SBC Executive Committee
Southern Baptist Executive Committee agrees to a resolution with Jennifer Lyell
By Bob Smietana — February 22, 2022
NASHVILLE. Tenn. (RNS) — Lyell had come forward with a story of abuse and found her story turned against her.
Willie McLaurin, interim Executive Committee leader, is SBC’s first Black entity head
By Adelle M. Banks — February 1, 2022
(RNS) — ‘My prayer is that this season will bring healing and unity to our Convention,’ said the new interim president of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.
Who will lead the SBC forward? The messengers. They already are.
By Matt Henslee — October 22, 2021
(RNS) — The SBC is not run by elites but by ordinary pastors, Sunday school teachers, missionaries and music directors. They are already taking the helm.
A brief guide to the Southern Baptist meltdown over sexual abuse
By Bob Smietana — October 2, 2021
(RNS) — A fight over one clause in a contract has deep implications for the nation's largest Protestant denomination.
The SBC’s Ronnie Floyd fails his Ezra moment on sexual abuse
By Russell L. Meek — September 30, 2021
(RNS) — Prayer and fasting has convinced the SBC's Ronnie Floyd to prevent Southern Baptists from repenting.
Hannah-Kate Williams, alleging sex abuse failures, sues SBC leaders
By Megan Botel — August 17, 2021
LEXINGTON, Ky. (RNS) — After years of asking Southern Baptist officials to address her reports of sexual abuse by her pastor father, a young Kentucky woman has filed a defamation suit against several church leaders.
As Southern Baptists begin to grapple with sexual abuse, looming challenges remain
By Yonat Shimron and Bob Smietana — June 28, 2021
(RNS) — One week after the convention closed, an advocate for sex abuse survivors posted to a blog that a registered sex offender has been preaching at a Dallas Southern Baptist church.
Sex abuse survivors call for system-wide audit of Southern Baptist Convention
By Yonat Shimron — June 14, 2021
(RNS) — The group of eight survivors wants the convention to go beyond the review of the Executive Committee that was announced last week.
Georgia SBC church faces banishment for accepting LGBTQ members
By Maina Mwaura — February 19, 2021
(RNS) — As the South changes, its dominant denomination faces defining decisions over inclusion.
Some Southern Baptist pastors are calling Kamala Harris ‘Jezebel.’ What do they mean?
By Yonat Shimron and Emily McFarlan Miller — January 29, 2021
(RNS) — Southern Baptist pastors are sharply critical of Vice President Kamala Harris. Now some are taking their insults to biblical proportions.
‘Pope’ Albert Mohler and the catholicization of conservative evangelicalism
By Jacob Lupfer — October 30, 2020
(RNS) — The pope's adoption of civil unions has sharply delineated a momentous shift from the Baptist battles of the last generation.
Protecting abuse survivors is ‘personal,’ says new Southern Baptist leader
By Adelle M. Banks — September 22, 2020
(RNS) — The Rev. Rolland Slade on his personal connection with a sex abuse survivor: ‘In fact, we’ve been married 39 years. So when I say it’s personal, it’s personal.’
Rev. Rolland Slade, first black chair of Southern Baptist Executive Committee, elected
By Adelle M. Banks — June 16, 2020
(RNS) — Rolland Slade, pastor of Meridian Baptist Church in El Cajon, California, was previously vice chairman of the Executive Committee.
Dispute over Russell Moore spurs pushback among some Southern Baptists
By Yonat Shimron and Bob Smietana — February 20, 2020
(RNS) — Among many older Southern Baptists who have been overwhelmingly supportive of President Trump, the views of Russell Moore, who has called Trump ‘an arrogant huckster’ back in 2016, are divisive.
Southern Baptist leaders plan to remedy ‘insufficient’ approach to abuse claims
By Adelle M. Banks — June 3, 2019
(RNS) — Their denomination’s Executive Committee may also vote to create a year-round Credentials Committee that will consider complaints about churches mishandling abuse or 'discriminatory behavior on the basis of ethnicity.'
