ORLANDO (BP) – North Greenville University Provost and Dean of Faculty Hunter Baker will serve as chair of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Committee on Resolutions for the 2026 SBC Annual Meeting this summer.
SBC President Clint Pressley made the announcement in a statement to Baptist Press.
“I am so thankful for this group of joyful Southern Baptists who have agreed to serve on the Resolutions Committee this year,” said Pressley, senior pastor of Hickory Grove Baptist Church in Charlotte, who will be completing his second one-year term as president. “Hunter Baker, one of the leading ethicists in the SBC, will do an outstanding job providing clear and biblical leadership. We hope to make resolutions that help the Convention speak to the issues of the day with a unified and clear voice.”
Hunter Baker
Baker began his role at North Greenville in October 2023. Previously a faculty member at Union University since 2010, he served there as dean of Arts and Sciences and professor of political science since 2018.
With 14 million Americans belonging to the country’s largest Protestant denomination, Southern Baptists “bear a large responsibility for the American Constitutional order,” Baker noted in a discussion with Jonathan Howe on this week’s release of “The Road to Orlando,” available on BP’s YouTube page.
“I think it’s basically malpractice, on our part, if we don’t seek to influence the culture for the good, to try to inculcate a kind of civic righteousness,” he said. “Not confusing church and state. Those need to be kept very distinct, and the Baptist commitment to religious liberty is ultra important.”
Baker anticipates this year’s slate of resolutions capable of covering several topics, including religious liberty, church and state, America’s Semiquincentennial celebration, governmental fraud, AI, proper bounds of civil disobedience, civic virtue and citizenship and immigration.
The 2026 resolution submission window opens March 15. Submitted resolutions must be typed, titled, dated and received by the committee no later than May 15.
Baker offered tips for considering and preparing a resolution, including studying past ones and discussing your ideas with others.
He also suggested looking at resolutions not only as statements for where Southern Baptists currently stand on an issue, but as tools for Gospel conversations.
“When you do a resolution, you’re moving yourself out of this process of emotional reaction and into a contemplative and thoughtful place so you can develop some kind of well-considered thoughts for other people to see and think about,” he said.
Others tapped to serve on the 2026 SBC Committee on Resolutions are:
- David Crowther, senior pastor of Immanuel Baptist, Wichita, Kan.
- Obbie Tyler Todd, pastor of teaching and theologian in residence at Cross Community Church, Beaufort, S.C.
- Hank Garner, executive pastor at Lone Oak FBC, Ky.
- Landon Dowden, lead pastor at Hebron Baptist, Dacula, Ga.
- Neisha Grubaugh, layperson at Jersey Church in New Albany, Ohio
- Ryan Helfenbein, vice president of communications, Liberty University, member of Thomas Road Baptist, Lynchburg, Va.
- Jeremy Pierre, elder at Clifton Baptist Church in Louisville, Ky., dean of the Billy Graham School of Evangelism, Missions and Ministry at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
- Evan Lenow, assistant professor of Christian Studies at Mississippi College, member of Morrison Heights Baptist, Clinton, Miss.
- Jeff Goodyear, executive pastor at Highview Baptist in Louisville, Ky.
The SBC Annual Meeting will take place June 9-10 in Orlando.