Texas pastor beats Conservative Baptist Network–endorsed Tom Ascol in a runoff.
The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) made two major decisions toward the cause of abuse reform at its annual meeting on Tuesday. The first was approving a database and new task force to oversee denominational changes. The second was electing Bart Barber as its next president.
A rural Texas pastor and denominational committee leader, Barber defeated opponent Tom Ascol in a runoff on the first day of the meeting, garnering 61 percent to 38 percent of the 5,600 votes.
Ascol, the Florida pastor who leads Founders Ministries, had been backed by the Conservative Baptist Network (CBN) and adopted its “change the direction” slogan against supposed liberal drift in the conservative evangelical denomination.
For the past two years, the presidential race has reflected divides in the SBC. A faction led by the fundamentalist CBN resisted the call for a robust abuse investigation that waived attorney-client privilege and criticized some of the proposals that resulted from it.
Barber’s victory is seen as a promising sign that the recommendations for abuse reform—to be considered by a new task force appointed by the president—will move forward in the year ahead.
“It’s a win not only for the convention but for sexual abuse reform,” said Josh King, lead pastor of Second Baptist Conway in Arkansas. “Bart is going to be much more supportive and going to facilitate the direction the convention was going” at this year’s meeting.
His wife, Bible teacher Jacki King, acknowledged that the vote still revealed a “pretty distinct divide” in the denomination, but “a majority are saying this is the way forward, that we have to rectify the ways we’ve gone wrong and care ...
from Christianity Today Magazine https://ift.tt/5euV16E
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