DALLAS — The Southern Baptist Convention opened its annual national meeting Tuesday in an anxious mood as the denomination’s all-male leadership grappled with the fallout of multiple sexual misconduct cases.
With virtually no opposition, delegates at the meeting adopted resolutions condemning any sexual misconduct by SBC ministers, urging more action to prevent “all forms of abuse,” and encouraging abuse victims to contact civil authorities to seek protection and support.
In a late addition to the program, the SBC announced that Vice President Mike Pence would address the meeting today. In Tuesday’s opening session, a delegate from Virginia, Garrett Kell, sought to cancel Pence’s address and replace it with a time of prayer, but the motion was defeated.
“Many of our minority brothers and sisters will be especially hurt by this invitation,” said Kell, who warned the SBC against associating with any particular administration holding power in Washington.
The agenda in Dallas did not include any reconsideration of the SBC’s doctrine of “complementarianism,” which espouses male leadership in the home and in the church and says a wife “is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband.”
However, the pastor elected Tuesday as the SBC’s new president — J.D. Greear — is among numerous SBC leaders saying the doctrine needs to be observed in a way that’s respectful of women and encourages them to play an active role in church affairs.
In a recent video posted on Facebook, Greear said the church has hurt itself by excluding women from top leadership posts.
Complementarianism “is biblical and we need to honor that … but at the same time recognize that God has gifted women with spiritual gifts,” he said. “We need to be as committed to raising them up in leadership and ministries as we are to our sons.”
Greear, 45, a megachurch pastor from North Carolina who sometimes preaches in jeans and shirts with no sport coat, won about 69 percent of the votes in his election victory over former seminary president Ken Hemphill, 70.
Greear narrowly lost the election for president in 2016 and has been viewed by many Southern Baptists as the inevitable winner this time.
