Daytona Beach pastor elected SBC president

Photo by John C. Hannigan

Tom Kinchen (l), president of The Baptist College of Florida in Graceville, shows off a sign bearing the image of newly elected SBC President Bobby Welch in the SBC exhibit area.

INDIANAPOLIS (BP)—Officers who hail from Florida, California and Missouri were elected as the 2004-05 officers of Southern Baptist Convention during the SBC’s June 15-16 annual meeting in Indianapolis. A total of 8,600 messengers, 545 from Florida, were registered to the meeting, which took place at the Indiana Convention Center RCA Dome.

Bobby Welch, pastor of First Baptist Church in Daytona Beach, was elected SBC president in a 3,997-1,020 ballot over Al Jarrell, pastor of Riverside Baptist Church in Merry Hill, N.C. Messengers also approved the recommendation of Ken Whitten, pastor of Idlewild Baptist Church,Tampa, to deliver next year’s convention sermon.

Johnny Hunt, pastor of First Baptist Church of Woodstock, Ga., nominated Welch for president. “What encourages me most about Dr. Bobby Welch is his deep love for the Lord Jesus Christ, his commitment to God’s holy Word, his passion to missions and soul-winning and his unwavering desire to make a difference in his lifetime in Christ’s Kingdom,” Hunt said. Hunt called Welch a “household name among Southern Baptists” and praised his commitment to the Cooperative Program and evangelism. “You can hardly think of sharing your faith without thinking of Bobby Welch and FAITH soul-winning training,” Hunt said.

Welch has been pastor of Daytona Beach First Baptist Church since 1974. He is the co-creator of the popular FAITH Sunday School Evangelism Strategy with Doug Williams, the church’s retired evangelism director. Welch is the author of You, the Warrior Leader, Evangelism Through the Sunday School: A Journey of FAITH and The Sacrificed Life. He has served as a trustee for LifeWay Christian Resources and as a member of the SBC Committee on Resolutions and Committee on Nominations.

A native of Fort Payne, Ala., Welch graduated from Jacksonville (Ala.) State University and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He is a Vietnam War veteran who earned a Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Air Medal and other awards. Welch and his wife, Maudellen, have two married children, Matthew and Haylee.

Dennis Conner, pastor of Cashie Baptist Church in Windsor, N.C., nominated Jarrell, saying, “I am under no illusion that Rev. Jarrell may be elected. I had to beg him to permit me to place his name in nomination. But I do so because I have grown concerned in the nine years that I have been coming to Welch’s election marked the first two-nominee presidential ballot since the 1994 SBC annual meeting in Orlando, when Jim Henry, pastor of First Baptist Church in Orlando was elected over Alabama pastor Fred Wolfe.

BP photo by Matt Miller

Following their formal introduction to messengers attending the Southern Baptist Convention, newly elected SBC officers spontaneously join in prayer after leaving the platform. The SBC annual meeting was June 15-16 in the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis.

In other elections at the Indianapolis convention:

Gerald Davidson, pastor of the St. Louis-area First Baptist Church in Arnold and a past president of the Missouri Baptist Convention, was unopposed as SBC first vice president.

David Young Hwan Gill, pastor of Concord Korean Baptist Church in Martinez, Calif., and president of the Council of Korean Southern Baptist Churches in North America, was elected second vice president in a runoff with Mark Hearn, pastor of Northside Baptist Church in Indianapolis and a past first vice president of the State Convention of Baptists in Indiana. Gill also is the current first vice president of the California Southern Baptist Congregation.

A third nominee on the initial SBC second vice presidential ballot was Ohio pastor John Hays, pastor of the Columbus-area Jersey Baptist Church and a former president of the State Convention of Baptists in Ohio.

John L. Yeats, editor of the Baptist Messenger, the weekly newsjournal of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma, was elected to another term as recording secretary. He was unopposed. Yeats was first elected to the position in 1997.

James H. (Jim) Wells, director of missions for the Tri-County Baptist Association in Ozark, Mo., was re-elected registration secretary. He was first elected to the position in 2002. The convention’s music director will be Buster Pray, associate pastor of worship ministries at First Baptist Church, Springdale, Ark.