SBC 2026

Introduction

This morning we started a series so that we can all understand the church. A major part of our church is that we belong to the denomination of Southern Baptists. And just like I am explaining how we are to function biblically as a church, I believe it would also be worthwhile to explain why we are Southern Baptists and what it means when I say that we went to the SBC Gathering.

The SBC is a network of churches that cooperate with each other to fulfill the great commission. The idea and purpose is that we can accomplish more together than we can independently. So, churches in our area cooperate with one another in Lawrence County. And then we have the state level that we call the Alabama State Board of Missions. And finally there is the national level, just simply called the SBC.

We are in cooperation with this network of churches and so our church gets a voice in how we cooperate together.

I. The SBC Gathering is a Business Meeting

What takes place every year at the convention is reflective of what of we do here every business meeting. The convention hears reports from the different entities, we hear from the committees and entities about their budgets, and they give a report of what God is doing in the life of the SBC from their entity. An entity is something that is a ministry of the Southern Baptists that isn’t a church. An example of this would be the IMB or NAMB.

A. Attendance

This year was one of the highest attended conventions in recent history, probably because of the controversy over what is called the “Truth and Unity Ammendment.”

There was 20,000 people in attendance at the convention this year, and 11k of those were messengers.

A messenger is a member of a cooperating Southern Baptist Church that is selected to represent the voice of that church in the overall convention. When I go to the convention, I go as your voice to the SBC.

B. Governing Structure

1. Not Top-Down

A lot of other denominations are “top-down” in their leadership, which means that their church governing structure in centralized.

The SBC works the other way. What happens in the Southern Baptist Convention is the will of the messengers who come to vote and participate in the business of the SBC.

It works that way here in our local association. We are in cooperation with other SBC churches in Lawrence County under the umbrella of the Muscle Shoals Baptist Association.

For now, Robert Bunky Smith is our associational representative. The messengers from our church met with the messengers from other local churches and affirmed his calling as the Director of Missions. When the committee, which I am a part of, brings forward the man we believe will be the next DOM, the messengers that are in attendance in our local association will affirm that on behalf of the churches.

2. Autonomous Churches

As Southern Baptists, we have what are called autonomous churches. That means that no one from the SBC leadership is going to come and tell me or you who is and who isn’t going to be your pastor. They aren’t going to tell us how to spend our money. They aren’t going to have any say in how we operate, because we are the voice of the convention, not the leaders.

a. We Do Cooperate

What we do instead is we cooperate with each other.

Of every dollar that you give to Providence, we send .10 of that to the Alabama State Board. Southern Baptist Churches all over Alabama, and the US, send in money to their State Board so that we can cooperate with each other to send missionaries, support churches, and expand God’s Kingdom.

That is why what we give to is called the Cooperative Program. When we send our 10% to the State Board, the State Board of Alabama retains 5% and then sends the other 5% to the National Convention (not every state board does 50/50).

b. Alabama Cooperative Giving

The expected total of 2026 Alabama Baptist giving is $37,500,000. An even split will leave $18,750,000 with Alabama Baptists and will give $18,750,000 to the SBC.

We give 10% of all undesignated receipts. So, if we get $250,000 in tithes, the we send $25,000 to the State, and they send $12,500 of that to the SBC.

Churches our size make up almost all of the giving in the entire SBC. The Providence’s of the world are the backbone of missions giving.

C. “Truth and Unity Amendment”

If you read the news reports, they’ll tell you that Southern Baptists have banned women from serving in ministry, and that we are oppressing women and denying them the privilege of doing what God has called them to do, and that’s not true.

I am going to break open the Bible here and we’re going to talk about women in ministry tonight, but I want to clear the air and give some perspective on the controversy surrounding this year’s SBC.

a. Motion Made by Dr. Albert Mohler

Dr. Mohler is the President of one of our six Southern Baptist Seminaries. “The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary” in Louisville Kentucky.

He has been the president of this seminary longer than I’ve been alive. He started as President there in August of 1993 and has been a leading voice in the SBC and on the political stage, defending life and bringing sensibility back to how we view the world.

He and I don’t align on every doctrinal matter, but he has been consistent and faithful in serving the seminary and the SBC.

In May, Mohler announced that he was going to make a motion to amend and clarify our constitution and bylaws to accurately reflect what Southern Baptist already affirm about the office of the pastor.

We hold that the Bible teaches that the office of pastor is reserved for men, as called by God, to serve in both the role and the function of pastor.

We have affirmed this at least since 2000. There is something called the Baptist faith and message 2000. It was first written in 1925, revised in 1963, and then updated again in 2000.

