My son picked me up at Dulles Airport last night, close to 1 am, after a delayed flight out of Atlanta. It was the culmination of a long week I spent in Dallas, Texas. The reason for the trip? I was attending the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual Pastors Conference and then representing the church I serve as a “messenger” to the SBC Annual Meeting.
More than 18,000 people gathered under the theme “Hold Fast” (Hebrews 10), as well as what appeared to be an unofficial motto in the convention hall – a big banner that read “It’s All About the Gospel.” These were reminders to cling to our faith and the truths that unite us as Southern Baptists.
Here, I should pause.
Not everyone who reads or follows this blog is a Southern Baptist. Some aren’t sure what Southern Baptists even are, and many readers have all kinds of ideas or impressions (often negative) about Southern Baptists. So, let’s set the record straight…
The Southern Baptist Convention is regarded as the largest “Protestant” denomination in the United States, but it’s technically not a denomination. The Southern Baptist Convention is a network of independent, autonomous, Bible-believing churches that voluntarily cooperate for the sake of missions, evangelism, compassion efforts (including, most notably, disaster relief), and theological education.
I identify first and foremost as a follower of Jesus Christ, but the church I serve (Olney Baptist Church) is part of this cooperative effort. As such, we are part of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware (BCMD), and the Montgomery (County) Baptist Association (MBA) in Maryland. This is only the third national SBC meeting I’ve attended since I started pastoring Olney Baptist Church (OBC) in 2009. Most of my involvement has been at the BCMD and MBA levels.
Though it happened before I arrived, things kicked off in the Dallas area with Crossover Dallas, a week of evangelistic outreach ahead of the convention. Nearly 3,000 volunteers from 89 churches helped reach over 17,000 people, resulting in over 700 recorded professions of faith in Christ. It was an inspiring demonstration of what we can accomplish when we work together for the Gospel.
I flew into town in time for the Pastors Conference, which helped set a tone of unity and gospel-oriented ministry. The worship music was awesome. And speakers challenged pastors to stand firm in truth while leading with grace. There was a strong emphasis on encouragement, especially for pastors serving in difficult or smaller church contexts.
The Annual Meeting itself was a mix of celebration, preaching, and business. The worship was fantastic. There’s something awesome about being a part of a huge crowd of believers singing praises to our Lord Jesus Christ. Most of the preaching was great as well.
As for the business aspects of the SBC meeting…. well…. that was mixed.
There were a lot of reports. Many of those reports were very encouraging. A reminder that the SBC does great work around our continent and the world. There were also some significant milestones, such as the 100th anniversary of the Cooperative Program, and we all cheered when told that billions – that’s billions with a b – of dollars have been invested in missions thanks to the CP.
There continue to be valid concerns about transparency on the part of some SBC entities, as well as many of the scandals and abuses that have rocked the SBC.
I was glad to see Southern Baptist Theological Seminary president Al Mohler lead the messengers in prayer for the family and friends of Jennifer Lyell, a graduate of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and former executive with Lifeway. Lyell became a whistleblower and a prominent voice for sexual abuse victims in Southern Baptist and evangelical circles. Sadly, she passed away on June 7 at the age of 47.
There was an unfortunate effort to defund the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), which thankfully failed. Though I acknowledge that there are some valid concerns about its effectiveness and visibility. This isn’t all due to the ERLC, though. Much is due to the divisions within the SBC itself.
The issue of women pastors again came up at this year’s annual meeting. The SBC Baptist Faith & Message (as amended in 2000) already takes a position against female pastors, and some churches (including Saddleback Church in California, founded by Rick Warren) have been kicked out of the SBC for having female pastors. And yet…
The issue continues to come up, not because there is any kind of significant movement to alter the Baptist Faith & Message. Rather, there is a concerted effort on the part of some SBC leaders to more strongly enforce the prohibition, driving out any church that would deviate on this point in any way, even those who might have a female children’s pastor.
To be clear, I’m a complementarian. I agree with the apostle Paul’s teaching on women in pastoral ministry in I Timothy 2:8-15. But I’m deeply concerned about the often single-minded, almost obsessive character that seems to define more extreme complementarians in the evangelical world and the SBC in particular.
It’s one thing to make a point. It’s another to keep driving the point home — over and over and over again. It’s good to take a strong biblical stand. It’s not good to beat people who disagree with you over the head repeatedly with your Bible.
