HOUSTON (BP) – Fred Luter, pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, was elected without opposition to a second term as president of the Southern Baptist Convention, leading a slate of candidates who ran mostly unopposed.
Bart Barber, pastor of First Baptist Church, Farmersville, Texas, was elected first vice president, while Jared Moore, pastor of New Salem Baptist Church, Hustonville, Ky., won a term as second vice president.
John Yeats, executive director of the Missouri Baptist Convention, was re-elected to a 17th term as recording secretary. Jim Wells, strategic partners team leader for the Missouri convention, was re-elected to an 11th term as registration secretary.
Barber ran unopposed and was nominated by Steve Gaines, pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church, Cordova, Tenn.
In the only contested election of the meeting, Moore won the office over Don Cass, a longtime pastor and denominational leader in Texas and New Mexico.
Moore received 451 of 682 votes cast (66.13 percent) while Cass received 223 (32.7 percent).
Yeats was unopposed in his re-election as recording secretary. He was nominated by his son, John Mark Yeats, pastor of Normandale Baptist Church, Fort Worth, Texas.
Wells also ran unopposed as registration secretary. Jim Richards, executive director of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, nominated Wells.
The convention elected John Meader, pastor, First Baptist Church, Euless, Texas, to preach the 2014 convention sermon.