ST. LOUIS Tennessee pastor Steve Gaines was elected by acclamation as Southern Baptist Convention president after fellow candidate J.D. Greear withdrew his candidacy June 15 in a display of unity.

Greear’s withdrawal followed a runoff vote the day before that didn’t produce a majority winner. His decision avoided a second runoff and left Gaines elected by acclamation as president of the SBC during the annual meeting in St. Louis.

Greear, pastor of The Summit Church in Raleigh-Durham, N.C., told the convention he prayed the night before and believed “we need to leave St. Louis united.” He made the motion for Gaines to be elected by acclamation.

Gaines said he, too, had decided internally Tuesday night to withdraw but agreed to serve as president after a conversation with Greear. “There’s no way God is not doing something in all of this.”

“I just wanted Jesus to be lifted high” and the convention to be united, Gaines said.

Gaines, Greear and New Orleans pastor David Crosby originally were nominated for convention president.

In the first ballot cast by 5,784 messengers, Crosby received 583 votes or 10.08 percent; Gaines received 2,551 votes, or 44.1 percent; and Greear received 2,601 votes, or 44.97 percent. None of the candidates received 50 percent or more of the votes, forcing a runoff.

Then in the runoff ballot, with 7,230 messengers registered, 4,824 ballots were cast. Gaines received 2,410 votes or 49.96 percent while Greear received 2,306 votes or 47.80 percent. However, 108 votes were considered illegal because the wrong ballot was used or an indistinguishable mark was made.

Roberts Rules of Order require that the 108 illegal votes be counted to determine a majority. To be declared a winner, Gaines or Greear needed to win 50 percent plus 1 of ballots cast, or 2,413 or more votes. Gaines was three votes shy of the majority.

Had the second runoff election taken place, it would have been the first time in SBC history that a second ballot for the same two candidates in the presidential election would have been necessary, said chief parliamentarian Barry McCarty.

The new SBC president succeeds Ronnie Floyd, pastor of Cross Church in Northwest Ark.

During the 11 years Gaines has pastored Memphis-area Bellevue Baptist Church, the congregation has averaged 481 baptisms per year, according to the SBC’s Annual Church Profile database. Previously, he pastored churches in Alabama, Tennessee and Texas.

Bellevue voted to give $1 million during its 2016-17 church year through the Cooperative Program, Southern Baptists’ unified channel for funding state- and SBC-level missions and ministries. That will total approximately 4.6 percent of undesignated receipts, the church told Baptist Press.

Gaines was nominated by former SBC President Johnny Hunt, who emphasized Gaines’ commitment to evangelism.

“When baptisms are at a 15-year low, we need Steve to lead us in a great soul-winning resurgence,” Hunt said.

Among his denominational service, Gaines has been a member of the Committee on Nominations, a trustee of LifeWay Christian Resources, a member of the committee that proposed a revision of the Baptist Faith and Message in 2000, chairman of the Resolutions Committee, and president of the SBC Pastors’ Conference, Hunt noted.

In winning the election, Gaines is the fourth president from Bellevue Baptist Church, following Southern Baptist legends R.G. Lee, Ramsey Pollard and Adrian Rogers.

Greear, 43, was nominated by Jimmy Scroggins, pastor of First Baptist Church in West Palm Beach, as a younger alternative to the two other candidates, saying his election would signal the next generation of leaders they “have a place at the SBC table.”

Former SBC President Fred Luter nominated fellow Louisiana pastor Crosby.

Doug Munton, pastor of First Baptist Church in O’Fallon, Ill., was elected first vice president, was and Malachi O’Brien, pastor of The Church at Pleasant Ridge in Harrisonville, Mo., was elected second vice president. John L. Yeats, executive director of the Missouri Baptist Convention, was re-elected to a 20th term as recording secretary, while Jim Wells, a church consultant and retired Missouri Baptist Convention staff member was re-elected to a 15th term as registration secretary.  

 —Contributing to this story were Todd Deaton of the Western Recorder, Brian Koonce of The Pathway, and David Roach of Baptist Press.

ST. LOUIS Messengers to the 2016 Southern Baptist Convention, in addition to repudiating the display of the Confederate battle flag, approved 11 other resolutions on a variety of culture and ministry concerns.

Messengers voted on the proposals over both days of the annual meeting, adopting resolutions that expressed compassion for those devastated by the Orlando mass shooting, urged consistent evangelism of unbelievers and encouraged care for refugees. They also passed measures that included calling for the federal government not to discriminate against people who support only the biblical, traditional view of marriage and opposing an effort to require women to register for the military draft.

For Resolutions Committee chairman Stephen Rummage, the call for Southern Baptists to evangelize was central to the 10-member panel’s deliberations in presenting the 12 measures to the messengers.

