5 Key Takeaways from Southern Baptists' Annual Convention

 By Michael Foust - Posted at Christian Headlines:

Southern Baptists elected a new president, passed recommendations from a sexual abuse task force, and commissioned more than 50 new missionaries during their annual meeting, which was held this week in Anaheim, California.

All total, the convention drew 8,133 messengers, representing all 50 states and the District of Columbia, according to the Baptist Press, the news service of the Southern Baptist Convention. It was the highest-attended annual meeting in a western state since 1998 when the convention was held in Salt Lake City. Meetings in Phoenix in 2017 and 2011 drew less than 5,500 messengers.

Here are five key takeaways from the convention:

1. A NEW PRESIDENT WAS ELECTED

Bart Barber, the pastor of First Baptist Church of Farmersville, Texas, was elected the new president of the SBC in a runoff, receiving 60 percent of the vote to 38 percent by Tom Ascol, the pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Cape Coral, Florida. Ascol was endorsed by the Conservative Baptist Network.

“It’s hard to find a denomination of churches that is more ethnically diverse than the Southern Baptist Convention, and I hope to lead our continued growth in that way,” Barber said after he was elected.

He has built a reputation as a peacemaker within the convention, urging various factions to work toward a common goal of advancing the Gospel.

Barber supported the work of a sexual abuse task force that investigated sexual abuse within SBC churches.

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