In a Feb. 22 morning session that stretched into the afternoon, Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee members named a seven-member presidential search committee to fill the vacancy left by the resignation of Ronnie Floyd last October.
Those named to serve on the search committee are:
•Mollie Duddleston of Arkansas
•Jeremy Morton of Georgia
•Philip Robertson of Louisiana
•Adron Robinson of Illinois
•Rolland Slade of California (ex officio)
•David Sons of South Carolina
•Mike Keahbone of Oklahoma
EC members voted on a slate of 23 nominations from the floor and required a second ballot for the sixth position because of a three-way tie between Slade, Keahbone and John Yeats of Missouri.
The position of EC chairperson, currently held by Slade, is an ex-officio search committee member with the right to vote. Slade, whose term as chairman and as an EC member ends with the SBC annual meeting in June, will serve on the search committee until a new chairperson is elected by EC members in June. If Slade had been elected to the committee as a regular member, then the ex officio slot would have been filled by him as well until June and then the new chairperson would step into that slot, bringing the committee to seven at that point.
Newly elected presidential search committee members will select their chair and secretary soon.
Willie McLaurin, elected in February as interim EC president, will serve in the role until a new president is elected.
The election of the presidential search committee was handled according to EC Bylaws.
