ORLANDO, Fla. — The much debated recommendations of the Great Commission Resurgence task force won easy approval June 15 from messengers attending the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention, but only after the report was amended twice to strengthen support for the Cooperative Program, the SBC’s long-established unified giving plan.
One amendment urged Southern Baptists to “continue to honor and affirm the Cooperative Program as the most effective means of mobilizing our churches and extending our outreach.” A second amendment asserts that “designated giving” — which the convention does not regard as part of the unified plan — “be given as a supplement to the Cooperative Program and not as a substitute for Cooperative Program giving.”
Both amendments were offered as compromises by the task force itself after attempts by messengers to alter the recommendations.
Also on Tuesday, the SBC elected as president suburban Atlanta pastor Bryant Wright — a strong supporter of the task force recommendations — in a runoff with Florida pastor Ted Traylor, 55 percent to 45 percent.
On the initial ballot, four presidential candidates — all ministers and all men — divided the vote without any receiving a majority.
Wright is pastor of Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in Marietta, Ga. Traylor is pastor of Olive Baptist Church in Pensacola, Fla.
The other candidates were Jimmy Jackson, pastor of Whitesburg Baptist Church in Huntsville, Ala., and Leo Endel, executive director of the Minnesota-Wisconsin Baptist Convention.
Complete coverage of these stories and others will be posted on Wednesday.