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James Merritt, (born December 22, 1952), is a U.S. religious leader and was president of the Southern Baptist Convention from 2000 to 2002.
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James G. Merritt is the senior pastor of Cross Pointe Church. He was born and raised in Oakwood, Georgia and surrendered his life to Christ as a 9-year-old boy. At age 21, he committed to full-time Christian ministry, and went on to pastor five churches. He has preached around the world to hundreds of thousands of people through television and radio.
As a popular Bible teacher and respected voice of the Christian faith, James has been interviewed by media outlets including 60 Minutes, The New York Times, ABC World News Tonight, Time Magazine, and Hannity and Colmes. Each week, Merritt's messages are broadcast in all 50 states and 122 countries around the world through Touching Lives, a television and media ministry.
Merritt earned his bachelor's degree from Stetson University and his Master of Divinity degree and Doctor of Philosophy degree from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He has published several books including Friends, Foes and Fools, and How to Be a Winner and Influence Anybody, with Broadman and Holman publishers. His heart for pastors has also resulted in PastorsEdge.com, a ministry resource and PastorsEdge Mentoring Conferences.
Merritt has been married to his wife, Teresa, for over 40 years and they have three sons and four grandchildren.
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The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is a Christian denomination based in the United States. It is the world's largest Baptist denomination, and the largest Protestant and second-largest Christian denomination in the United States. The word Southern in "Southern Baptist Convention" stems from its having been organized in 1845 in Augusta, Georgia, by white supremacist Baptists in the Southern United States who split from the northern Baptists over the issue of enslaving African-Americans. During the 19th and a majority of the 20th century, the organization supported white supremacy, racial segregation, the Confederacy, and the Lost Cause, and denounced interracial marriage, citing the Bible. Since the 1940s, the SBC has spread across the states, losing some of its regional identity but keeping its original name. While still heavily concentrated in the Southern U.S., the SBC has member churches across the country and 41 affiliated state conventions.
Charles Frazier Stanley is Pastor Emeritus of First Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, after serving as senior pastor for 49 years. He is the founder and president of In Touch Ministries, which widely broadcasts his sermons through television and radio. He also served two one-year terms as president of the Southern Baptist Convention, from 1984 to 1986.
Lifeway Christian Resources, based in Nashville, Tennessee, is the Christian media publishing and distribution division of the Southern Baptist Convention and provider of church business services. Until the end of their physical retail presence in 2019 it was best known for its brick and mortar LifeWay Christian Stores, one of the two major American retailers of Christian books and products. Lifeway produces multiple curriculums and Bible studies used in Sunday schools and other church functions. Lifeway publishes the Christian Standard Bible as well as Christian books and commentaries through B&H Publishing. Lifeway operates a research division that studies Protestant trends and provides contract research services. In addition they distribute many Christian resources created by outside parties. They distribute and sell many church products such as communion supplies, upholstery etc. through its e-commerce business. Lifeway also provides a multitude of church business services such as website design, architecture, background checks, capital campaigns, pastoral coaching and others through both in-house services and partnerships with outside firms.
Adrian Pierce Rogers was an American Southern Baptist pastor and conservative author. He served three terms as president of the Southern Baptist Convention . Rogers was born in West Palm Beach, Florida. He entered Christian ministry at the age of nineteen. He graduated from Stetson University in DeLand, Florida, and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Rogers was ordained by Northwood Baptist Church in West Palm Beach. His first job as a senior pastor was at Fellsmere Baptist Church, a small congregation in Fellsmere, Florida. He performed his first baptism in the C-54 Canal near Fellsmere. He was senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Merritt Island, Florida from 1964 to 1972. In 1972, he became the senior pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee, where he remained until March 2005. During this period, the church's membership grew from 9,000 to 29,000, and the church moved into a new, megachurch facility. Rogers was named pastor emeritus after his retirement in March 2005.
Bellevue Baptist Church is a Southern Baptist megachurch in the Cordova area of Memphis, Tennessee, United States. Bellevue is the largest church in Memphis and is one of the leading churches in the Southern Baptist Convention. Bellevue's goals are to "Love God, Love People, Share Jesus, and Make Disciples." The church's head pastor has been Steve Gaines since 2005.
New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (NOBTS) is a Southern Baptist seminary in New Orleans, Louisiana. It was the first institution created as a direct act of the Southern Baptist Convention. Missions and evangelism are core focuses of the seminary.
