Last week Ed Litton announced he was not running for president of the Southern Baptist Convention for a second term. In the same news cycle, Willy Rice announced he would be nominated. Rice was immediately vaulted to frontrunner status as he is the liberal candidate in a liberal denomination. The Conservative Baptist Network of Southern Baptists has yet to name their candidate for president of the SBC.
In the past, it was widely speculated that Voddie Baucham would be their choice. Evangelical Dark Web criticized this decision as a poor strategy to reform the convention. As it turns out, Voddie Baucham told the Christian Post he believes himself to be ineligible for the nomination.
“I have indeed been asked to accept a nomination for SBC President. While I am honored to have been asked, I am not sure I am eligible,” Baucham said in a statement. “There are questions about the way church membership is considered for missionaries (SBC Article II and Article VIII).”
Baucham goes on to detail his view that he is not a member of a Southern Baptist church because he is a member of a local church where he resides.
“I am a missionary sent by an SBC church, supported by an SBC church, reporting to an SBC church, but am technically not a member of that SBC church because my family and I entrusted our souls to a healthy, indigenous, local Baptist church at the behest of our SBC church. Hence, it appears my commitment to missions and biblical church membership has rendered me ineligible for any office in the SBC,” he added. “At least that’s the way I read it.”
Baucham does not say who asked him to accept a nomination at the Annual Southern Baptist Convention of 2022. Baucham’s statements conclude with an update on his health.
“My health is great!” he said. “I was checked out at Mayo [Clinic] a few months ago and came through with flying colors. I am back to doing everything I was doing before my illness. By God’s grace, my heart is better and stronger than it has been in years.”
With Baucham preemptively out, few alternatives have come up.
