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Archives For November 30, 1999

What the Gaines/Greear contest means for the SBC

Lisa Misner —  March 11, 2016

On its surface, the contest for Southern Baptist Convention president appears to be about passing the baton. Steve Gaines is 58. He is the pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in metro Memphis, an old-school megachurch whose pulpit Adrian Rogers commanded for more than three decades. From that post, Rogers helped engineer the conservative resurgence in the SBC. Gaines, likewise, is committed to conservative theology in the Rogers mould, a traditionalist on evangelism, the need for personal commitment to Christ in salvation, and the commonly held Baptist soteriology of the past century. Gaines is a product of Southwestern Seminary whose president, Paige Patterson, was a chief engineer in the conservative resurgence, and who at 73 is a leading example of altar-call style, personal commitment evangelism.

J. D. Greear, at 42, represents the new wave. His, too, is a megachurch, built in his 14 years as pastor. The Summit Church is contemporary. Its attenders are younger than the average Southern Baptist congregation, and their theology learned from Greear is more reformed. Greear speaks to the crowd identified in Collin Hansen’s book of the same title as “young, restless, and reformed.” He is often a headliner at events for younger Southern Baptists. Greear holds two degrees, both from Southeastern Seminary.

Yes, this election may appear to be about the passing of boomers and the ascendance of Gen-X and Millennials to top leadership in the convention. But more important, it’s about theology and the breadth of the SBC tent. The denomination took a decided step to the right when Patterson, Rogers, and the leaders of the 1970’s and 80’s planted a firm stake for biblical inerrancy and social conservatism. But the convention has continued inching right as a generation of pastors inspired by Southern Seminary president Al Mohler and other reform theologians assumes leadership. The outcome of this election will say whether people in the pews are moving with them.

Messengers will elect a new Southern Baptist Convention president at the SBC Annual Meeting June14-15 in St. Louis, MO.

Eric Reed is editor of the Illinois Baptist.

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We’ve got a race! Gaines joins Greear in the bid for SBC president

Lisa Misner —  March 9, 2016
Greear and Gaines

Steve Gaines and JD Greear are candidates for Southern Baptist Convention President in 2016.

As the candidates jostle among themselves in the race for United States president, the race for Southern Baptist Convention president has become a two-man race. Last week, Florida pastor Jimmy Scroggins announced he will nominate J.D. Greear, pastor of The Summit Church in Raleigh-Durham, N.C., to be the next SBC president. Today, Georgia pastor and past SBC president Johnny Hunt announced he is nominating Steve Gaines, pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Cordova, Tenn., to serve in that position.

Greear, 42, is seen by some as part of a new wave of younger SBC leaders. While Gaines, 58, is seen by others as an establishment candidate. With the convention three months away, there is plenty of time for additional candidates to throw their hats in the ring for the office and for other SBC posts as well.

Cooperative Program giving has become an important benchmark for recent SBC presidential candidates and it looks like that will continue. Scroggins said in his press release that Greear’s church, The Summit, “voted last year to give $390,000 to the Cooperative Program in 2016, making it one of the top CP giving churches in the state of North Carolina and the SBC.” A 230% increase in The Summit’s CP giving according to Scroggins.

Baptist Press reported, “Three years ago, the congregation [The Summit] voted to increase its giving through the Cooperative Program over a five-year period to 2.4% of undesignated receipts…The Summit reached its goal two years early.”

Baptist Press also talked with Gaines’ Bellevue and was told the “finance committee is recommending that the congregation 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% of undesignated receipts.” Baptist Press calculated “between 2011 and 2016, the church has increased its CP giving by 278%.”

The SBC is also focusing on increasing baptism numbers in its churches after multiple years of decreases. Annual Church Profiles (ACP) show The Summit’s baptisms have increased from 19 in 2002, when Greear arrived, to 928 in 2014. Gaines has served as Bellevue’s pastor for 11 years. The church, which was previously led by the late Adrian Rogers, has averaged 481 baptisms per year during his tenure according to ACP reports.

Both candidates are married and each have four children (Gaines also has nine grandchildren). And, both hold master of divinity and doctor of philosophy degrees, Greear from Southeastern Seminary and Gaines from Southwestern Seminary.

The 2016 Southern Baptist Convention will take place June 14-15 in St. Louis, MO. Current SBC President Ronnie Floyd is finishing his second term in the post. Floyd is pastor of Cross Church, Northwest Arkansas.

Scroggins, pastor of Family Church in West Palm Beach, Fla., nominated Greear March 2, and Hunt, and pastor of First Baptist Church in Woodstock, Ga., nominated Gaines March 9.

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Third candidate to be nominated for SBC president

Meredith Flynn —  May 21, 2014

Dennis_KimNEWS | The SBC Voices blog posted late Tuesday afternoon that Dennis Kim, pastor of Global Mission Church of Greater Washington, will be nominated for president of the Southern Baptist Convention when it convenes in Baltimore in June.

Texas pastor Dwight McKissic will nominate Kim, whose predominantly Korean church is the largest in the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware, according to a report by the convention’s communications director.

Kim is a past president of the Council of Korean Southern Baptist Churches in America, and recently served on a task force appointed by the North American Mission Board to study the SBC’s declining baptisms.

“Dr. Kim’s heartbeat is evangelism and discipleship,” McKissic wrote in a letter announcing he would nominate Kim. “He has been faithfully serving as the senior pastor of this church for 23 years with a great passion for evangelism, discipleship and world missions. Fulfilling the Great Commission is the all-consuming passion of his ministry.

“…He is fully bilingual in Korean and English with a keen understanding of multicultural world views. If elected, he will be an ambassador for the Kingdom and Southern Baptists that’s well qualified.”

Kim joins Ronnie Floyd, pastor of Cross Church in northwest Arkansas, and Jared Moore, pastor of New Salem Baptist Church in Hustonville, Ky., in the election to succeed current SBC President Fred Luter.

Read more about Kim in this article from BaptistLIFE, the newsjournal of the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware.

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