EDITOR’S NOTE — The Baptist Paper reached out to each of the six individuals who have announced intentions to be nominated for president of the Southern Baptist Convention at the 2024 SBC Annual Meeting in Indianapolis, June 11–12. To read the responses of the other five other candidates, click here.
David Allen
Current position and title: Distinguished professor of practical theology and dean of the Adrian Rogers Center for Biblical Preaching at Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary in Memphis, Tennessee
What led you to allow your name to be placed in nomination for SBC president?
I did so because I sensed God’s prompting. I did so because so many have told me that after much prayer, they felt led of God to ask me to allow my name to be placed in nomination. I did so because I owe so much to Southern Baptists. I did so because I believe our convention has been and can continue to be useful in service to God’s kingdom. I did so because the difficulties are many and the need of the hour is great. I can only confess that as best I know my heart, my motives are simply to follow what I perceive to be God’s will, and to serve my fellow Southern Baptists as best I know how.
If elected, what are your goals as president?
As a candidate for president, my platform is simple:
- Strengthen our long-term Convention focus on evangelism, missions, and preaching.
- Support passage of the Mike Law Amendment at the 2024 SBC in Indianapolis.
- Seek to restore an eroding trust among many Southern Baptists by calling for transparency at every level.
If elected as president of the Southern Baptist Convention, my pledge is two-fold:
- Support and encourage all Southern Baptists and all SBC entities and agencies in their ultimate mission of seeking to win the world to Christ as we cooperate to call out the called, pray, and give faithfully to the Cooperative Program.
- Appoint Southern Baptists to the Committee on Committees who will assure me and all Southern Baptists they will only nominate people to places of service who will pledge to work for truth, trust and transparency within their respective committees, trustee boards, and entities.
What are some things that can be done to strengthen the SBC’s current relationship with our churches?
- We need a return to our Christian humanity in how we view one another, speak to one another, and treat one another in public, private, and on social media. Let’s assume and think the best of each other, not the worst. The uncharitable reading of words and actions is a not uncommon occurrence among us.
- Let’s truly listen to one another and respond in words and actions accordingly.
- Let’s be transparent and engage in clear communication. In the first year of my first pastorate in 1982, a wise deacon told me: “Pastor, what people are not up on, they are down on. Good communication is the key to minimizing criticism. As the old saying goes among Baptists: ‘Trust the Lord and tell the people.’”
Some folks are dissatisfied with the current direction/leadership of the convention. What do you perceive as the strengths of the SBC?
Anyone who has ever sat in an annual SBC meeting and listened to the reports of our International Mission Board and North American Mission Board thrills at what God is doing in His world. Our six Southern Baptist seminaries are training men and women to serve the Savior around the world. The Cooperative Program has never been excelled in any denomination as a mechanism for the work of the convention. Faithful pastors in churches of every size are preaching the word. Souls are being saved. Lives are being changed. Ministry is happening.
What do you perceive as the weaknesses of the SBC?
I think this could be summed up in two words: Trust and Transparency.
- As I travel and preach in our SBC churches, the number one concern I hear, especially from pastors, is the eroding level of trust in some of our SBC leadership.
- This lack of trust is predicated on the perception of a lack of transparency in financial matters and other matters. Loss of trust means loss of motivation to cooperate. Loss of cooperation means loss of ministry effectiveness for the SBC. There is no question that many Southern Baptists perceive this to be the case, and perception is reality for people.
- People should not be pestered to death with a constant caustic spirit of unverified accusations. Nor should anyone be branded as a blasphemous barbarian because he or she presumes to question or dares to express an honest differing opinion about convention issues.
- Perhaps our greatest weakness is distraction from the main mission. We seem somehow to have allowed all the difficult issues we are facing distract us from a laser focus on missions and evangelism.
What is your take on the Law Amendment issue and what Southern Baptists should consider going into this next meeting?
The proposed amendment would clarify that the SBC only cooperates with churches that do not affirm, appoint, or employ a woman as a pastor/elder as qualified by Scripture. If approved, the amendment would be added to the SBC Constitution under Article 3, Paragraph 1 concerning “Composition.”
The amendment delimits the scope to include only those women who serve in the office of pastor/elder, contrary to Scripture and the BFM 2000. This delimitation is signaled by the use of the phrase “as qualified by Scripture.” Church staff positions like “Minister of Children,” etc., regardless of nomenclature, are not pastoral positions that are qualified by Scripture.
This is a watershed issue for Southern Baptists. The Law Amendment is an important clarifying statement that explains what the BFM 2000 means with respect to who can fill the office of pastor/elder/overseer. The three words are used interchangeably in the New Testament.
Since some are making the argument that we do not have to agree with everything in the BFM 2000 to be considered a cooperating Southern Baptist, this amendment to the Constitution would carry a greater binding authority than the BFM 2000.
Any other thoughts or comments?
My first ministry assignment was in an SBC church when I was nineteen. My children were saved and baptized in an SBC church. One of my sons was trained in an SBC seminary and he and his wife served in Egypt as IMB missionaries.
In my first pastorate, our church planted six ethnic missions in the Dallas area and over 100 churches in Central America, South America, Africa, Europe and Asia.
I served Southern Baptists in roles within the local Association, State Convention, and the SBC. I taught at an SBC seminary for eighteen years.
God has given me the joy of preaching in many of our SBC churches. In 2021 I launched a new ministry called “Preaching Coach” where I partner with pastors and other ministry leaders.
In 21 years of serving two churches as senior pastor, and in 10 years of serving 13 churches as Interim Pastor, I believe God has prepared me to serve Southern Baptists for this strategic time. I know pastors. I know SBC churches. I believe I can serve the Kingdom of God and Southern Baptists as president of the SBC.
