Plans for the 2022 Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting in Anaheim are in full swing, with meeting schedules, nominations and other news released just this week. Here are 5 recent headlines:
2022 Annual Meeting schedule released
The 2022 SBC Annual Meeting will convene at the Anaheim Convention Center Tuesday, June 14 at 8 a.m. and adjourn at 5 p.m. Wednesday, June 15, according to the official schedule for the meeting released Tuesday (March 22).
The theme for this year’s meeting is “Jesus, the center of it all.”
Steve Bates, chair of the Committee on Order of Business and member of First Baptist Church Winnfield, Louisiana, said the program will be organized around three topics of interest to messengers:
- Jesus, the Center of Church Planting: Reaching North America with the Gospel
- Jesus, the Center of Racial Reconciliation: Adopting a Kingdom Race Mindset
- Jesus, the Center of Life: On the Road to Roe50
The program includes time for a presentation by the Sexual Abuse Task Force, whose report is expected to be released in May. The task force was established by messengers to the 2021 meeting to address accusations that the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee mishandled sexual abuse claims. (Read more about Guidepost’s work here.)
“Our committee and [SBC] President [Ed] Litton worked with the Sexual Abuse Task Force to ensure that adequate time was allotted for the Task Force report and their recommendations,” Bates said. “We also recognized the importance of allowing messengers time to respond, which is why we set aside a full hour on the program followed by a time of prayer and worship.”
Click here to see the full program for the 2022 Annual Meeting.
Registration, ticket portal open; Restrictions lifted
Messenger pre-registration and childcare registration for the 2022 Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting June 14–15 is open at sbcannualmeeting.net.
The State of California announced March 18 that COVID-19 guidelines for indoor mega-events will be relaxed effective April 1, and attendees of the SBC Annual Meeting will no longer be required to provide proof of vaccination against COVID-19 or a negative test prior to admission.
Registration confirmation for the Annual Meeting allows purchase of up to six tickets for Disneyland and California Adventure through a designated portal. Tickets are now on sale, and the usage window begins Thursday, June 9, and goes through Monday, June. 20. The ticket store will close at 9 p.m., PDT on Saturday, June 11.
Three nominees for SBC president announced
Three individuals have announced their intentions to be nominated for SBC president as of March 23.
Willy Rice
Florida pastor Willy Rice announced March 2 that he plans to accept a nomination for president. Clint Pressley, pastor of Hickory Grove Baptist in Charlotte, North Carolina, will nominate Rice.
Rice is pastor of Calvary Church in Clearwater, Florida, where he has served since 2004. Rice’s resumé includes serving churches in the role of pastor for more than 35 years, according to Calvary Church’s website. Rice served as president of the Florida Baptist Convention from 2006 to 2008 and was president of the SBC Pastors Conference in 2015. Last year, he gave the convention sermon during the SBC annual meeting in Nashville.
“Willy Rice represents who Southern Baptists are at their best,” Pressley said in a statement. “He loves Southern Baptists, believes in Southern Baptists and has demonstrated at every level of our convention his ability to lead Southern Baptists.”
Rice graduated from Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama, with a bachelor’s degree in 1985, and he graduated from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary with a master of divinity in 1990 and a doctor of ministry in 1996.
Rice and his wife, Cheryl, have three children and six grandchildren.
Tom Ascol
Florida pastor and president of Founders Ministries Tom Ascol announced March 22 he will be nominated for SBC president.
Ascol’s nomination was endorsed in a statement by Founders Ministries, a Reformed Baptist group within the Southern Baptist Convention.
In its endorsement, the Founders Ministries said the Southern Baptist Convention “badly needs a change of direction,” citing concerns about evangelism, declining baptisms and the response to social issues within the convention.
Ascol has been pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Cape Coral for 36 years. He is a graduate of Texas A&M and received his master of divinity and doctorate from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is married to Donna and they have six children and 15 grandchildren.
Robin Hadaway
Former International Mission Board missionary Robin Hadaway announced Wednesday (March 23) that he will accept a nomination for SBC president to be made by fellow former International Mission Board missionary Wade Akins.
Hadaway began his ministry career serving as pastor of churches in California and Arizona before serving with the IMB on the field in Africa and South America. While on the field, he was involved in church planting in Tanzania, starting churches among unreached peoples in Northern Africa and directing church planting efforts in South America. During his stint in South America, Hadaway served as a regional leader for the IMB, leading more than 300 missionaries in the region.
