SBC ethics leader Brent Leatherwood steps down

Brent Leatherwood, head of the Southern Baptist Convention’s public policy arm, formally resigned, according to a Thursday statement from the commission. Leatherwood served as president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission for just over four years after his unanimous election in 2022. Commission Vice President Miles Mullin will now serve as acting commission president, according to the statement. The ERLC establishes the church’s stance on policy issues about life, religious liberty, human dignity, marriage, and family.

His resignation came over a month after messengers at the 2025 annual SBC meeting voted on whether to abolish the commission. The ERLC survived the vote with 57% support.

What did Leatherwood say about his resignation? He said in his statement that it was time to close a chapter after leading the commission for nearly four years. He added that he was grateful for his experiences and always sought to balance kindness and conviction to reflect Baptist beliefs, while remaining rooted in the Bible. Leatherwood pursued several goals while leading the ERLC, including leading a charge to defund Planned Parenthood, pushing to end mass shootings and gun violence, and advocating for immigration reform. The commission served as an unwavering light on Capitol Hill and to the culture, Leatherwood said. 

Dig deeper: Read Travis K. Kircher’s report on the commission surviving an abolition vote during the June SBC meeting.