In an unprecedented election that lasted through three rounds of voting over two days, Southern Baptist Convention attendees selected a new convention president Wednesday in St. Louis.
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Steve Gaines, of Tennessee, will be the next convention president, following Ronnie Floyd, the senior pastor for Cross Church in Northwest Arkansas, who concluded his second term at the annual gathering.
"Steve will lead Southern Baptists to be a soul-winning denomination once again," said Johnny Hunt, the Georgia pastor who nominated Gaines.
Membership in Southern Baptist churches is on the decline. Between 2014 and 2015, the number of members dropped by about 200,000, or a little over 1 percent, according to the Annual Church Profile report.
Arkansas churches also have seen a steady membership drop over the past few years.
In 2012, there were 513,174 Southern Baptists in Arkansas but the state convention lost 8,442 members that year, down to 504,732 by 2013. According to the most recent report Arkansas has 488,322 Southern Baptists, about a 3 percent decrease from 2013.
At a news conference after his election, Gaines mentioned plans to reverse this pattern through more evangelism efforts.
There were two other nominees for president -- David Crosby, of Louisiana, and J.D. Greear of North Carolina. Gaines received about 44 percent of the first vote and Greear got almost 45 percent, said Jim Wells, registration secretary for the convention.
Tuesday's runoff election between Gaines and Greear was inconclusive. Gaines was two votes short of a majority. The counts were close, with Greear just over 100 votes behind Gaines, Wells said.
Some voting members, referred to as messengers, cast 108 votes incorrectly. The ballots were filled out wrong and could not be counted toward either candidate, Wells said.
Nearly 5,000 people submitted ballots.
In the name of unity within the convention, Greear announced Wednesday morning that he would drop out of the election.
Greear said that after prayer, he had determined that, "we are united by a Gospel too great and a mission too urgent," for the division such a close presidential race might cause.
Gaines said that he and Greear both had the same idea and spent Tuesday night discussing which of them would drop out.
"God was prompting both me and J.D. (Greear) to pull out at the same time," he said.
Both said this was an ideal and "spirit-inspired" situation.
"We must celebrate the work of God in this pastoral moment," Floyd said.
After a vote, officials announced Gaines as the next president to thunderous applause.
"It was a moment where you know you're not worthy," Gaines said.
Gaines is the pastor at Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis. He and his wife have four children. He is an author and holds a Ph.D. in philosophy.
He said he spends most of his time working at the church or with his family.
"I'm the boringest guy you know and I like it that way," he said.
Next year's annual meeting will be held June 13-14 in Phoenix.
Metro on 06/16/2016