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Jason McNair

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SBC Presidental Forum

Candidates for next SBC President share their vision for the future

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Three candidates for next SBC President are hosted in a discussion forum at FBC Keller, TX
Three candidates for next SBC President are hosted in a discussion forum at FBC Keller, TX

KELLER, TX- First Baptist Church of Keller, TX hosted a presidential forum on May 4th. Three of the candidates who will be nominated for SBC president at the Annual Meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention when it gathers in Anaheim in June made themselves available on the platform. This forum was livestreamed on ACTS2 Network via their app, but you can also view it here by clicking the link to FBC Keller’s website.

https://fbckeller.org/events/sbcam-conference

Hear the candidates’ answers on how to encourage evangelism and missions, what they would prioritize, and how best to navigate denominational and cultural challenges in coming months. This event was hosted by Joe Wooddell and Tony Richmond of First Baptist Church Keller.

In addition to the on-demand option to view this forum, Baptist Press published three articles (linked below) that contain specific interviews with each candidate. The order these articles were published were alphabetical and are not, in any way an endorsement or priority ranking of each candidate. Neither Baptist Press, nor Utah Idaho Southern Baptist Convention, nor any member of their respective staffs will take a position on any of the men who have made their names available to be nominated for president of the SBC or any other leadership office within the convention. We make these resources available simply to educate and inform churches and leaders in our convention to help them make the most informed decision they can when it comes time to vote at our 2022 Annual Meeting in Anaheim.

Tom Ascol, senior pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Cape Coral, Florida
https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/an-interview-with-tom-ascol/

Bart Barber, senior pastor at First Baptist Church of Farmersville, Texas
https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/an-interview-with-bart-barber/

Robin Hadaway, senior professor of missions at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/an-interview-with-robin-hadaway/

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Lemhi River Cowboy Church hosts Spring Rodeo Bible Camp

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Kids learn and master goat tying at RBC, Lemhi River Fairgrounds
Kids learn and master goat tying at RBC, Lemhi River Fairgrounds

SALMON, ID – Lemhi River Cowboy Church hosted their first ever Rodeo Bible Camp at the Lemhi County Fairgrounds March 25-27. The camp was for kindergarten through high school kids who wanted to learn or improve their rodeo skills. The church chose to do it before the high school rodeo season started so the kids could have the opportunity to get themselves and their horses ready for the season. They focused on horsemanship, barrels, poles, goat tying, calf roping, and team roping. When they were not in their rodeo clinic, they could do leatherwork, tie dye t-shirts, braid, rope, or just hang out with friends. It culminated with a community dinner, cowboy church, the rodeo, and the awards presentation on Sunday. The kids had a great time and the Lord was working in a mighty way. 

Article by Amber Harden. Amber and Nathan, along with their family, serve across Utah and Idaho as Mission Service Corps Volunteers through the North American Mission Board. God uses them through their skills to assist churches and share the gospel through construction service projects. To reach Nathan and Amber or to contribute to their mission with a tax-deductible gift, visit their blog at “A Carpenter for Christ“. 

kids roping 3
Kids learning new rope skills
kids roping 2
Kids roping a calf decoy
kids bible study
Kids learning new Bible skills
kids rodeo
Rodeo work is fun, and rewarding
March Mission Team 2022

Mission team in Utah spreads the gospel on local campuses

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Mission Team in Utah speaks with Chip Thompson of Tri Grace ministries.
Mission Team in Utah speaks with Chip Thompson of Tri Grace ministries.

Salt Lake City, UT- The mission field is huge and might seem insurmountable, but that is not slowing down the efforts to push back the darkness at the University of Utah and two other campuses in Utah County. Gospel Grace Church in Salt Lake City hosted a mission team of college students on their spring break last month. Teams from their own congregation joined them to present the gospel to anyone who will listen while ministering to all three campuses. One of teams helped pave the way for a large scale event on the University of Utah campus that was well attended. 

