Texas megachurch Pastor Jack Graham has endorsed former pastor and seminary professor David Allen for president of the Southern Baptist Conference.
The most important Protestant denomination in the USA, the SBC, will maintain its annual assembly in June in Indianapolis, Indiana, with a program together with the election of a brand new president.
SBC President Bart Barber, who was elected in 2022 and re-elected final 12 months, is not going to search re-election as a result of the conference permits people to serve solely two consecutive phrases.
Get our newest information for FREE
Join every day/weekly emails with high tales (and particular presents!) from The Christian Put up. Be the primary to know.
On Sunday at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, the place Graham serves as senior pastor, he voiced his help for Allen's nomination for SBC president and interviewed him.
Graham instructed these gathered that Allen was the primary full-time worker at Prestonwood Baptist within the Seventies as a pupil pastor, earlier than the congregation had a full-time lead pastor.
“I used to be very happy to introduce Dr. David Allen in the present day to share my imaginative and prescient for the Southern Baptist Conference and to help his candidacy for President,” Graham published on X Sunday night time together with a video of his interview with Allen.
“I imagine his character, expertise and management are what we want going ahead. Preacher. Pastor. Professor. It isn’t a part of any group and is owned [no one]. I like David Allen and pray for him as he says sure to the need of God.”
Throughout an interview Sunday, Allen mentioned he believes the SBC is “struggling proper now,” “we're dropping floor” and “we want one thing greater than what we have now” to vary course.
“I owe the Southern Baptist Conference a lot and I wish to be a part of the answer,” Allen mentioned. “I pray for actual belief and transformation in our Southern Baptist Conference.”
Allen additionally emphasised the necessity for extra “transparency” within the denomination and promised to be a “servant chief” if elected, including that “God nonetheless has His hand on His church buildings.”
“Now we have quite a lot of work, quite a lot of work to do, and I wish to be part of this mission, as a result of we’re primarily about profitable folks for Christ, about missions, evangelism and preaching,” he mentioned.
Allen he answered to Graham's put up, he thanked the pastor for having him converse at Prestonwood and mentioned he and his spouse “have been blessed to be at Prestonwood in the present day.”
Allen graduated from The Criswell School of Dallas, Texas, after which earned a doctorate from the College of Texas at Arlington, specializing in linguistics and expository preaching.
He served on the college of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, served on its board for 12 years, and was dean of the college of theology from 2004-2016.
Allen additionally grew to become the primary dean of the SWBTS College of Preaching in 2016, serving till 2022 when he grew to become director of the Adrian Rogers Heart for Biblical Preaching at Mid-American Baptist Theological Seminary in Memphis, Tennessee.
In February, Texas pastor David Forshee introduced his plan to appoint Allen, saying in a press release to Baptist Press that he believes Allen will “lead our conference to be unified and laser-focused on reaching the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
Together with Allen, different people are anticipated to be nominated for SBC president: Clint Pressley, senior pastor of Hickory Grove Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina; Mike Keahbone, senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Lawton, Oklahoma; and Jared Moore, pastor of Cumberland Homesteads Baptist Church in Crossville, Tennessee.
