If Southern Baptists believed in the “Hail Mary” pass — that long bomb to the endzone that, if caught, just might save the game — this would be their moment.
Jeff Iorg will be nominated to head the beleaguered Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee after two and one-half years without a permanent president and CEO.
The surprise announcement came March 1, a week after the EC Search Committee promised yet another candidate and asked EC trustees to set March 21 as the date for a special-called meeting in the Dallas metroplex.
And it came one month after another candidate, later revealed as Georgia Baptist Convention Executive Director Thomas Hammond, withdrew his name from consideration near the end of the process.
At that point, it appeared head of SBC operations, with its financial woes, dismissal debates and remaining abuse-related difficulties, was a job nobody wanted — or would risk taking.
‘Pivotal time’
Iorg has stepped up when desperately needed, even as he nears the end of his 20-year tenure as president of Gateway Baptist Theological Seminary, a retirement planned for the end of the current academic year.
“The SBC is blessed to have him available to step in and serve at this pivotal time,” said Nate Adams, Illinois Baptist State Association executive director, following Friday’s announcement.
“He brings experience as a church planter, a pastor, a state convention executive director and a national entity president,” Adams said. “He has navigated significant organizational change and adversity, as he will in the role for which he is now nominated, and he has consistently led with vision, integrity and effectiveness.”
Finger on the pulse of change
Iorg served mostly on the West Coast, frontier territory for Southern Baptists, where for two decades he has warned brethren on the opposite end of the country of the cultural challenges coming their way.
Iorg has appeared to become an expert in effecting change in this cultural climate. Most recently, he led the vision for relocation of the Golden Gate Seminary from the San Francisco area to metro Los Angeles. The relocation for cost-effective and further reaching ministry was completed in 2016 with no debt. And under Iorg, the renamed Gateway Seminary increased its financial endowment from $16 million to $60 million.
“Jeff Iorg is who we have been praying for,” noted search team chairman Neal Hughes of Alabama. Iorg’s “calm demeanor, communication skills, executive administrative ability and thorough knowledge of Southern Baptist life will be a God-send to the SBC.”
‘Tumultuous’ four years
EC chairman and search team member Philip Robertson of Louisiana called Iorg “a leader that all Southern Baptists can unite around.”
Iorg’s nomination comes after a tumultuous four years that started under the last EC CEO, Ronnie Floyd, over the handling of sexual abuse claims by top denominational leaders, continued through a failed vote for Texas pastor Jared Wellman, the discovery of concerns related to interim CEO Willie McLauren as he was to be nominated for the post permanently, and in January, Hammond’s withdrawal near the end of his own nomination process.
Closer look
In addition to his leadership abilities, Iorg has gotten high marks from some SBC leaders for his relational skills and sense of humor.
Iorg also has won fans with stories from his decade as team chaplain for the San Francisco Giants and stories connected to the three World Series rings he received. Iorg won respect in the locker by caring about the players, in particular their marriages and families, a characteristic he has carried into all his ministry teams.
Former Northwest Baptist Convention associate executive director Stan Albright referred to the “high expectations” Iorg has for staff while exhibiting “great faith in their performance.”
“He is confident, yet humble; focused, yet aware of his challenges; and a vision-caster, yet a team player,” Albright said.
All skills he will need to stabilize denominational operations in his new front office, if he is elected.
Iorg (rhymes with “forge”) will be introduced formally to EC Trustees with a vote held in executive session March 21 at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Eric Reed and originally published by the Illinois Baptist, newsjournal of the Illinois Baptist State Association.