“Robin Hadaway has a passion for missions, evangelism and church planting,” Akins told Baptist Press in a statement. “He believes thousands of Southern Baptists – men and women, pastors and laypersons — need to drop what they are doing and seek a career in home and foreign missions.”
Akins also said that, if elected, Hadaway would strive to “see 1,000 new WMU chapters started,” saying, “WMU has the backs of our missionaries by providing what’s often lacking — prayer and financial support.”
Hadaway is a graduate of the University of Memphis, has an M.Div. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and D.Min. from Gateway Seminary as well as a D.Th. from the University of South Africa.
Following his time with IMB, Hadaway spent nearly two decades at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary as a professor of missions and serving in a variety of administrative roles including interim president, dean of students, vice president for institutional initiatives, interim CFO and interim administrative vice president.
Prior to his call to ministry, Hadaway served four years in the U.S. Air Force as a pilot attaining the rank of captain, worked as military air traffic controller and finished his career as an administrative officer.
Hadaway served on the 2000 SBC Credentials Committee, the 2005 and 2006 SBC Resolutions Committees, the 1981 Local Arrangements Committee and the planning committee for the 1984 Baptist World Alliance meeting in Los Angeles.
Hadaway and his wife, Kathy, returned to California after he retired from residential teaching a year ago. He now serves as MBTS’ senior professor of missions and resides in Oceanside, California. The Hadaways are currently members of New Song Community Church in Oceanside. The Hadaways have three children and two grandchildren.
Read more about Rice’s nomination here, Ascol’s nomination here and Hadaway’s nomination here.
SBC President Ed Litton announced March 1 that he will not seek a second term.
Two candidates announced for SBC Pastors Conference president
Two candidates have been announced to lead the 2023 SBC Pastors Conference.
Daniel Dickard
Daniel Dickard, pastor of Friendly Avenue Baptist Church in Greensboro, North Carolina, will be nominated by Jordan Easley, pastor of First Baptist Church Cleveland, Tennessee.
Easley announced his plans to nominate Dickard in a video released online March 16.
Easley noted that Dickard has a passion for the gospel, a desire to make disciples and a calling to encourage and equip pastors. Dickard leads a church that “emphasizes the Great Commission, cross-cultural ministry, church planting, theological training and refugee ministry,” Easley said
Dickard said in written comments to Baptist Press, “There is no greater calling, in my opinion, than pastoring God’s people, and there is no weightier duty within that great calling than stewarding God’s word faithfully.
“It is not the size of a church that matters; it is the health and faithfulness of a church that matters,” he said. “The SBC Pastors Conference is one venue where pastors are edified, equipped and encouraged to be faithful to the word and challenged in our mission to the world.
Among his Southern Baptist ties, Dickard graduated from a Southern Baptist affiliated college, North Greenville University, and he received his masters of divinity and doctorate from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Dickard is married to Cassie and they have three children.
Voddie Baucham
Voddie Baucham, dean of theology at African Christian University in Lusaka, Zambia, announced March 22 he will be nominated for the SBC Pastors Conference president.
Baucham’s nomination was endorsed in a statement by Founders Ministries calling him “one of the most faithful expositors of our day, a day in which sound preaching is more important than ever. He will give the exact kind of leadership needed for the SBC Pastors Conference.”
Baucham is the former pastor of Grace Family Baptist Church in Spring, Texas, where he served until 2015. Baucham has degrees from Houston Baptist University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and a doctorate from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, according to his ministry website.
His website describes him as a former pastor, author, professor, conference speaker and church planter.
Baucham is married to Bridget and they have nine children.
The 2023 Pastors Conference will be held in conjunction with the 2023 SBC Annual Meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Read more about Dickard’s nomination here. Read more about Baucham’s nomination here.
Crossover, Serve Tour provide opportunity for gospel impact in Anaheim
The North American Mission Board, in cooperation with California Baptists, will provide avenues for Southern Baptists to share the gospel in Anaheim ahead of the 2022 Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting in June through a Crossover Serve Tour event.
“Southern Baptists have an opportunity to do what we do best in Anaheim by serving people and introducing them to the Savior,” said Johnny Hunt, NAMB’s senior vice president for evangelism and leadership. “I pray that many will get involved and that we will see a harvest of new Christ-followers as a result of our efforts together.”
Send Relief and NAMB are working with California Baptist leaders and local churches to host one-day, outreach-oriented sports camps for their communities.
NAMB is also working with Southern Baptist seminaries to host students who will spend the week learning from evangelism professors and putting those lessons into practice the week before Southern Baptists gather in Anaheim.
To learn more and pre-register, visit namb.net/crossover.