When it was updated 2000, Adrian Rogers (chair), Jerry Vines, Steve Gaines, Fred Luter, Al Mohler, Richard Land, Chuck Kelley (Former NOBTS Pres), and others, revised what Southern Baptist believed and solidified what doctrinal truths we believe. Here is what the BFM 2000 says about the church.

A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is an autonomous local congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel; observing the two ordinances of Christ, governed by His laws, exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word, and seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth. Each congregation operates under the Lordship of Christ through democratic processes. In such a congregation each member is responsible and accountable to Christ as Lord. Its two scriptural offices are that of pastor/elder/overseer and deacon. While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor/elder/overseer is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.

Women in the office of pastor has been a debate for a long time. It should have been settled in 2000, but apparently not.

At that time in 2000, Dr. Rogers reported that out of 42,000 SBC churches, 100 of them have women serving the office of pastor. It was never and issue, and I am honestly confused why it was made an issue.

The only thing that I can gather is that there are people who are trying to make a name for themselves making mountains out of molehills.

The amendment that Dr. Mohler made wasn’t anything new, but it clarified in our constitution and bylaws what the BFM already said. Here is what Mohler’s amendment to the constitution of the SBC said:

“The SBC does not act to affirm, appoint, or endorse, a woman serving in the office or function of a pastor/elder/overseer, specifically preaching to an assembled congregation.”

The Scriptural evidence on this issue in 1 Timothy

1 Timothy 2:12 NKJV

And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence.

1 Timothy 3:1 NKJV

This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work.

The Bible makes it clear that only a man can serve in the office of pastor or perform the function of pastor.

That doesn’t mean that women cannot serve or even speak on a stage. What it does mean is that when there are men in the assembled congregation, a woman isn’t biblically allowed to get behind the pulpit and say, “Open your Bibles for thus sayeth the Lord.”

-What it does not mean:

It does not mean that women can’t talk into the microphone.

It does not mean that women cannot serve on committees or as a CEO.

It does not mean that women can’t lead the musical worship.

It does not mean that women cannot serve on staff in an SBC church.

-What it does mean is that women cannot biblically be ordained to the office of pastor, and they cannot biblically perform the function of the pastor, and that is to preach the Word of God to the assembled congregation containing both men and women.

Example: If we are in Sunday School and Shawn is teaching class, and Kayla has a point she’d like to make or something to teach the class, she is well within her biblical right to do so, because she is not performing the function of the pastor. Her husband is the teacher, and she is not teaching, but she is providing commentary on what God has shown her in her personal Bible study.

Example: Whenever I am gone, as of now, Rho is our go to worship leader. She’s not a “worship pastor”, but she is a leader. She isn’t on stage preaching, she is on the stage encouraging the saints and exhorting them to love and to follow Jesus along with her. Not in authority, but in partnership.

b. My Vote on This Issue

In the past two years, I have voted no on similar amendments to be made to the constitution.

I voted no because I didn’t trust the factions in the SBC making these claims and amendments. I didn’t want to give them a platform they didn’t deserve by approving something they claimed was theirs and not from the word in the best interest of the SBC.

I voted no because I didn’t believe the amendments that were presented solved the issue, assuming we were having any. I thought this matter was settled and I recognized that the SBC was already in agreement on if women can be ordained as pastors.

I voted no because the language wasn’t specific enough. To say that women cannot even speak to or during the assembly is outside of the Bible. I know the Bible says that women should be silent, but that simply means that they should be able to control themselves in the assembly of the church and not cause a scene. That if they have an objection to a matter of business or need to say something they should go through the proper channels instead of just blurting it out.

This year I voted yes for the ammendment.

I voted yes because no one’s name was tied to it and Mohler already has notoriety, so I wasn’t worried that we would be praising Mohler’s name instead of Jesus’s name. In 2024 it was called the Law amendment and it was made by Mike Law. In 2025 it was called the Sanchez amendment and it was made by Juan Sanchez. I didn’t want to vote on something that was being used as a tool for these men to climb the ladder.

voted yes because the amendment was clear and didn’t add or take anything away from what has already been stated in the BFM 2000.

The language was specific. The amendment says that a woman cannot be ordained to the office and that they cannot preach to an assembled congregation. It doesn’t put any restrictions on female staff, choir directors, kid’s directors, committees, or even youth volunteers. It simply means that a woman cannot preach the Word to the assembly or have the office of pastor.

D. Presidential Election

There were two men nominated to be considered for SBC president. Josh Powell and Willy Rice. My vote was for Willy Rice.

