BIRMINGHAM – John Yeats, executive director of the Missouri Baptist Convention, was again re-elected to serve as the Southern Baptist Convention’s recording secretary during the June 11-12 SBC annual meeting in Birmingham, Ala.
He was nominated by Jon Nelson, pastor of Soma Community Church, Jefferson City.
“I’ve witnessed first-hand his consistent leadership across our state. He loves to invite younger men to walk alongside him in the realm of his denominational life, but also in being a man of God.”
Nelson emphasized Yeats’ evangelistic passion and working knowledge of the SBC and the SBC Annual Meeting.
Yeats garnered 2,527 votes – or 62.89 percent — to Eaton’s 1,465 votes – or 36.46 percent.
North Carolina pastor J.D. Greear was reelected by acclamation to a second term as president.
He will lead a diverse slate of officers, including: Marshal Ausberry, senior pastor of Antioch Baptist Church in Fairfax, Va., first vice president; Noe Garcia, senior pastor of North Phoenix Baptist Church, second vice president; Kathy Litton, director of planter spouse development for North American Mission Board, registration secretary; and Yeats.
Newly elected Southern Baptist Convention 2019 officers (left to right): John Yeats, executive director of the Missouri Baptist Convention, recording secretary; Marshal Ausberry, senior pastor of Antioch Baptist Church in Fairfax, Va., first vice president; J.D. Greear, president of the SBC and pastor of The Summit Church in Durham, N.C.; Kathy Litton, director of planter spouse development for the North American Mission Board, registration secretary; and Noe Garcia, senior pastor of North Phoenix Baptist Church, second vice president. BP photo by Adam Covington
Litton is the first woman to serve as SBC registration secretary, edging out incumbent SBC registration secretary Don Currence by 44 votes. Of 3,571 votes cast, Litton received 1,803 votes, or 50.49 percent of the ballots cast. Currence received 1,759 votes, or 49.26 percent of the ballots cast.
Currence, pastor of administration at First Baptist, Ozark, served for two years as the registration secretary, overseeing the credentialing process for messengers, as well as supervising the voting procedures during the annual meeting. Before being elected in 2017, he assisted Jim Wells, a long-time Missouri pastor and director of missions, who served as the SBC recording secretary from 2002 to 2017.
“I have had the greatest honor and privilege to serve our Lord and Southern Baptists as their registration secretary,” Currence said. “This shall be an experience I will always cherish and am thankful God opened this door of service to use my gifts and talents to glorify Him.”
Currence said he plans to attend next year’s annual meeting to assist Litton. As SBC registration secretary, she will serve in an ex-officio role on a new standing Credentials Committee charged with addressing issues that would deem a church not in friendly cooperation with the SBC, including for matters related to sexual abuse.
Greear, pastor of The Summit Church in the Raleigh-Durham, N.C., area, was nominated by K. Marshall Williams, pastor of Nazarene Baptist Church in Philadelphia.
No other candidates were nominated for president or for first or second vice president.