President of the Southern Baptist Convention

The president of the Southern Baptist Convention heads the convention and is elected at the annual meeting. The president's duties include presiding over the annual meeting; appointing members to SBC committees; serving as an ex officio member of the board of SBC entities including the International Mission Board, the North American Mission Board, and Lifeway Christian Resources; and representing the SBC to other Baptist denominations and to the press. ^[1]

Although the SBC Bylaws do not specifically state that only a male may be elected as president, no female has ever served as such (the majority of presidents have been pastors of churches, which according to the Baptist Faith and Message, the office of pastor is limited to men only). Any person may be nominated and there is no requirement that a candidate announce their intent to run prior to the annual meeting (during the 2022 Annual Meeting, three candidates announced their intent to run, and a fourth candidate was nominated at the annual meeting). If only one candidate is nominated, the secretary of the SBC (or any designee) may cast the ballot. If three or more candidates are nominated, and no candidate receives a majority on the first ballot, subsequent ballots shall carry all candidates in the top 50 percent of the prior ballot. Proxy voting is not allowed.

Under SBC Bylaws, the term is for one year, and a candidate can serve a maximum of two consecutive terms, after which he must sit out a year before standing for re-election. ^[2] Prior to the current bylaws, presidents could serve more than two terms and frequently did: P.H. Mell served a total of 16 years (over two terms spanning eight years each), the most of any president. The service year overlaps with two calendar years as the annual meeting is held in June, and the term starts upon completion of the annual meeting (thus, at the annual meeting, the incumbent president serves until the annual meeting concludes, after which the elected president—whether incumbent or new—will begin his term).

Since the advent of the current bylaws, the custom has been for the president to serve two consecutive terms, but not run again after the one-year stand-down period; however, it is not uncommon for a president to serve only one term and then step down and not run again. But, two persons have served as president for more than the customary two terms since that time:

• Adrian Rogers served as president for a single term in 1979–1980 and then again for two consecutive terms in 1987–1988 and 1988–1989.
• When the 2020 Annual Meeting was cancelled for the first time in 75 years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, incumbent president J.D. Greear's term was extended to a third year despite the normal term limit, since his replacement could not be elected until the next meeting. ^[3]

List

No.	Image	President	Years in Office	State
1		William Bullein Johnson	1845–1851	South Carolina
2		R. B. C. Howell [4]	1851–1859	Virginia and Tennessee
3		Richard Fuller	1859–1863	South Carolina
4		Patrick H. Mell	1863–1871	Georgia
5		James P. Boyce	1872–1879	South Carolina and Kentucky
6		Patrick H. Mell	1880–1887	Georgia
7		James P. Boyce	1888	Kentucky
8		Jonathan Haralson	1889–1898	Alabama
9		William J. Northen	1899–1901	Georgia
10		James Philip Eagle	1902–1904	Arkansas
11		Edwin William Stephens	1905–1907	Missouri
12		Joshua Levering	1908–1910	Maryland
13		Edwin C. Dargan	1911–1913	Georgia
14		Lansing Burrows	1914–1916	Georgia
15		James Bruton Gambrell	1917–1920	Texas
16		Edgar Young Mullins	1921–1923	Kentucky
17		George W. McDaniel	1924–1926	Virginia
18		George W. Truett	1927–1929	Texas
19		W. J. McGlothin	1930–1932	South Carolina
20		F. F. Brown	1933	Tennessee
21		Monroe E. Dodd	1934–1935	Louisiana
22		John R. Sampey	1936–1938	Kentucky
23		Lee Rutland Scarborough	1939–1940	Texas
24		W. W. Hamilton	1941–1942	Louisiana
25		Pat Morris Neff	1944–1946	Texas
26		Louie D. Newton	1947–1948	Georgia
27		Robert G. Lee	1949–1951	Tennessee
28		J. D. Grey	1952–1953	Louisiana
29		J. W. Storer	1954–1955	Oklahoma
30		C. C. Warren	1956–1957	North Carolina
31		Brooks Hays	1958–1959	Arkansas
32		Ramsey Pollard	1960–1961	Tennessee
33		Herschel Hobbs	1962–1963	Oklahoma
34		K. Owen White	1964	Texas
35		W. Wayne Dehoney	1965–1966	Tennessee
36		H. Franklin Paschall	1967–1968	Tennessee
37		W. A. Criswell	1969–1970	Texas
38		Carl Bates	1971–1972	North Carolina
39		Lawrence Owen Cooper	1973–1974	Mississippi
40		Jaroy Weber	1975–1976	Alabama
41		James L. Sullivan	1976–1977	Tennessee
42		Jimmy Allen	1977–1978	Texas
43		Adrian Rogers [5]	1979–1980	Tennessee
44		Bailey Smith	1980–1982	Oklahoma
45		James T. Draper Jr.	1982–1984	Texas
46		Charles Stanley	1984–1986	Georgia
47		Adrian Rogers	1986–1988	Tennessee
48		Jerry Vines	1988–1990	Florida
49		Morris Chapman	1990–1992	Texas
50		Homer Edwin Young	1992–1994	Texas
51		Jim Henry	1994–1996	Florida
52		Tom Elliff	1996–1998	Oklahoma
53		Paige Patterson	1998–2000	Texas
54		James Merritt	2000–2002	Georgia
55		Jack Graham	2002–2004	Texas
56		Bobby Welch	2004-2006	Florida
57		Frank S. Page	2006–2008	South Carolina
58		Johnny M. Hunt	2008–2010	Georgia
59		Bryant Wright	2010–2012	Georgia
60		Fred Luter [1]	2012–2014	Louisiana
61		Ronnie Floyd [6]	2014–2016	Arkansas
62		Steve Gaines [7]	2016–2018	Tennessee
63		J. D. Greear [8]	2018–2021	North Carolina
64		Ed Litton [9]	2021–2022	Alabama
65		Bart Barber [10]	2022–2024	Texas
66		Clint Pressley [11]	2024–present	North Carolina

See also

• Christianity portal

• List of Southern Baptist Convention affiliated people

References

1. Beachum, Andy; Rebecca, Wolford (1 September 2014). "SBC Presidents". Baptist Press . Retrieved 15 June 2021.
2. "SBC Constitution: Article 5: Officers". SBC.net. Retrieved 2021-06-16.
3. Schroeder, George (March 24, 2020). "2020 SBC Annual Meeting canceled". Baptist Press. Retrieved 2021-06-16.
4. Cathcart, William (1881). The Baptist Encyclopaedia. Everts. p. 551.
5. Jay Mathews, Southern Baptists Elect Rogers, washingtonpost.com, USA, June 11, 1986
6. Baptist Press (June 10, 2014). "Ronnie Floyd wins Southern Baptist Convention presidency". townhall.com. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
7. Denman, Barbara (15 June 2017). "Gaines reelected as SBC President, leads diverse slate of officers". Baptist Press.
8. Denman, Barbara (12 June 2018). "J.D. Greear elected SBC president". Baptist Press . Retrieved 15 June 2021.
9. "Southern Baptists Elect A New President, Ed Litton, Who Is Seen As A Bridge Builder". NPR . 15 June 2021. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
10. "Barber elected SBC President after runoff". Baptist Press . 14 June 2022. Retrieved 15 June 2022.
11. Smietana, Bob (2024-06-12). "North Carolina pastor Clint Pressley elected SBC president". Religion News Service. Retrieved 2024-06-12.