Speaking to the Executive Committee for the first time since being elected SBC president in June, Clint Pressley didn’t waste any time expressing his love for Southern Baptists on Tuesday morning (Sept. 17).
Pressley — who noted he knew he wanted to be a “Baptist preacher” at the age of 16 — shared how he looks forward to highlighting and taking time to “reflect” on the good things the SBC is doing through missions in ministry.
“I have never regretted being a Baptist. I love being a Southern Baptist,” said Pressley, who noted he does not take being SBC president “lightly” — and that he believes there are “so many things to rejoice and so many things to celebrate. So many things that are good and right and God-honoring.”
‘It ain’t my job to have a vision for the SBC’
If asked what his vision for the Convention is, Pressley will counter “It ain’t my job to have a vision for the SBC. Pastors at their churches provide vision.” For him, he noted, it’s about helping keep the focus on Christ.
This year’s SBC theme is about a being willing to “Hold fast,” based on Hebrews 10:23–24.
“We need to hold fast to so many things in the Southern Baptist Convention … (and) hold fast to our hope without wavering,” said Pressley, who is senior pastor of Hickory Grove Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
‘Marching forward’
Southern Baptists also need to keep pressing forward, he said.
“There is no question that the Executive Committee and the Southern Baptist Convention are going to be in lean years,” Pressley said, noting economic challenges. “But by God’s grace … we will come out of that, and we’ll keep marching forward. Let us hold fast. … Let us consider how to stir up in one another love and good works.”
