Six SBC presidential nominations already announced ahead of 2024 annual meeting

INDIANAPOLIS (BP) – Six Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) presidential nominations have already been announced ahead of the 2024 SBC annual meeting at the Indiana Convention Center here, June 11-12.

David Allen

Well-known academic leader and preaching coach David Allen will be nominated for SBC president at the 2024 SBC Annual Meeting this summer. Texas pastor Danny Forshee says he plans to nominate Allen in Indianapolis.

“He is a leader in the SBC having served our Lord faithfully as a local church pastor, professor of preaching, and mentor to literally thousands of pastors all over the world,” Forshee told Baptist Press in written comments.

He pastored two churches in Texas before joining the SWBTS faculty. He has served as interim pastor of 13 churches, the statement said.

Allen served on the SWBTS Trustee Board for 12 years, including a stint as chairman of the board.

He became dean of the School of Theology at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 2004, serving until 2016.

Allen then became the first dean of the seminary’s School of Preaching in 2016, serving as the distinguished professor of preaching, the director of the Center for Expository Preaching and the George W. Truett Chair of Pastoral Ministry.

In 2022, he left SWBTS to lead the Adrian Rogers Center for Biblical Preaching at Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary in Memphis.

Allen, who still resides in Texas, is a member of First Baptist Church Sunnyvale, according to the release. Last year, the church reported an average Sunday attendance of 430, 14 baptisms and $21,366 (1.2 percent) given through the Cooperative Program, out of $1,736,305 in undesignated receipts. The church also gave $36,103 to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering and $18,500 to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering.

“I know that Dr. Allen will lead our convention to be unified and laser focused on reaching the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ,” Forshee said.

Allen earned a bachelor’s degree from Criswell College, holds a master’s degree from SWBTS and earned a Ph.D. in linguistics from the University of Texas, Arlington, according to Mid-America’s website.

He is the author of multiple books and the founder of preachingcoach.com, “a ministry dedicated to equipping pastors and ministry leaders to communicate with clarity, competence, and confidence.”

Allen has participated in “more than 450 preaching workshops, conferences, revivals, and other events in the US and in more than a dozen countries abroad,” the release said.

He has four children and nine grandchildren. He and his wife Kate have been married since October 2016. His first wife, Sherri, died of cancer in 2015.

“Dr. Allen is a dedicated follower of Jesus, husband, father, and grandfather,” said Forshee.

Bruce Frank

North Carolina pastor Bruce Frank will be nominated for Southern Baptist Convention president at the 2024 SBC Annual Meeting. Frank will be nominated by Tennessee pastor John Mark Harrison.

“I have known Bruce personally for many years. When I led student ministry at Biltmore Church, Bruce became the pastor, and our plateaued church began to grow,” said Harrison, now lead pastor of First Baptist Concord in Knoxville, Tenn. “His relentless passion for evangelism and disciple-making changed the direction of our church.”

Frank has been the lead pastor at Biltmore Baptist Church, which has several campuses in and around Asheville, N.C., since 2008. In 2021 and 2022, he served as the chair of the SBC’s Sexual Abuse Task Force overseeing the independent investigation of the SBC Executive Committee for the alleged mishandling of sexual abuse claims.

The task force’s recommendations led to the creation of the Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force.

Frank previously pastored in Texas before coming to North Carolina.

“Bruce has provided faithful pastoral leadership for three decades,” Harrison said in written comments. “He has served both the church and convention with sacrificial leadership. He’s theologically conservative, strategically minded and missionally focused. He will clearly and effectively focus our denomination on the Great Commission.”

Biltmore Church recorded 384 baptisms in 2023 and averaged 7,331 people across eight multisite locations, according to SBC Workspace. The church reported $14,476,412 in total undesignated receipts, giving $235,000 (1.62 percent) through the Cooperative Program, $15,000 to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering and $30,000 to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.

The church gave $40,000 to local associations in 2023, according to SBC Workspace.

“The Lord has used Biltmore Church and Pastor Bruce to make a tremendous impact in Western North Carolina and beyond,” Harrison told BP.

Frank holds a bachelor’s degree from Texas Tech University, an M.Div. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and a D.Min. from Luther Rice Seminary.

He and his wife Lori have two grown sons.

“For the last decade, Bruce has been a coach, friend, mentor, and encouragement to me in my journey as a senior pastor,” Harrison said. “God has uniquely equipped Bruce to connect, encourage and coach pastors. He regularly makes time for me and many other pastors to grow us as Christian men and pastors.”