The resolution on evangelism “might just seem like a standard resolution for an evangelical body such as Southern Baptists to pass,” Rummage said at a news conference June 15, “but really that is at the heart of everything that we talked about, including what we had to say about the Confederate flag. Everything that we do should have as its end and as its goal reaching people with the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

Echoing a comment made in support of the measure on the Confederate flag, Rummage said resolutions “build bridges and they tear down walls, but we’ve got to cross those bridges with the gospel and take Jesus to people because that’s what it’s all about and that’s the only hope for our world, for our nation and indeed for Southern Baptists.”

In addition to the Confederate flag measure, the other 11 resolutions:

1. affirmed Southern Baptists’ commitment to biblical sexuality and urged the protection of religious free exercise. Kelvin Cochran, who was fired as Atlanta’s fire chief after writing in a book that homosexual behavior is immoral, presented the resolution to the convention as a member of the committee.
2. called for prayer for and pledged support to those affected by the June 12 killings in Orlando.
3. encouraged faithful proclamation of the gospel by churches and intentional evangelism by individual Southern Baptists locally, nationally and globally.
4. declared “unrelenting opposition” to efforts by military leaders and the Obama administration “to increase the likelihood that women will be placed in harm’s way” along with voicing support for service members and their families.
5. called on the government to enact strict security in screening refugees and for Southern Baptists to compassionately minister to and share the gospel with them.
6. urged participation in voting and prayer for God to provide “spiritual, moral, ethical and cultural renewal.”
7. encouraged churches to consider increasing ministries to Alzheimer’s and dementia patients and their family caregivers.
8. called for pastors and SBC entities to support freedom of the press and journalists to practice that freedom responsibly.
9. affirmed “In God We Trust” as the national motto and encouraged its public display.
10. supported Israel’s right to exist as a free state and encouraged renewed prayer for peace in and salvation of Israel. 
11. expressed gratitude to God as well as Southern Baptists in the St. Louis area and all others who helped with this year’s meeting.

Messengers passed the first seven resolutions during the Tuesday afternoon session but were unable to vote on the remainder because time for their consideration expired. They approved the final five resolutions as a package Wednesday morning.

ST. LOUIS—Following an unanticipated two-hour, closed-door session labeled as a “workshop,” trustees of the North American Mission Board meeting in St. Louis June 13 unanimously approved a recommendation by officers indicating their satisfaction with a “thorough examination and review” of the Southern Baptist entity’s relationship with the Mid-Atlantic Baptist Network (MABN).

“Representatives of this board have conducted a thorough examination and review of the dealings between NAMB leadership and the Mid-Atlantic Baptist Network and have fully reported those findings to the full Board of Trustees, who discussed the findings at length and considered them when making this recommendation,” the board was told as a part of background information before the vote.

“In addition, the trustees were kept informed about challenges regarding the relationship between NAMB and MABN as the challenges developed, and NAMB’s executive leadership sought input from the chairman and other officers of this board regarding such challenges.”

The motion approved by trustees without discussion during their June 13 meeting a day before the annual Southern Baptist Convention convenes indicated by the action that officers “are satisfied that this matter has been reviewed thoroughly and consider this matter concluded.” Board members applauded the action, which was taken at the close of a series of routine reports.

NAMB is one of a handful of SBC entities that do not allow media access to committee meetings, opening the doors to plenary sessions where most voting takes place without discussion. Following the two-hour plenary session, spokesperson Mike Ebert emailed two earlier statements from NAMB indicating affirmation of a strong relationship with Maryland-Delaware Baptists (see below).

The Mid-Atlantic Baptist Network, previously known as the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware, called Southern Seminary professor Kevin Smith as its executive director a week ago, replacing Will McRaney, who stepped down a year ago and subsequently fired off an open letter criticizing the manner in which NAMB handled cooperative agreements with state Baptist conventions.

In the Feb. 5 response to McRaney’s charges, which he shared with trustees and eventually the public, NAMB board chairman Chuck Herring indicated a desire to keep the matter internal, however McRaney released the response on his personal website months ago.

Herring wrote in his response, “Rather than engage in a line-by-line rebuttal of Dr. McRaney’s portrayals of how Kevin and other NAMB leadership navigated through this challenging situation, it is sufficient to say that his letter is both factually inaccurate and misleading.”

In addition, Herring said the relationship and partnership with state Baptist convention partners is highly valued.

In a March 24 letter, NAMB clearly related how a new strategy is working with an increase of church planting funds, resulting in 20 new churches in 2012 and double that in 2015.

Following his departure, McRaney posted more than 100 pages of documents related to MABN’s relationship with the North American Mission Board during his tenure, alleging his resignation was forced by Ezell.

In addition to serving as an assistant professor of church history and Christian preaching, the new executive director was teaching pastor at the church where NAMB president Kevin Ezell previously served before joining NAMB in September of 2010.