Willy Rice was voted in as the next President of the SBC and I believe he won because he came with a message of doctrinal fidelity. Some people were nervous about him because he was being promoted by some of the trouble makers in the SBC, but I have good friends that know him personally that vouched for his heart and his character. I believe that the right man won. I am looking forward to the direction that the SBC is headed.

II. Entity Reports

Just like we give Sunday School and DT reports, the entities of the Southern Baptist Convention give annual reports.

An entity is something that is a ministry of the Southern Baptists that isn’t a church.

A. International Mission Board (IMB)

This year, we saw the IMB commission and send 63 missionaries. The current president of the IMB is named Paul Chitwood and he reported that the missionary pipeline is “exploding” and has seen a 500% increase in recent years.

Here is what he said in his report:

“With more lost people living on the planet than at any point in human history, now is the time for more Southern Baptists to answer God’s call to the nations,” 

To date, we have 3,500 IMB missionaries on the field serving in 155 countries.

If you’ll notice the picture up there, most of the missionaries that were send this year went anonymously because they are under threat of death where they are going to serve. Our church and our association sponsors a missionary family who I cannot name because of where they are serving. These men and women that go are heroes of the faith.

1. Lottie Moon Christmas Offering

Around Christmas every year, we set a goal and we give to something called the Lottie Moon Christmas offering.

Well over 100 years ago, a single missionary named Lottie Moon, while serving in China, began writing letters challenging the American church to send and support more workers to go there. After her death on the field, her challenge was heeded in the formalization of an offering in her name. Her life is a reminder of why we must give to send and support missionaries serving among unreached peoples in unreached places.

 Lottie served 39 years as a missionary, mostly in China’s Shantung province. She taught in a girls’ school and often made trips into China’s interior to share the good news with women and girls.

When we give to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering every year, 100% of those dollars go directly to the mission field to support the IMB missionaries that serve in these hostile countries.

B. North American Mission Board (NAMB)

This is our stateside missions. The North American Mission Board tells us that there are 281,000,000 people that do not have a relationship with Jesus. They focus on North American missions and assist in the planting of churches all over America and Canada.

They plant churches anywhere from New Orleans, to Atlanta, to San Diego, Chicago, NYC, to Toronto.

The Expensive Church Plant

Tim Hawkins tells a joke about how churches can use all of this vague language. He says that his pastor kept saying they needed to raise $100,000 for a church plant. He said, “I was thinking, that’s an expensive plant!” He didn’t know the pastor was talking about planting a church!

The NAMB report was this: In 2025, Southern Baptists added 951 new congregations across North America, including 699 church plants, 93 replants (taking a dead church and giving it life), and 32 new campuses.

C. Six Seminaries

We also have six seminaries that belong to the SBC.

Right now Al Mohler is the leading voice among those seminaries, but I believe that in the years to come, Jamie Dew (NOBTS) will be the leading voice.

Our cooperative dollars go to help our seminaries as well. Because churches give, I was able to go to seminary at a discounted rate. While other denominations seminaries costs $85k-$90k to attend, a Master of Divinity at our seminaries average about $30,000 before scholarships.

Dr. Dew reported that it costs NOBTS $75k/day to operate and that they couldn’t function without our support.

All six of our seminaries are strong, united, and conservative.

III. Women in Ministry

First, I just want to say that the church wouldn’t function correctly if it weren’t for God fearing women. I believe that women are capable and intelligent and they are fit for all kinds of service to the church body.

There is no room for sexism in the church. It won’t strengthen the church, it will only weaken it. Women are a God send and the church desperately needs them.

How are we to understand this issue of women in ministry?

A. It is an Issue of Authority, not Equality

We talked briefly about this issue of authority this morning.

Men and Women are equal in the sight of God, but there is an order of authority that the Bible makes clear.

The Apostles had authority over the church at large.

Pastors and teachers are to have authority over the local church that has affirmed them (Heb 13:7).

Governments are in authority over nations and municipalities Romans 13:1-2

Romans 13:1–2 NKJV

Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God.

The parents are the authority in the home over the children. Eph 6:1

Ephesians 6:1 NKJV

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.

The husband is the authority over the wife. Eph 5:22-23

Ephesians 5:22–23 NKJV

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body.

The reason that women cannot biblically be ordained to the office of pastor has nothing to do with ability or equality and everything to do with God given spiritual authority. It’s simply the way that God designed it. If the man is to be the head of the home, surely a man is supposed to be the head of the church.

We see the argument that women have the ability and desire to preach and that they feel like God has called them to preach.