Mike Keahbone

Oklahoma pastor Mike Keahbone is the second name to be presented as a planned SBC presidential nominee at the 2024 SBC Annual Meeting in Indianapolis. California pastor Victor Chayasirisobhon announced his intention to nominate Keahbone in a release Jan. 30.

“Mike Keahbone is the real deal, a leader who loves the Lord, loves the SBC, and strives every day to make it better. He is a son of the SBC, and I am convinced he is more than ready to step up and step into the role of president,” Chayasirisobhon said.

Keahbone is the senior pastor of FBC Lawton, Okla. He has served as a member of the SBC Executive Committee since 2021 and is the vice chairman of the SBC’s Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force. He was a member for the Sexual Abuse Task Force.

“Mike led student ministries for more than two decades before spending two years as a full-time evangelist speaking at local churches throughout the country as well as multiple camps including Falls Creek and state evangelism conferences,” the release said.

The fiscal year for FBC Lawton ends March 31. Therefore, the last completed year on record with the Annual Church Profile is 2022. During that year, FBC Lawton received $1,401,565 in undesignated receipts and gave $88,057.87 (6.28 percent) to the Cooperative Program, according to the ACP. The church also gave $45,762 to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering and $18,337.94 to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering in 2022.

A church staff member told Baptist Press Tuesday (Jan. 30), “The 2023-2024 fiscal year has an approved undesignated receipt budget of $1,690,973 with Cooperative (Program) giving of $102,483 [6.06 percent].”

The church recorded 623 people in average weekly attendance in 2023 and 54 baptisms, according to the church staff member.

On Jan. 28, Keahbone asked church members for their blessing related to his nomination. According to a release from the church, they unanimously stated, “It is our joy to affirm God’s leadership in this decision, and we prayerfully commit to supporting our pastor in this endeavor.”

Keahbone served on the Oklahoma Baptist Board of Directors from 2015-2021, according to the release, serving as vice president from 2017-2021.

A Native American with heritage from the Comanche, Kiowa and Cherokee tribes, Keahbone served on the 2023 SBC Resolutions Committee and helped write the resolution titled, “On Religious Liberty, Forced Conversion, and the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report,” which was adopted by SBC messengers.

Jared Moore

Oklahoma pastor Dusty Deevers is planning to nominate Tennessee pastor Jared Moore for SBC President at the 2024 SBC Annual Meeting. Moore is the senior pastor of Homesteads Baptist Church in Crossville, Tenn.

“Jared faithfully represents salt-of-the-earth Southern Baptists,” Deevers told Baptist Press in written comments. “He is a faithful husband, father and pastor who serves the Lord dutifully at his local church without the need for fanfare or attention.

“He loves Christ and, therefore, loves Christ’s Word unashamedly.”

Moore served as SBC second vice president in 2014. He has served as senior pastor at Homesteads Church since 2016. He previously served as senior pastor of New Salem Baptist Church in Hustonville, Ky., according to his LinkedIn profile.

Moore “has a sharp mind,” Deevers said, and is “gifted by the Lord with wisdom to understand what the church faces and needs in our day and how Scripture directs us to address it.”

Moore holds a bachelor’s degree from Trinity Bible College, a master’s degree from Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary and a master’s degree and Ph.D. from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, according the church’s website.

Deevers said he’s motivated to nominate Moore because “the world and our own nation need a thriving and faithful SBC to proclaim the Gospel without embarrassment.

“Sadly, though, our prophetic voice has been stifled in recent years because of infighting, self-dealing and worldly compromise. God’s Kingdom will go on with or without the SBC, but we know the Devil would love nothing more than to destroy our long and faithful cooperative mission.

“On the flip side, our adversary fears a convention that is united around God’s truth. You have a man in Jared Moore who loves Christ, His Church and the SBC and wants to see the SBC using all of its tremendous resources to accomplish the Great Commission faithfully.”

According to SBC Workspace, Homesteads Church baptized three people in 2023 and averaged a weekly worship service attendance of 113. The church received $342,611 in total receipts and gave $19,266 (5.6 percent) through the Cooperative Program. It also gave $4,679 to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering and $1,995 to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering.

Clint Pressley

Clint Pressley, senior pastor of Hickory Grove Baptist Church in Charlotte, will be nominated for president of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) during this summer’s SBC annual meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana.

In a news release emailed to the Biblical Recorder on Sunday, Jan. 21, Chris Justice, senior pastor of Lee Park Baptist Church in Monroe, N.C., said he plans to make the nomination when Southern Baptists gather for the annual meeting June 11-12 at the Indiana Convention Center in downtown Indianapolis.

