International Mission Board and all those trustees have access to executive compensation information.

The root of this concern is not actually with the IMB or the Executive Committee. It is primarily a response to the North American Mission Board, which is notoriously secretive about its work and finances. Past efforts for financial transparency arising from the convention floor have targeted NAMB specifically.

The motion to amend the Business and Financial Plan failed.

Law Amendment

Iorg also weighed in on one of the most contentious matters before the body, the resurrection of the Law Amendment. The proposal would have added new language to Article 3 of the SBC Constitution, defining cooperating churches as those that affirm, appoint or employ “only men as any kind of pastor or elder as qualified by Scripture.”

Constitutional amendments require two-thirds majority votes at two consecutive annual meetings. The Law Amendment surpassed that threshold in 2023 but fell short in 2024, with 61.45% of the vote. Thus, the motion died.

But the same language was reintroduced this year, with hopes of starting the two-year cycle anew. However, the final tally this year was 60.74% — eerily close to last year’s percentage.

Juan Sanchez, originator of the motion, told messengers this amendment “is simply to provide help by clarifying what the Baptist Faith and Message already says regarding the office of pastor. This is the time for us to clarify what we believe.”

Surprisingly, Sanchez said his church in Austin, Texas, includes both male and female deacons but will not give women the title “pastor.” This is their version of a theology known as complementarianism.

“The purpose of complementarianism is not to limit what women can do in church; it is to free them.”

“The purpose of complementarianism is not to limit what women can do in church; it is to free them,” he said.

Iorg told messengers he wholeheartedly agrees with the prohibition on women serving as pastors but believes this matter is covered sufficiently in the Baptist Faith and Message. Adding such language to the Constitution would increase legal exposure for the SBC, he warned.

“There is no real doctrinal division here,” he said.

As evidence of the legal danger the amendment might present, Iorg raised the issue of a lawsuit currently pending against the SBC that involves the Credentials Committee.

Although he did not name the case, he apparently was referring to a Circuit Court ruling that said the SBC cannot hide behind the so-called “ecclesial abstention doctrine” in the defamation case brought by Preston Garner and his wife, Kellie Garner.

According to court records, the case against Preston Garner began with an anonymous tip to the abuse hotline established by the SBC Executive Committee and then reported to the Credentials Committee, which later expelled Garner’s former church for allegedly harboring an abuser. However, that anonymous tip was not fully investigated and did not correspond to any police reports, court filings or other documentation that abuse had occurred.

While the Garner case is about the work of the Credentials Committee, it is not about women in ministry.

Advocates for the Law Amendment say the Credentials Committee has been sloppy in its application of the no-women-pastors rule and needs a firmer mandate.

This week’s convention included no actions to expel churches from fellowship.

Sexual abuse crisis

In his report to the convention, Iorg took a relatively large amount of time to discuss the past four years of investigation and litigation related to clergy sexual abuse. That report mirrored comments he made to the SBC Executive Committee on Monday.

Having already spent more than $11 million on this issue and leaving the Executive Committee understaffed and low on funds, Executive Committee trustees put forward a Cooperative Program budget for the coming year that includes a $3 million off-the-top allocation to fund additional litigation related to sexual abuse.

It seemed likely that might generate opposition, yet the budget sailed through without objection and without debate.

In one unscripted moment, a messenger rose to ask a question of Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, at the end of his report. Mohler was asked if he would lead the group in a prayer for the family and friends of Jennifer Lyell, who died last Saturday at age 47. Lyell was among the best-known representatives of the sexual abuse crisis, claiming she was groomed and abused by a professor at Southern Seminary over several years.

Mohler gladly obliged and led the assembly in an impromptu prayer.

ERLC

The other big vote of the week was on a motion to abolish the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. BNG has reportedly extensively in the past on the background to this movement.

ERLC President Brent Leatherwood acknowledged the motion in his report to the convention but did not dwell on it. Instead, he used his time to rally opposition to Planned Parenthood.

“For the last 55 years, Planned Parenthood has received federal funding and has chosen to wage war on our society’s pre-born children for those five decades,” he said. “They have corrupted a nation founded on a declaration of life and turned it into a culture that prizes death. They have done so fueled by hundreds of millions of your tax dollars each year.”

In contrast, the ERLC has stood firm against abortion in the nation’s capital and statehouses across the land, he said. “In 40 years of SBC advocacy in this area, it is your ERLC that has been carrying the light on the hill for this righteous cause. We have worked to amplify our efforts in this area, in the spirit of Baptist cooperation, by enlisting local pastors from across the country to come with us as we meet with key leaders in Washington.”

But that is not enough for the ERLC’s critics, who want a sharper focus on hard-right politics and no wavering on what they consider “woke” issues. One current trustee stood to question Leatherwood publicly about the entity’s support for Ukraine in the war begun by Russia.

Leatherwood responded that in 2022, the SBC adopted a resolution in support of Ukraine. But this exchange highlighted how much Republican and evangelical politics have changed in three years due to the influence of Donald Trump being back in the White House.

The motion to abolish the ERLC was made by Willy Rice, a Florida pastor who is aligned with the most conservative wing of the SBC.

“For too long, the ERLC has caused division and confusion among our churches,” Rice said. “What was designed to be a prophetic voice in the public square has too often become a conduit for the culture to speak back to us.”

A show-of-ballots vote was too close for the chair to call, so a ballot vote was ordered. The end result was 57% against closing the ERLC and 43% favoring disbanding it.

Other matters

In typical fashion, the majority of motions made from the convention floor were referred to SBC entities for consideration. More often than not, this is a death sentence for motions convention leaders don’t want to deal with.

A handful of other motions were ruled out of order.

One of the most interesting motions that didn’t get anywhere was offered by my cohost on our “Stuck in the Middle with You” podcast, Benjamin Cole. He asked messengers to instruct SBC legal counsel to file countersuits at the earliest possible time against Johnny Hunt “to incur legal fees against his multimillion-dollar frivolous claim.”

Hunt, as BNG readers know, is the former SBC president who was named in the Guidepost Solutions report on clergy sexual abuse and sued the SBC and others for defamation, claiming $100 million in damages.

The majority of that lawsuit was thrown out by a judge in April.

It was a valiant effort by Ben but ran into the buzzsaw of parliamentary procedure, SBC style. Based on the audible reaction to his motion when it was made, I suspect the motion might have passed if put to a vote.

 

Related articles:

A guide to understanding this week’s conversations about the SBC and sexual abuse

SBC’s 1,000-word resolution covers nine hot topics

SBC’s attack on women as leaders is ‘historic,’ Beth Allison Barr says