I’m grateful for the women who faithfully serve at Olney Baptist Church. And I’m grateful for the women in my life, including my wife and daughter. I’m very concerned that, in the eyes of many women, many in the SBC (at least at the national level) are more concerned with driving women out of anything that smacks of pastoral ministry than they are with protecting women from abusers and sexual predators.
Therefore, I did not vote in favor of the proposed amendment to the SBC Constitution that would have banned female pastors. The SBC has already taken a position on this issue. To keep beating this drum sends the wrong message, and it also violates another Baptist tenet, specifically local church autonomy.
The SBC also voted on several resolutions at this annual meeting. These resolutions are what the media focused on in covering the SBC meeting. These resolutions included calls to ban sports betting and pornography as well as to overturn the 2015 Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v Hodges, which made same-sex marriage the law of the land. That particular resolution also affirmed there were only two genders. In fact, it got into a lot of things. You can look at the resolutions here.
Here is an unpopular opinion…
I wish the Southern Baptist Convention would stop with the resolutions.
My views on sex, marriage, and gender are Bible-based, and I’ve covered them extensively on this blog. (See here and here as just two examples). I’m also (obviously) opposed to porn, sports betting, and other destructive forms of “entertainment” that can (and often do) lead to exploitation and addictions. Frankly, if we’re going to pass resolutions against sports betting and porn, why stop there? Let’s denounce all forms of gambling. And let’s go after alcohol too!
Nevertheless…
How can all of us SBC messengers gather in Dallas under a huge banner that reads “It’s All About the Gospel” and then start passing resolutions calling for political and legal remedies to sports betting!?
I’m not in favor of sports betting. Or porn. Or the sexual licentiousness and nonsense that’s overtaken our age. So, don’t interpret my disagreement with the SBC passing resolutions as somehow my being in favor of the sins that this year’s resolutions denounced. If you do, it says something about your lack of reading comprehension ability.
My issue comes down to FOCUS.
The more our denomination – yes, I know we’re more of a network than a denomination – focuses on socio-legal-political issues, the more we are NOT about the gospel. Instead, the more we pass socio-legal-political resolutions, the more we become just another socio-legal-political activist organization.
In fact, that’s just how many people outside the SBC see us!
Indeed, it’s how many in the world see evangelical Christians in general!
Jesus says we should be known for our love, not our political or social views.
I would rather our denomination (yes, I know we’re not technically a denomination) would put resources together for us pastors and churches to use to help free people from gambling and porn addictions than pass resolutions calling for political remedies.
I would rather our denomination (network) start organizing churches to launch ministries aimed at rescuing people from the porn industry or helping free people from gambling addictions. And out of sex trafficking, prostitution, poverty, hopelessness, and more. I think of ministries like the Dream Center in Los Angeles. They don’t pass resolutions. No, they RESCUE PEOPLE out of destructive lifestyles and abject poverty and bring them to Jesus Christ!
There are many things the people at our church do and many more things we’d like to do, but we’re a small church. We lack resources. What the Southern Baptist Convention can help with is to organize resources — like the SBC has done for years with the Cooperative Program — and empower its churches to shine brighter lights for Christ in their communities. THAT is what I want from the SBC, not resolutions.
Resolutions are red meat, virtue-signaling, chest-thumping actions that make the drafters and supporters feel good but accomplish VERY LITTLE of lasting value.
What’s more, our selective focus on some issues while ignoring others (including things happening in the news the week of the meeting itself) makes us look tone-deaf, detached, and/or selectively obsessed.
Moving forward, it is my hope and prayer that the SBC stay focused on loving people, helping those in need, sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ, and helping churches make disciples of Jesus Christ!
None of this critique is meant to suggest that I am condemning the Southern Baptist Convention. I make this critique as a brother in Christ who was present in Dallas for the 2025 meeting and who deeply appreciates the great work so many Southern Baptists do for the kingdom of God.
SBC President Clint Pressley closed the meeting with a call for unity and mission focus, encouraging messengers to be known more for what we are for—the Gospel, the Great Commission, and biblical faithfulness—than for what we oppose. I couldn’t agree more. And I hope that he and the other SBC leaders (and future messengers) realize how resolutions and debates over proposals that threaten local church independence and autonomy don’t help foster greater unity.
Despite my concerns, I’m glad I went. It was an honor to represent Olney Baptist Church in Dallas.
God bless you!
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