INDIANAPOLIS – Southern Baptist messengers will have an opportunity to hear from the six men seeking to become the next president of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) next week before election at the 2024 Annual Meeting in Indianapolis.
The Baptist Review, a SBC-related website, announced they will host a Presidential Forum with all six candidates on Monday, June 10, at the Indiana Convention Center in Hall B.
The presidential candidates are Seminary Professor David Allen of Texas, Pastor Bruce Frank of North Carolina, Pastor Mike Keahbone of Oklahoma, Pastor Jared Moore of Tennessee, Pastor Clint Pressley of North Carolina, and Pastor Dan Spencer of Tennessee.
The event is formatted as a forum. Candidates will answer questions related to issues and current events they see in and around the SBC as well as interact with each other throughout the discussion.
Event organizers said the large field of candidates, “may prove overwhelming for the average SBC messenger as they seek to differentiate between their many positions in a time of hotly-debated issues. Our hope is to host an event that is cordial and Christlike, where issues can be discussed … among brothers and co-laborers in Great Commission ministry.”
This is a free event but registration is required.
Organizers said this event is only possible because of their sponsors, which include Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Communio, WA Criswell Sermon Library, the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, and the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board.
More about the candidates:
Allen pastored two churches in Texas before joining the Southwest Baptist Theological Seminary (SWBTS) faculty, where he served in several capacities, and was interim with several other churches. He left SWBTS in 2022 to lead the Adrian Rogers Center for Biblical Preaching at Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary. Allen is a member of First Baptist Church in Sunnyvale, Texas.
Frank has served as lead pastor at Biltmore Baptist Church, which has several campuses in and around Asheville, North Carolina, since 2008. In 2021 and 2022, he served as the chair of the SBC’s Sexual Abuse Task Force overseeing the independent investigation of the SBC Executive Committee for the alleged mishandling of sexual abuse claims.
Keahbone is the senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Lawton, Oklahoma. He has served as a member of the SBC Executive Committee since 2021 and is the vice chairman of the SBC’s Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force. He was a member for the Sexual Abuse Task Force.
Moore is the senior pastor of Homesteads Baptist Church in Crossville, Tennessee. He served as SBC second vice president in 2014. He has served as senior pastor at Homesteads Church since 2016. He previously served as senior pastor of New Salem Baptist Church in Hustonville, Kentucky.
Pressley has served as senior pastor of Hickory Grove Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, since 2010. In addition to serving at Hickory Grove, Pressley has previously pastored churches in Mississippi and Alabama. He has also served in a variety of leadership roles in Southern Baptist life. Currently, Pressley serves on the board of directors for the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina.
Spencer is senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Sevierville, Tennessee. Spencer has been involved in Southern Baptist life for more than two decades. He preached at the SBC Pastors’ Conference in 2001 and was a member of the SBC Committee on Committees in 2005. Spencer served as president of the Georgia Baptist Convention from 2009-11 and served as a director of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board from 2015-19.
The summaries on the nominees were pulled from articles written by the Baptist Press.