“Clint Pressley loves the Southern Baptist Convention and the mission that holds us together,” Justice said in the release. “I know him to be a man of conviction who is joyfully orthodox, devoted to the Great Commission, and committed to our cooperation as Southern Baptists.”

Pressley has served as senior pastor of Hickory Grove Baptist Church since 2010 where “he has led his church to plant and revitalize other churches, send missionaries, and sacrificially give to the Cooperative Program and Great Commission causes,” Justice said.

According to Annual Church Profile and Baptist State Convention of North Carolina records, Hickory Grove reported 69 baptisms and averaged 2,632 in worship attendance in 2023. The church reported $9,680,234 in total undesignated receipts in 2023, with $232,089 (2.4%) given through the Cooperative Program. Hickory Grove also gave $244,664 to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for international missions and $73,026 to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American missions.

In addition to serving at Hickory Grove, Pressley has previously pastored churches in Mississippi and Alabama. He has also served in a variety of leadership roles in Southern Baptist life, which include vice president of the SBC Pastors’ Conference in 2013, first vice president of the SBC from 2014-15, and as a trustee for the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary since 2015, which included a stint as chairman.

Pressley currently serves on the board of directors for the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina.

“Clint has always served when called upon,” Justice said.

Pressley holds a bachelor’s degree from Wofford College, a Master of Divinity from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is pursuing a Doctor of Ministry from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

A Charlotte native, Pressley attended Hickory Grove as a teenager and later joined the church’s staff in 1999 as senior associate pastor of preaching after he had pastored two churches in Mississippi.

In 2004, Pressley was called as senior pastor of Dauphin Way Baptist Church in Mobile, Alabama, before returning to Hickory Grove in 2010.

Pressley’s wife, Connie, is the daughter of a Southern Baptist pastor, and the couple has two sons.

Pressley is the first announced presidential nominee for this year’s SBC annual meeting.

During a pastors’ gathering held in conjunction with the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina’s annual meeting in Greensboro last November, Pressley said at that time he would be open to allowing his name to be put forward as SBC president.

In a follow-up interview, Pressley said he was in discussions with people interested in nominating him and that a formal announcement would happen at some point in the future.

Dan Spencer

Dan Spencer, senior pastor of First Baptist Church, Sevierville, Tenn., has become the sixth nominee for the presidency of the Southern Baptist Convention at the 2024 SBC Annual Meeting in Indianapolis.

Chris Kendall, senior pastor of Oak City Baptist Church in Seymour, Tenn., informed the Baptist and Reflector  April 11 of his intention to nominate Spencer, who has been the pastor at First Baptist since 2011.

Kendall said he is a Southern Baptist by choice, and he loves the Southern Baptist Convention for two primary reasons — the autonomy of the local church and the spirit of cooperation.

“Over the past several years, our Southern Baptist network has been marked by controversy and contention. I believe that Dan Spencer is the unifier that would benefit our collective to refocus on what matters most. It’s the people that God has put before us to reach with the Gospel and make disciples,” he said.

“His love for God and people has positioned him to make the necessary biblical decisions (as a leader) when it comes to faith and practice. … Dan is competent to lead at the denominational level. He also has what’s most essential – the character to back it up.”

Spencer has a long Southern Baptist heritage. He is the great-great nephew of M.E. Dodd, “the father of the Cooperative Program” and the great-great grandson of George Martin Savage, who was president of Union University and Dodd’s father-in-law.

His father, Jerry Spencer, has been a Southern Baptist evangelist and pastor since 1957.

Spencer was called to ministry in 1986 while on a youth choir tour/mission trip to Toronto, Canada, from his home church of Brownsville Baptist Church in Brownsville, Tenn.

Spencer has been involved in Southern Baptist life for more than two decades. He preached at the SBC Pastors’ Conference in 2001 and was a member of the SBC Committee on Committees in 2005. Spencer served as president of the Georgia Baptist Convention from 2009-11 and served as a director of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board from 2015-19.

During his tenure at First Baptist, the church has been one of Tennessee’s leaders in baptisms and in giving through the Cooperative Program.

In 2023, First Baptist gave $542,915 through the Cooperative Program, or 9.09 percent of $5,972,068 in undesignated gifts. Also last year, the church reported 64 baptisms and $659,425 in gifts to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.

Kendall believes Spencer has the ability to “rally the diverse collective of churches and pastors together to master and major on the main thing — the Great Commission.”

Kendall added that he believes Spencer would complement the work of Jeff Iorg, the new president / CEO of the SBC Executive Committee. “He would be the right fit for Dr. Iorg in this inaugural annual meeting for our new EC president.”