Aaron Marshall, the leader of Gospel Grace Church’s collegiate ministry shared about the success of this event. “We hosted Frank Turek for his I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist presentation. We were able to co-sponsor the event with three other campus ministries which was awesome. We ended up having close to 400 people in attendance. They all heard the evidence for Christianity and a clear Gospel presentation. I was so excited for the turnout. We made a lot of contacts that night and have had multiple new people come to our meetings as a result of the event.” 

Following the presentation, the weekly gatherings at “the U” were opportunities to follow up on questions that were raised by Turek at the event.  Aaron shared “The meeting after the event we had one of my atheist friends, Daniel, come and give a response to Turek’s arguments. He then let the students ask him questions and challenge him. He is a former Later-day Saint that is now atheist. Our student President, Vince Mays, ended up staying and talking with him for over three hours after the meeting. Vince is a PhD candidate in Biology and was challenging Daniel on the origins of life. We continue to pray that Daniel will come to know the true Jesus.”

Aaron continued to share about the growth they have experienced this spring. “We have picked up at least one more person that wants to do evangelism with us on the campuses, so we are very excited about that. We now have four people that are going out weekly to do evangelism. The month of April should be great because the weather will be nice and we will set up our evangelism table outside. Please pray for our team as we try to share the gospel on the campus of The U, UVU and BYU this month.”

Please pray for college ministry work on all of our college campuses across Utah and Idaho.  100% of the collegiate work on our campuses if supported by local churches, associations, and a portion of the York Dillman State Missions Offering.  We depend on the faithfulness of local UISBC churches and volunteers who have a passion to reach this generation. Pray for our Collegiate Network Coordinator, Ben Nesier as he helps equip local leaders on these campuses and serves campuses in his own community of Utah County through a collegiate church plant in Provo, Mosaic Church. God is sending mission teams from across the country to our area. They need our support and prayers as they serve in this important task. For more information about how you can impact a campus near you, please contact Ben Neiser. He would welcome you on the team to help reach these important mission fields. 

Aaron Marshall of Gospel Grace Church in Salt Lake City contributed the testimonies of students and events that were discussed in this story.   

March Mission Team 2022
College mission team in Utah to support Gospel Grace Church’s collegiate ministry outreach
Vince Mays GGC introducing Frank Turek
Vince Mays, president of Gospel Grace Church college ministry introduces Frank Turek
400 Students and faculty attend Turek event at U of U
Over 400 students and faculty attended the “I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist” seminar at U of U campus
Jared Halverson speaks to mission team
Christian LDS Apologist, Jared Halverson, helps train mission team in Utah
Chip Thompson speaking to mission team in Manti
Mission Team in Utah speaks with Chip Thompson of Tri Grace ministries.
Ben Neiser speaks to mission team in Provo
UISBC Collegiate Network Coordinator, Ben Nesier, prepares mission team in Utah to share the gospel on BYU campus
guidestone-logo

Pastors encouraged to participate in church compensation survey

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by Roy Hayhurst

DALLAS- GuideStone®, Lifeway Research and Baptist state conventions have again teamed up for the SBC Church Compensation Survey. Normally a biennial survey, the 2020 survey was canceled due to the pandemic; it was last conducted in 2018. To see the results from the 2018 study, you may click here

Pastors and church employees are invited to participate in the brief survey, a resource used by churches of all sizes to determine applicable wages and benefits. The survey takes about 10 minutes to complete at GuideStone.org/CompensationSurvey. The survey starts on April 1 and goes until the end of June.

The survey’s results will be available in August, in time for many churches considering their 2023 budgets. The survey is the largest free church compensation study available in the United States.

“We honor the Lord and strengthen the church when we give proper financial support to those who serve,” GuideStone President Hance Dilbeck said. “GuideStone is committed to advocate for pastors and local church employees. We pray this compensation survey will challenge each of our churches to provide appropriate compensation and to do so by following best practices.”

Individual survey results can be contributed anonymously: Survey results are not reported individually. Lifeway Research will compile the results once the survey closes on June 30. Survey respondents will receive advance notice of the survey’s availability.

Respondents should have the church’s average weekly attendance, church membership and 2022 annual budget. Additional information needed to complete the survey is respondents’ annual salary, annual contributions to a retirement plan and annual church-paid insurance premiums, annual housing allowance, Social Security offset and the rental value and utilities for church-provided housing.