Michael L. Trammell, president of the network’s General Mission Board, told Baptist Press that Smith was “thoroughly vetted by our Executive Director Search Committee, the Administrative Committee of the General Mission Board and by the full membership of the General Mission Board,” calling him “a scholar” and “a tremendously gifted leader.”

A more complete report will follow in the TEXAN.

NAMB response to Will McRaney’s Letter of Concern (February 5, 2016)

NAMB affirmation of strong relationship with Maryland-Delaware Baptists (March 24, 2016)

AUSTIN High Pointe Baptist Church in Austin has implemented a church planting strategy that has yielded new congregations in a growing area of Austin in need of a strong gospel witness.

A decade ago, when Juan Sanchez became pastor, High Pointe was not healthy financially, but the church decided that if God allowed them to grow, “we would no longer build auditorium space, but instead we would plant churches.”

High Pointe committed to give at least 10 percent of its receipts to causes outside its walls to ensure they were not keeping all the money for themselves but by faith—despite financial difficulty—were modeling for the congregation sacrificial giving, Sanchez told the TEXAN.

Their first church planting venture grew out of the handful of Hispanics that Sanchez was preaching to each Sunday before the morning service. They hired someone to lead the group, and it became an independent Spanish church.

As High Pointe continued to grow, the church realized a large number of members were driving from Elgin and from Cedar Park and Leander, all of which were a half-hour’s drive from the church. 

“If we had people coming from those distances all the way to High Pointe, then clearly there was a need for gospel churches there,” Sanchez said. “So in order to care for our members well and plant gospel churches where our members felt there wasn’t one they could attend, we just started long-term deciding we need to plant churches where our people are coming from so they don’t have to drive so far.”

The leadership developed a church planting strategy that includes bringing someone on staff in a pastoral assistant role to learn who they are, what they’re about, how they’re structured, how they govern and what their philosophy of ministry is—“just getting to know our DNA,” Sanchez said.

In the second year, the church planting resident develops a core team of members who will agree to help start a new congregation. The team studies what it means to be a church, studies a statement of faith and church covenant, studies how to live together as a church, and studies how to develop a culture of evangelism and discipleship.

“It’s really just equipping them to understand what this might look like and the commitments that are going to be expected of them,” Sanchez said. 

In year three, they launch. In 2011, High Pointe launched Covenant Life Fellowship in Elgin, sending 30-35 people on a core team, and that church was self-sustaining by its second year. 

Then, for the church members who were driving from northwest Austin—mainly Cedar Park and Leander—High Pointe turned to Ben Wright, who had served on staff for several years as an associate pastor. 

“Ben already knew our DNA, so we jumped right to year two, which was developing the core team,” Sanchez said. “The next step was planting the church. They were planted in February (2016), had their first public meetings in early March, and the Lord has really blessed them already.”

Wright, now pastor of Cedar Pointe Baptist Church in Cedar Park, said the population in that area is growing significantly as people move from around the world to Austin’s technology sector. “Church planting hasn’t even begun to keep up with that need,” he said. 

The nations are coming to northwest Austin, Wright told the TEXAN, and “there’s an opportunity to reach people with the gospel who will have ways to spread that gospel back to countries that are very difficult to reach.”

“I’m grateful for High Pointe’s leaders taking the risk of sending out a bunch of solid, faithful people for the sake of the gospel,” Wright said. “High Pointe isn’t a rich church by any means, and I have tremendous respect for Juan leading his church to act in faith for a cause infinitely bigger than his own church’s interests.”

Wright said he has read in church planting literature that many, if not most, of the initial launch team members tend to leave the plant within three to five years. 

“By God’s grace, that didn’t happen in the plant High Pointe launched five and a half years ago, and we pray it won’t happen with us,” Wright said. “People who’ve already been part of the same church know what to expect from the pastor, and they know what to expect the church will be like. There aren’t nearly as many surprises, and that creates stability.”

Sanchez compared church planting to getting married and having children. People want to wait until they’re ready, but they’ll never be ready, he said. 

“If you’re waiting until you’re ready to plant a church, you’ll never plant a church,” Sanchez said. “It does require faith. It requires wisdom. You don’t want to do this foolishly. You have to count the cost.” 

Part of counting the cost is financial, he said, and another part is letting go of valuable church members to start new growth. 

“If we were to wait until we thought we were ready financially and leadership-wise, we would never do it,” Sanchez said. “So we have to pray about it, the church has to come to an agreement, and by faith we have to step out and do the Lord’s work.”

Sanchez emphasized that no congregation has to plant a church alone. 

“I would encourage people not to reinvent the wheel but to get help that’s already available. The Southern Baptists of Texas Convention has a lot of good people who have wisdom and experience. So you don’t have to be an expert in church planting to plant a church,” Sanchez said.