NASHVILLE (The Baptist Paper) – The search team for the next president of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee has announced that an “excellent” candidate appears to have emerged. The committee shared an update on the process during the EC’s meeting in Nashville, Feb. 19.
“We were able to hit the ground running after the last candidate removed his name. This was mainly due to credible opportunities available to us from the invitation phase that was done in August and September of 2023,” said search committee chair Neal Hughes. “I’m proud tonight to say that by God’s sovereign hand, your prayers for this wonderful team behind me, and all of their hard work, a candidate is emerging that we believe is an excellent choice for the SBC Executive Committee president.”
If the process continues, Hughes told the EC, they can expect an email on or before Feb. 29 introducing the candidate. He noted this email will be for trustees only, and he asked them to save the date for March 21 for a special called meeting in Dallas, Texas, to vote on that candidate.
“But don’t book anything yet,” emphasized Hughes, who also is director of missions and executive director of the Montgomery (Alabama) Baptist Association and MBA Community Ministries. “Just pencil it in.”
‘Challenging process’
The update comes less than a month after the committee announced the candidate it planned to introduce had withdrawn his name from consideration Jan. 22. Thomas Hammond, executive director of the Georgia Baptist Mission Board, later confirmed he was that candidate.
At the time, SBC EC trustee chair Philip Robertson of Louisiana shared “generally, I believe our trustees and Southern Baptists understand the complexities in our convention that make our search for CEO now more challenging that perhaps in the past.”
He added, “However, one thing has not changed — our trust is not in a man, our trust is in our sovereign Lord. While it is certainly disappointing, we understand that it is vital that we find God’s man for the hour, and our trust in Him has not wavered.”
The EC’s next president will fill the vacancy left by interim president Willie McLaurin, who stepped down in August 2023 after admitting to falsifying his resumé. Jonathan Howe, who has served the EC since 2019 as vice president for communications, was tapped by the EC to fill in as interim president following McLaurin’s departure.