Well, our feelings don’t override God’s word. When we compare what people say or feel with what the Bible says, then we are able to see if it is from God or not.

So, let’s look at Scripture to see how God has ordered this authority in the church.

1 Timothy 2:11–15 NKJV

Let a woman learn in silence with all submission. And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression. Nevertheless she will be saved in childbearing if they continue in faith, love, and holiness, with self-control.

Again, he’s not writing about talking or singing into a microphone during a church service. He is outlining God’s spiritual authority in the church, that the office and function of pastor is reserved for men.

Notice what he writes, 1 Tim 2:12

1 Timothy 2:12 NKJV

And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence.

It’s not that women cannot teach. It is that women are not to teach in a place of authority over men. My wife is a great teacher. Kayla Oliver knows more about the Old Testament than I do. We have other women in our church who are faithful teachers and I thank God for them.

It is an issue of authority, not equality.

B. Women Are Vital to the Life and Function of the Church

In years gone by, some people have used these types of verses and issues to keep women from doing anything. We won’t do that here, and if it does happen, we need to talk about those things because our ladies are valuable to this church.

1. They are to teach each other

Titus 2:3–4 NKJV

the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things— that they admonish (teach) the young women to love their husbands, to love their children,

We need all kinds of women teachers so that we can train the women here in our church to have sound doctrine and practice Godliness.

I can’t imagine having to teach a ladies only Discipleship class! I think my hair would finish turning gray after I got done answering all the questions.

Also, as a man, I can’t understand what the ladies feel and what they’re going through, it takes the admonishment of the older women to do that.

Marriage Woes

Do any of you ladies feel like your husbands just don’t understand how you feel?

I know that me and Elizabeth have had several conversations in the course of our marriage about how I can make her feel if I am not being polite or if she feels like I am over doing it.

The reason you feel like your husbands don’t know how you feel is because they don’t, and you need women to confide in and teach you how to deal with how you feel.

Same goes for the men. The men of the church need to say to some of the other men, “You need to be kind and gentle with your wife!” It’s how God has established things and He has done it for good reason.

2. They Are to Teach the Children

Who was it that first trained Timothy for the ministry? It was his mother and his grandmother.

2 Timothy 1:3–5 NKJV

I thank God, whom I serve with a pure conscience, as my forefathers did, as without ceasing I remember you in my prayers night and day, greatly desiring to see you, being mindful of your tears, that I may be filled with joy, when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also.

I may have seen some fruit in my time as a kid’s pastor, but I believe that having a woman there in the kid’s department is absolutely necessary. Yes, for the safety of the kids, but mostly so that there will be someone there with some compassion for their feelings.

I know that I get in trouble for how I deal with the kids, Cash in particular. Elizabeth will tell me, “couldn’t you have said that a bit more gently”. My usual reaction to that isn’t very gracious, but she gets her point across. Cash loves his mama and there’s a reason.

While I am off at work meeting the needs of the church, my wife bravely and consistently teaches our children how to eat well, how to be clean, how to study, how to work, how to worship God. When I come home I usually mess all that up!

The women of the church, far more than the men of the church, will have a compassion for the lost, for the poor, for the needy, and for the children.

A little girl, as soon as she’s old enough to walk gets a baby doll. Boys won’t do anything but break stuff. It’s in the DNA.

C. Women are to be in Submission to the Head

That means in submission to Christ, the pastor, and to their husbands.

This is not for the demise but it is for their protection. When Adam and Eve were in the Garden, it was Adam’s job to keep the Garden. When he should have been working and protecting, he failed to do his job, and his wife was deceived.

Feminism wants us to accept that women don’t need protection because they are the same as men.

The Bible tells us that women are worthy of protection and of the care of their husbands, their pastors, and their God.

Submission doesn’t mean to be in subjection to. To be in subjection to someone would mean that you are their object. To be in submission means that you are willingly following the lead of another.

When a husband talks to or commands his wife and wants to subject her to his authority, he is being unbiblical. But when he cares for her and protects her, she is to respond in submission.

Conclusion

The main highlight that we were able to take away from the SBC gathering this year was the emphasis on Disability Ministry.

“If you took all the people on our planet with disabilities and added them together, you would have the third largest country in the world, just behind India and China,”

“It is quite possible that individuals affected by disabilities are the largest lost people group on the planet,” he added. “We cannot leave them behind.”

It was reported that only 15-20% of evangelical churches in the United States have any form of disability ministry, and I am proud to say, even though it may be small, that we have people on our campus that have a heart and compassion for those with special needs in our community.

From here on out, the second Sunday in July will officially be Disability Ministries Sunday all across SBC churches.