John Steven Gaines is an American Southern Baptist pastor, and the 61st President of the Southern Baptist Convention. He is currently serving at Bellevue Baptist Church in Cordova, one of the largest congregations in the Southern Baptist Convention and has visited Israel 16 times. On Sunday, July 10, 2005, the Pastor Search Committee of Bellevue Baptist Church presented Dr. Steve Gaines to the church congregation. At the conclusion of the services the Bellevue family overwhelmingly voted to call Steve Gaines as the seventh Pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church. Gaines succeeds the longtime Bellevue pastor Adrian Rogers.
Wallie Amos Criswell, was an American pastor, author, and a two-term elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention from 1968 to 1970. As senior pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas for five decades he became widely known for expository biblical preaching at a popular level, and is regarded as a key figure in the late 1970s "Conservative Resurgence" within the Southern Baptist Convention.
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS) is a Baptist seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. It is the oldest of the six seminaries affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). The seminary was founded in 1859 in Greenville, South Carolina, where it was at first housed on the campus of Furman University. The seminary has been an innovator in theological education, establishing one of the first Ph.D. programs in religion in the year 1892. After being closed during the Civil War, it moved in 1877 to a newly built campus in downtown Louisville and moved to its current location in 1926 in the Crescent Hill neighborhood. In 1953, Southern became one of the few seminaries to offer a full, accredited degree course in church music. For more than fifty years Southern has been one of the world's largest theological seminaries, with an FTE enrollment of over 3,300 students in 2015.
James Robison is an American televangelist and the founder and President of the Christian relief organization Life Outreach International.
Highview Baptist Church is a multi-site megachurch based in Louisville, Kentucky. It is affiliated with the Kentucky Baptist Convention and Southern Baptist Convention. Aaron Harvie is currently the church's senior pastor.
Joseph Harrison Jackson was an American pastor and the longest serving President of the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.
Jack Graham is the pastor of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas.
Johnny M. Hunt is an American evangelical Christian pastor, author, and former president of the Southern Baptist Convention. He was also formerly senior pastor of First Baptist Church Woodstock, in Woodstock, Georgia. He was the first Native American president of the SBC. He previously served as the Senior Vice President of the Evangelism & Leadership division of the North American Mission Board—the church planting and domestic evangelism arm of the SBC—speaking nationally to church leaders and congregants about sharing the Christian Gospel.
C. Barry McCarty is an American preacher and educator who has been associated with the Southern Baptist Convention and the Christian churches and churches of Christ. McCarty is a former president of Cincinnati Christian University and the current chief parliamentarian for the Southern Baptist Convention. From January 2010 to June 2015 he was the senior pastor of Peachtree Christian Church, a Disciples of Christ congregation, in Atlanta, Georgia. In August 2015, his 30-year relationship with the SBC culminated in changing his church affiliation to Southern Baptist and accepting a call to the faculty of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth as professor of preaching and rhetoric.
Ronald Wayne Floyd is an American religious leader and a former pastor and Southern Baptist executive. Ronnie was the Senior Pastor of Cross Church, a Southern Baptist megachurch located in Northwest Arkansas, and served as the 61st president of the Southern Baptist Convention from 2014-2016. He resigned his post as Senior Pastor in 2019 to become the full-time CEO of the Southern Baptist Executive Committee and run the day-to-day operations of the denomination. His resignation on October 14, 2021 coincided with mounting pressure in the wake of the SBC sexual abuse scandal.
Bryant Wright is a Baptist pastor and author. He served as senior pastor of Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in Marietta, Georgia from its founding in 1981 until 2019. He also served as elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) from June 2010 to June 2012. He succeeded Johnny Hunt, who had served two one-year terms. Wright was succeeded as SBC president by Fred Luter. After having retired as Senior Pastor of Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in 2019, Wright continues to work with Right From The Heart Ministries, and in 2020 was named President of Send Relief, a Christian humanitarian and charitable organization, by the International Mission Board and the North American Mission Board.
William Bullein Johnson was an American Baptist minister, one of the founders of the South Carolina State Baptist Convention in 1821, and later was the first president of the Southern Baptist Convention from 1845 to 1851. Johnson is also the founder of Johnson Female Seminary, later renamed Johnson University, in 1848 the predecessor to Anderson University.
Frank S. Page was president of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) from 2006 to 2008, and president of the denomination's Executive Committee from 2010 to 2018. Page announced his resignation on March 27, 2018, admitting to "a personal failing" that involved a "morally inappropriate relationship." Frank Page now pastors Pebble Creek Baptist Church in South Carolina.