Southern Baptist church ministers and staff have until June 30 to complete the online survey.

Roy Hayhurst is director of denominational and public relations services for GuideStone Financial Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention.

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SBC EC Presidential Search Team issues Call to Prayer

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)—The team tasked with searching for a new president & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee (SBC EC) is asking for prayer.

The group also has launched a 21-day prayer initiative and created a day-by-day guide to encourage specific prayers for each day the rest of the month.

“As Christians we understand that prayer is essential in our walk with Christ, and as a committee we felt it was essential to start our process with a season of prayer,” said search team Chairman Adron Robinson. “In John 15:5 Jesus says without Him we can do nothing, so to begin this assignment without seeking God’s direction would be a huge mistake.”

In addition to Robinson, the seven-member search team, appointed by the EC at its Feb. 22 meeting, includes Mollie Duddleston (Springdale, Ark.), Mike Keahbone (pastor of Lawton, First), Jeremy Morton (Woodstock, Ga.), Philip Robertson (Pineville, La.) and David Sons (Lexington, S.C.). Current EC Chairman Rolland Slade will serve in an ex officio capacity until June, when he will be replaced by a newly elected EC chair.

The prayer guide is broken into three sections—personnel, priorities and president. Keahbone stressed the importance of prayer to the team’s mission.

“I was looking through the timelines of the previous hiring processes and did not see a specific and strategic plan to call our convention to pray,” he said. “I brought it up in our first meeting and the entire team was excited to let prayer be the cornerstone of our search process. God knows the shepherd He is calling to lead us. Prayer tunes our hearts to His.”

Morton agreed that the team was united in the idea.

“We all agreed an intentional season of prayer was essential,” he said “We do not assume we can get this search ‘correct’ without God’s gracious touch. In fact, we enter this process humbly and with a sober sense of desperation. Without God’s grace, we know we won’t get it right.

“Prayer isn’t something extra we are doing. It’s the driving force of the entire process. I actually believe the more we pray, the simpler and things will be.”

The group is asking for people to people to pray for the EC trustees, staff, interim President/CEO Willie McLaurin, Vice President for Communication Jonathan Howe, the Sexual Abuse Task Force and SBC President Ed Litton.

“Every believer in our convention is impacted by this hire; therefore, all of us must join together in prayer,” Keahbone said. “My prayer is that God would unify us as a convention. There is no better unifying agent than God’s people seeking their Father’s heart.”

The group is asking Southern Baptists for help in seeking God’s provision of unity, wisdom, patience, discernment, integrity, faithfulness and accountability for the team.

“We hope that God would sanctify our hearts as a committee and as a convention,” Robinson said. “There are many things trying to divide us as a convention, but seeking God will sanctify and unify us. We want to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace and work together to fulfill God’s will.

“The entire Southern Baptist Convention should join in this prayer initiative, and we hope our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world will also join this effort.”

While the team has not begun to receive applications for the position, they are asking Southern Baptists to pray the candidate is:

  • Prepared to the lead the EC
  • Humble
  • A strong, relational and unifying leader
  • Someone with Christ-like character
  • A leader with compassion for the hurting and lost
  • Deeply rooted in biblical conviction
  • A leader committed to the Cooperative Program, the Baptist Faith and Message, SBC entities, the Great Commission and the Great Commandment

“We hope that prayer will help us walk together in unity and clarity,” Morton said. “We hope our season of prayer will encourage all Southern Baptists to join us and participate.

“We are excited and believe by faith that God has a bright future for our search process, that He has the right leader on the horizon for Southern Baptists, and that our convention will move forward and make more disciples for Jesus until He comes again. I’m praying Luke 11:13 that the Holy Spirit will fill us and help us.”

The team has encouraged people to pray from March 11-31, but anytime is a great time to start. If you plan to start on Sunday, March 20, your prayer season will conclude on April 10, Palm Sunday. 

This article was republished from The Oklahoma Baptist Messenger online newspaper, with portions from SBC.net.  Article originally Posted by Brandon Porter 

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