Brent Leatherwood was approved as the new acting president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission this morning (Sept. 15) by the board of trustees, gathered in Nashville for the group’s two-day annual meeting.
Leatherwood, who has been serving as vice president of external affairs and chief of staff at ERLC, will fill the acting president role until a new president is elected by the board.
He follows Daniel Patterson, who left in August to serve as executive pastor of Central Baptist Church in College Station, Texas. Patterson was named acting president following Russell Moore’s resignation in May.
Read about the presidential search committee, list of qualifications and how to submit an application by the Nov. 30 deadline here.
In other action, the trustees:
•Approved Moore as the recipient of the Richard Land Distinguished Service Award. Moore was recommended for “his faithful and consistent witness as the president of ERLC for eight years,” according to nomination information presented to board members.
•Approved two recipients of the John Leland Religious Liberty Award — Griffin Gulledge, pastor of Madison Baptist Church in Madison, Georgia, and Mark Dever, pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington. According to the nomination presentation, Gulledge was recommended because of his work to fight against the genocide of the Uyghur people in China. Dever was recommended because of his engagement with local officials and stand for religious liberty during the COVID-19 pandemic.
•Heard a report on “The Road to Roe50” (recognizing 50 years since Roe v. Wade in January 2023), which will include age-appropriate curriculum for use in churches for children, teens and adults.
•Voted to support any partnerships and efforts to reverse Roe v. Wade and to discover ways to “make abortions unthinkable and unnecessary.”
•Approved a $3.9 million operating budget for 2021–2022, which is a slight decrease from the current year.
