SBC president-elect to prioritize conservative reforms

Florida pastor Willy Rice, the new president-elect of the Southern Baptist Convention, said Tuesday that he hoped his presidency would be a season of reconciliation and renewal. Rice ran for SBC president on a platform of conservative reform, including clarifying the denomination’s positions on gender, sexuality, and female pastors. He also pushed for more financial accountability at the executive level and for increased cultural engagement. Rice received about 57% of delegates’ votes at the denomination’s annual meeting, beating challenger Joshua Powell, who is pastor of Taylors First Baptist Church in South Carolina.

Powell, in contrast, urged confidence in the denomination’s existing statements and focus on Christ’s Great Commission to spread the Gospel to all nations—though he also called for greater financial transparency. Powell congratulated Rice on Tuesday night, saying he would pray for Rice’s efforts to reach the nations with the Gospel. Rice, in turn, said the denomination needed many more pastors like Powell.

What are the details of Rice’s plans for the SBC?

• Create a task force to report on how Southern Baptists use and understand the title of pastor, which would then make recommendations on ensuring SBC churches don’t have female pastors. Rice also has supported Albert Mohler’s plan to amend the SBC constitution to state that cooperating churches don’t allow women to preach to the assembled church body.

• Add a section to the SBC statement of faith which clarifies that a person’s sex is either male or female and cannot be changed, and that marriage between one man and one woman is the only Biblical context for sexual activity.

• Increase financial transparency and make sure trustees represent churches, not denominational entities.

• Encourage the use of ministry models that apply to small, ordinary churches, without holding up megachurches as a standard.

• Encourage more cultural, moral, and political engagement.

• Discourage the use of critical race theory and similar frameworks, instead focusing on unity in the Gospel.

• Increase mission efforts, especially ramping up to 2033, held to be the 2000-year anniversary of the Great Commission.

Dig deeper: Read my report on Mohler’s proposed amendment on female pastors.