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Baptist Message

"Helping Louisiana Baptists Impact the World For Christ"

SCOTUS rejects NAMB’s lawsuit against former BCMD executive director

By Will Hall, Baptist Message executive editor WASHINGTON (LBM) – The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear the lawsuit filed by the North American Mission Board, who had asked the nine justices to review the verdict of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in the Southern Baptist Convention entity’s legal battle with Will McRaney, the former executive director of the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware. In effect, the denial means McRaney has prevailed in his effort to finally depose witnesses and present evidence to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi in his claim about NAMB’s “intentional interference with business relationships, defamation, and intentional infliction of emotional distress” related to his termination by the BCMD. NAMB filed its appeal to the Supreme Court after losing 0-3 in a hearing by a three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court, and then failing 8-9 in a request for a full hearing by that same court. The close vote in the second ruling was wrapped in controversy due to false filings by NAMB and the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, also an SBC entity, who claimed the SBC (and consequently NAMB) has a hierarchical governing relationship with Baptist … [Read more...]

On second ballot, messengers elect Litton SBC president

By Will Hall, Message executive editor NASHVILLE, Tenn. (LBM) – Ed Litton, pastor of Redemption Church in Saraland, Alabama, was elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention, June 15, in Nashville, Tennessee, during the 2021 SBC Annual Meeting. Litton won a runoff vote against Georgia Pastor Mike Stone, by a margin of 556 votes, 6,834 to 6,278. The messenger count peaked at 15,691 prior to the election, according to registration secretary Don Currence. However, only 13,112 ballots were cast. FIRST ROUND Stone, pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church, Blackshear, Georgia, led Litton after the first round of voting among four contenders, who included R. Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky, and Randy Adams, executive director of Northwest Baptist Convention, Vancouver, Washington. First Vote: Stone, 5,216, or 37.2 percent; Litton, 4,360, or 31.1 percent; Mohler, 3,764, or 26.9 percent; and Adams, 673, or 4.8 percent (out of 14,013 total votes counted). CAJUN COMMENDATION Fred Luter, pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church, New Orleans, nominated Litton with a strong endorsement of Litton’s ability as a “uniter” who has “uniquely shown his commitment to … [Read more...]

Messengers adopt 10 resolutions

By Will Hall, Message executive editor NOTE: The online edition of this article has been corrected to indicate that the SBC Resolutions Committee tabled Resolution 7. NASHVILLE, Tenn. (LBM) – Messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention’s 2021 Annual Meeting adopted nine of the 10 resolutions submitted by the Resolutions Committee and added one from the floor that called for “abolishing abortion.” According to Baptist Press, the Resolutions Committee had declined the previously submitted pro-life resolution, June 15, because the issue of abortion had been addressed in another resolution they wrote. However, one of the co-authors of the rejected resolution spoke to the messengers, who voted to bring it to the floor for consideration with a two-thirds vote and adopted it the next day after the word “alone” was added. In the end, this resolution declared “that we will not embrace an incremental approach alone to ending abortion because it challenges God’s Lordship over the heart and the conscience, and rejects His call to repent of sin completely and immediately.” Meanwhile, the committee tabled the proposed Resolution 7 they had crafted -- which denounced “the Capitol resurrection of January 6, 2021, … as inconsistent … [Read more...]

Messengers present 32 motions for consideration

By Staff, Baptist Message NASHVILLE (BP) – Messengers presented 32 motions during the 2021 Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting, and moved: for an investigation of the ERLC for concealing knowledge about sex abuse for more than a year and only revealing such information through leaked ERLC letters accusing the EC of racism and mishandling sex abuse cases (Jared Longshore, Florida); for an outside investigation of the EC regarding the ERLC’s accusations in the leaked letters (Grant Gaines, Tennessee); for the Executive Committee to study possible conflicts of interest because the same legal counsel represents the EC and the SBC (Jay Adkins, Louisiana); to break fellowship with Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California (Shad Tibbs, Louisiana); that specific conditions be met before using Cooperative Program funds to pay for an outside in-vestigation of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission or the EC (Allen Nelson, Arkansas); that a Fellowship Meal Sunday be added to the SBC calendar (James Allen Murray, North Carolina); to rescind Resolution 9 (that approved of Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality), which was adopted during the 2019 SBC Annual Meeting (Tom Ascol, Florida); to end … [Read more...]

Send Conference draws 10,000 for Gospel training, Crossover enlists 92 volunteers for Gospel work

By Will Hall, Baptist Message executive editor NASHVILLE, Tenn. (LBM) – The 2021 Send Conference, jointly sponsored by the North American Mission Board and the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, attracted 10,000 participants from across the nation, June 13-14, for general sessions and breakout meetings headlined by Southern Baptist celebrities such as football coaching legends Bobby Bowden (Florida State University) and Mark Richt (Georgia University). Meanwhile, according to Baptist Press, the North American Mission Board was able to enlist 92 volunteers, largely comprising seminary students, who conducted four days of door-to-door outreach, June 13-16. SEND CONFERENCE Billed as a “gathering of pastors, families and churches across North America learning and celebrating what it means to be on mission together, for the sake of the gospel’ the Send Conference offered “specialized tracks for every member of the family” providing “the tools and connections to become a movement of people — the Church — sharing the gospel with a world in need.” Participants were blessed during the Sunday night opening session by worship music led by Michael W. Smith and CeCe Winans, and a concert by (Steven … [Read more...]