INDIANAPOLIS (BP) – Two pastors, at least, will be nominated this summer to the post of Southern Baptist Convention first vice president, according to recent announcements.
David Crowther
Steve Dighton will nominate David Crowther to serve as first vice president at the 2024 SBC annual meeting. Crowther is the pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church in Wichita.
“David Crowther is a young dynamic leader, and one who would thrive in this position of leadership,” Dighton told Baptist Press.
David Crowther
“He is humble, a servant leader, a gifted preacher and a loving shepherd,” said Dighton. “He is a consensus builder and desires to see us flourish in the years to come.”
Dighton is the pastor emeritus of Lenexa Baptist Church in Lenexa. Crowther has served as Immanuel’s senior pastor since November 2019. He previously served churches in North Carolina, South Carolina and Kentucky.
Crowther is currently serving as first vice president of the Kansas-Nebraska Convention of Southern Baptists.
Dighton says Immanuel Church “has grown numerically, increasing baptisms, mission offerings and mission giving,” under Crowther’s leadership.
Crowther has also helped the church to increase Cooperative Program giving, according to Dighton.
In 2023, the church reported 557 people in average worship attendance and 41 baptisms, according to the SBC Annual Church Profile. The church gave $72,636 (five percent) of $1,455,921 in undesignated offerings to the Cooperative Program; $25,833 to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering and $992 to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering.
Crowther holds a bachelor’s degree from Anderson University, a Master of Divinity from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and a doctorate in philosophy from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.
He and his wife Laura have three children.
The 2024 SBC Annual Meeting is June 11-12 at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis.
Michael Clary
Jared Moore, senior pastor of Homesteads Baptist Church in Crossville, Tenn., will nominate Cincinnati Pastor Michael Clary for Southern Baptist Convention first vice president at the 2024 SBC Annual Meeting in Indianapolis, Moore told Baptist Press March 11. Moore is a candidate for SBC president.
Moore cited Clary’s support of the so-called “Law Amendment” and Internal Revenue Service Form 990 financial disclosures of SBC entities in announcing the intended nomination, as well as Clary’s 25-year career in Christian ministry.
Michael Clary
“He’s in favor of passing the Law Amendment. He sees the Law Amendment as just a reflection of Scripture and a reflection of our confession that Southern Baptists have voted on,” Moore said of Clary. “And (Clary believes) that putting that in the Constitution would actually serve Southern Baptists well.”
The SBC Executive Committee has made no recommendation on two motions from the 2023 SBC Annual Meeting that would require SBC entities to submit to messengers financial information that would be included on IRS Form 990 for nonprofits. The IRS exempts certain religious organizations from submitting the form. The SBC and its entities receive the exemption.
Moore described Clary’s support of 990 disclosure as a matter of financial transparency.
“He believes that our trustees at our various SBC entities should submit 990-level financial disclosures at every SBC annual meeting,” Moore said. “And it’s not that he doesn’t trust the trustees – he trusts the trustees – but he wants to make sure that trustees trust Southern Baptists. And Southern Baptists have to be able to see that our money is being spent wisely. It’s God’s money.”
Moore described Clary as a mature Christian and a faithful husband and father. Clary is the founding pastor of Christ the King Church, launched in 2009, in Cincinnati. Christ the King gave $792 to the Cooperative Program in 2023 from undesignated receipts of $472,854, according to the 2023 Annual Church Profile. The church reported four baptisms, 127 members and an average worship attendance of 201.
Clary told Baptist Press of an additional $32,000 in Great Commission giving in 2023, asserting donations of $10,000 to plant Christ the King Church, a Southern Baptist Church plant in Eastern Hills, Ohio, and $817 in donations to the Cincinnati Area Baptist Association. He cited other donations of $4,200 to the 1520 Coalition global church planting ministry, $6,000 to Vision Nationals church planting organization based in Vishakhapatnam, India; $2,000 to the Acts 29 Network, and $3,000 to Cornerstone Church in Detroit (Acts 29), and several smaller outreaches. Clary has since left the Acts 29 network, he told Baptist Press, which Moore confirmed.