Southern Baptist Convention messengers have elected a new group of officers. Among them is a new president — Florida pastor Willy Rice — and it didn’t take a runoff. But not all of the officers nominated at this year’s annual meeting in Orlando can say that.
Registration secretary Don Currence reported that this year’s meeting made history with nine votes, including the Pastors Conference.
Sign up for updates directly to your inbox.
“That represented 52,794 ballots that the team of 55 people counted the last three days,” Currence said.
SBC president
Rice, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Clearwater, Florida, was elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention on Tuesday afternoon.
Rice won with 5,217 votes (57.56%) against Josh Powell, pastor of Taylors First Baptist Church, Taylors, South Carolina, who received 3,821 votes (42.16%). Rice was nominated by Adrian Taylor, pastor of Springhill Church in Gainesville, Florida.
Before coming to Calvary, Rice, 62, served as pastor of churches in Florida and Alabama. He is a graduate of Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama, and has a master of divinity and a doctor of ministry from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He and his wife, Cheryl, have three children and six grandchildren.
Read more stories from the 2026 SBC Annual Meeting in Orlando.
Rice served as president of the Florida Baptist Convention from 2006 to 2008, and he served as president of the SBC Pastors Conference in 2015. He has also served as chairman of the SBC Committee on Committees (2010), chairman of the SBC Committee on Nominations (2016), president of the Florida Baptist Convention Pastors Conference (2004), along with other local, state and national positions.
Rice also served as a trustee for the North American Mission Board from 2018–2022, including stints as second and first vice chairman.
1st vice president
Alabama’s Craig Carlisle was elected first vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention in a runoff vote during the Wednesday morning (June 10) session of the SBC Annual Meeting in Orlando.
Carlisle, director of missions for Etowah Baptist Association, won the runoff with a vote of 3,338 (65.92%) against Paul Purvis, lead pastor of Mission Hill Church in Temple Terrace, Florida, who drew 1,719 (33.95%). The other candidate was Larry Helms, pastor of Fort Lawn Baptist Church in Fort Lawn, South Carolina.
Charles W. Smith, president of the University of Mobile and member of Redemption Church in the Mobile area, nominated Carlisle during the afternoon session on Tuesday.
2nd vice president
Allen Murray, pastor of Mount Pisgah Baptist Church in Supply, North Carolina, was elected in a runoff vote on Wednesday with 2,342 votes (55.38%) against Ethan Jago, pastor of 5 Bridges Church in Panama City Beach, Florida, who received 1,876 (44.36%). Austin Rouse, pastor of families and students at Southern Heights Baptist in Russellville, Kentucky, also was nominated.
Recording secretary
Travis Kerns was elected as recording secretary. Election results were announced Wednesday morning. Kerns won in a runoff with a vote of 2,966 (51.76%) against Texas pastor George Schroeder, who drew 2,758 (48.14%).
Denny Burk, a professor at Boyce College, the undergraduate school of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, nominated Kerns, who is a South Carolina associational mission strategist for the Three Rivers Baptist Association in Taylors, South Carolina, and a member of First Baptist Church Greer. The other candidate for recording secretary was Jonathan Greer, pastor of Franklin Creek Baptist Church in Moss Point, Mississippi.
Registration secretary
Don Currence, administrative pastor of First Baptist Church Ozark, Missouri, and mayor of Ozark, was reelected registration secretary unopposed during the Wednesday morning session.
Rice in his own words
Weeks before the annual meeting, Rice shared in a Q&A with The Baptist Paper why he allowed his name to placed in nomination for SBC president.
“I feel like we are at a strategic and pivotal moment in SBC life,” he noted. “So many people are troubled by what they have seen and felt over the last decade. They feel a familiar drift taking place.
“We need a renewal in Baptist life that emphasizes convictional clarity, denominational accountability and missional intentionality,” he said. “We don’t need a cheerleader or a cynic, but we do need someone who will tell us the truth about the current situation and listen to concerned voices.”
He added the SBC needs leaders who “love our convention enough to call us back toward real doctrinal and missional health. I love our SBC, and as a fourth generation Florida Baptist, I want to be a voice for renewal and reconciliation.”
Asked if he could improve one thing in the SBC as president, Rice said he “obviously” wants the Convention to be “focused and energized by our global mission.”
“However, that isn’t going to happen when we have leaders who seem embarrassed by our people and unwilling to trust grassroot churches and leaders with appropriate information,” he noted. “We need leaders who demonstrate humility and accountability. I think the SBC functions best when it is led by local churches and pastors, not entities and executives. Right now, we need to restore trust with local churches and pastors.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This article was written by The Baptist Paper, with reporting from Baptist Press.
