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The “Hunt” is On: Five Are Now in the Race for SBC President

Orginally published on Thursday, May 08, 2008 at 7:18 AM
by Todd Rhoades

According to the Christian Post, the number of persons vying for the top position of the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the country, has expanded to five this week, with Johnny M. Hunt announced as the latest to join the race. Hunt, pastor of First Baptist Church of Woodstock, Ga., will be nominated for SBC president during the denomination's annual meeting in June. His church has grown an average worship attendance of 6,180 over the last 21 years and church membership increased from 1,027 to 16,495...

Ted Traylor, pastor of Olive Baptist Church in Pensacola, Fla., announced Tuesday that he will nominate Hunt for the leadership position, commenting that he has a deep concern about the future of the Southern Baptist Convention.

“I believe Southern Baptists are looking for a future that is marked by unity, not division,” Traylor said, according to Baptist Press. “Johnny Hunt has one fight in him and that is the good fight of faith. He is a leader who can forge a hopeful future that is centered around the Gospel and connected to the local church.”

Also on Tuesday, John Marshall, senior pastor of Second Baptist Church Springfield, Mo., announced that he intends to nominate former missionary Avery Willis for SBC president.

Willis has served as an International Mission Board missionary to Indonesia, worked as an evangelist and church developer for six years, was president of Indonesian Baptist Theological Seminary in Semarang, Indonesia, and led the adult discipleship department at LifeWay Christian Resources.

He developed the “MasterLife” discipleship materials, which has been translated into more than 50 languages and used in more than 100 countries.

Willis and Hunt join three other Southern Baptists vying for the top leadership spot. They include Dr. William L. (Bill) Wagner, president of Olivet University International in San Francisco and a former missionary; Frank Cox, pastor of North Metro First Baptist Church in Lawrenceville, Ga; and Wiley Drake, a California pastor and former SBC second vice president.

Read more here at the Christian Post...

Your input? Who’s your dog in this race? I’m not SBC, so I am not familiar with some of these men. What does the future of the SBC look like under each of these guy’s leadership? What does each one bring to the table?

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There are 10 Comments:

Posted by andy

Thursday, May 08, 2008 at 7:50 AM

Todd…
I started reading this post and was hoping it was a joke post, but then I realized it wasn’t Friday or April 1st. I actually am SBC (though I joined with the job) and this sounds more like politics than church. Oh well… I think I’ll nominate someone from the emergent movement as a dark horse. Kind of our Nadar.
Posted by W. Mark Whitlock

Thursday, May 08, 2008 at 7:52 AM

He’s probably a few years away from being “ready”, but I absolutely love Don Wilton of First Baptist Church of Spartanburg, SC. He’s a man of integrity who loves his people and loves the Gospel. He’s a naturalized American citizen originally from South Africa. He has a global sense about him that few others do. And he doesn’t “sound” Southern Baptist. He preaches, that’s for sure. No “talks” or “sessions.” He delivers sermons. But he is incredibly authentic and has such a deep loyalty from his staff. What he brings to his church he would bring to the SBC without guile. In these changing winds of “evangelicalism” (thanks manifesto), he cuts through a lot of the *&^%.My apologies for all of the quotation marks.
Posted by kent

Thursday, May 08, 2008 at 7:58 AM

Why don’t they use a nominating committee to sift throuigh those who have been lifted up and match that against what they prayerfully believe the denomination needs? This has all the feel of the presidential primaries.
Posted by bishopdave

Thursday, May 08, 2008 at 9:24 AM

I like missionaries, I like discipleship; Avery Willis is my guy. Where do I send campaign contributions?
Posted by John Cheatham

Thursday, May 08, 2008 at 1:07 PM

I’m glad that there are some good nominations. Dr. Hunt and Dr. Cox are both great preachers and solid leaders. Dr. Cox is actually my aunt’s pastor who commissioned her to go on the mission field. He’s a great guy. Wiley is a complete and utter joke in the SBC - he was elected 2nd VP because of a joke nomination one year that people actually voted for. I’ve never heard of either Willis or Wagner. That’s my two cents in regard to this election.
Posted by Gene

Thursday, May 08, 2008 at 8:59 PM

SBC Politics = YAWN

A waste of time, energy, and money - IMHO
Posted by

Thursday, May 15, 2008 at 4:03 AM

What about the “Super Delegates”?
Posted by

Thursday, May 15, 2008 at 10:42 PM

There’s a bit more than meets the eye here. The large number of nominations is due to a growing concern among various Southern Baptists about the direction the Convention is going under its current leadership (I’ll kindly spare you the details).

Hunt and Cox represent the the status quo. Cox threw his hat in the ring first, but is less electable than Hunt (or at least that’s what Hunt’s supporters seem to believe). Willis and Wagner represent more the direction that current SBC prez Frank Page is going. Wagner threw his hat in early but is not viewed as electable by many. Wiley Drake is just having fun. Les Puryear has also entered the race.

In the end, It probably comes down to Willis and Hunt. It is an election about ideology. Make the tent smaller or learn to get along better. And in the interest of us all getting along better, I’m praying God will raise up Willis.
Posted by Nick

Friday, May 16, 2008 at 9:33 AM

I agree with Andy.
My opinion, this is nothing but a distraction from sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. Where did Jesus talk about political positions? Oh yeah, he made that comment to the pharisees about loving the place of honor at banquets and desiring the most important seats in the synagogues. (Matt 23)

Anyway, why are these numbers posted about Johnny Hunt? To impress? “His church has grown an average worship attendance of 6,180 over the last 21 years and church membership increased from 1,027 to 16,495...”
A church membership of 16,495 and he only has a weekly attendance of 6,180? That’s not impressive. There are pastors who in 5-10 years have a larger attendance than that. Apparently they are doing something with their churches that are making a difference and reaching a new generation, where is their name for nomination? How do I nominate them?
Posted by John Cheatham

Friday, May 16, 2008 at 12:14 PM

@ JRep - I’ve definitely heard a different perspective than you, as I have friends that go to both Cox’s and Hunt’s church and I know they’re great guys and talented leaders. They sure have more experience in the bureaucracy than any others, and that could be good (they know how the system works) or bad (they’re less wiling to change things.

@ Nick - I do agree that politics can be a hinderance to sharing the Gospel (which was the reason the convention was founded), but parts of it are needed when there is so much to handle (16 million people was the last number I heard). I wish there wasn’t as much.

As for nominating - all the nominating and electing happens at the annual meeting the first week of June. Anyone with the approval of a member church (a delegate) can nominate someone. None of these guys are nominated yet, as that happens at the meeting. These are just announcements that they’re going to be nominated. Silly, I know.

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