Proposals to change the name of the Southern Baptist Convention to Great Commission Baptists get a thumbs-up from the SBC’s Executive Committee but a formal name change will not be recommended to SBC messengers gathered in Anaheim, Calif., for the…
With annual meeting attendance on the rise again, SBC must switch locations for 2023
The Southern Baptist Convention has outgrown its meeting space for 2023. In a move reminiscent of days of controversy in the 1980s and 1990s, attendance at SBC annual meetings has been on the rise since 2018 — after settling down…
SBC Sexual Abuse Task Force gives update at halfway mark in its mandated timeline
Five days before Christmas, the Southern Baptist Convention’s Sexual Abuse Task Force released an update on its work, right at the halfway mark in the 12-month timeline between its creation and its required report to the 2022 SBC annual meeting….
New details emerge about how SBC Executive Committee wants to control the sexual abuse investigation, as outrage mounts among other Southern Baptist leaders
Less than a day after the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee again declined to follow the explicit request of convention messengers, the resulting governance meltdown spread to the leadership of other agencies who fear they will lose funding from SBC…
Tennessee officials ask for help tracing possible COVID cluster to SBC annual meeting
Participants in the Southern Baptist Convention’s in-person annual meeting in Nashville in mid-June are asked to notify Tennessee health officials if they came down with COVID-19 after attending the enormous gathering. A small but notable cluster of coronavirus infections has…
Southern Baptists are still obsessed with Critical Race Theory
The specter of Critical Race Theory loomed large over the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting June 15-16, yet no concrete actions to address it by name were taken. That delighted Southern Baptist pastors and leaders who believe months of debate…
SBC steers a decidedly conservative course but rejects the most far-right agenda while putting Executive Committee and Ronnie Floyd on notice
While affirming bread-and-butter conservative issues on the first day of its annual meeting June 15, the Southern Baptist Convention turned back attempts at harder-line positions desired by the most conservative bloc of the body. That included a narrow rejection of…
Outgoing SBC president affirms conservative values while decrying legalism
In his last address as president of the Southern Baptist Convention, J.D. Greear urged leaders and members of the denomination to support sexual abuse victims, stand with people of color in their struggle against racism and to stop equating politics…
BNG webinar this Sunday invites notable SBC exiles to explain what’s going on and why it matters
As the Southern Baptist Convention prepares for its annual meeting in Nashville next week, observers from inside and outside the denomination are watching to see what will happen on a number of controversial issues. To preview those issues and explore…