The search committee of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee (EC) announced today (March 31) that Ronnie Floyd is their preferred candidate for president of the organization.
Floyd also made the announcement in a sermon today at Cross Church in northwest Arkansas, where he has served as pastor for more than three decades. He will resign from Cross Church next Sunday (April 7), pending an affirmative vote of the EC.
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Image captured from Cross Church video Ronnie Floyd |
“The thought of parting from you has been gut-wrenching,” Floyd told Cross Church. “The sense of loss is undeniable, but the sense of calling at this point is greater.”
The EC search committee is chaired by Steve Swofford, pastor of First Baptist Church in Rockwall, Texas. The seven-member committee also included vice chair Adron Robinson of Illinois, secretary Carol Yarber of Texas, Joe Knott of North Carolina, Stephen Rummage of Oklahoma, Rolland Slade of California and Mike Stone of Georgia.
The EC will vote on his nomination in a meeting scheduled for April 2, following a year-long search for a new president in the wake of previous executive Frank Page’s resignation. D. August “Augie” Boto has served as the interim president.
Ronnie Parrott, pastor of Christ Community Church in Huntersville, N.C. and former executive leader at Cross Church, said he affirmed Floyd’s nomination with “great joy.”
“I have personally witnessed both Dr. Floyd’s public and private life and ministry,” Parrott said. “Dr. Floyd is a man who upholds personal integrity at all costs, provides visionary leadership at every turn, and lives prayerfully dependent in every decision.
“I believe his appointment will prove to be a pivotal moment among future generations of Southern Baptists. I’m excited for our cooperative present and future as a convention of churches under Dr. Floyd’s excellent leadership.”
Floyd has a long history of SBC leadership, serving as the convention’s president for two terms (2014-16), the SBC Pastors’ Conference president in 1997 and chairman of the EC from 1995-97. He also led the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force in 2009-10 and participated in the Program and Structure Committee of the SBC in the mid-1990s.
SBC President J.D. Greear, endorsed Floyd's nomination, saying, "Ronnie Floyd's passion for prayer and spiritual awakening, combined with his strong support for our cooperative mission, his tireless energy, and his demonstrated commitment to raising up the next generation make him a unique gift to the SBC at this hour of transition."
Knott, an attorney in Raleigh, N.C., told Baptist Press, "I join my fellow committee members in enthusiastically recommending Ronnie Floyd to serve as president of the Executive Committee. He loves the SBC. His church is number three of [47,000] churches in [Cooperative Program] giving. He has been chairman of the Executive Committee, president of the Convention, and is a mature man in his fifth decade of service. He is not uprooting and coming to the EC in order to go somewhere else. In my opinion, he is highly qualified and looks like the man God has uniquely prepared for this job."
Floyd is the author of more than 20 books, including The Power of Prayer and Fasting, 10 Things Every Minister Needs to Know, Our Last Great Hope: Awakening the Great Commission, and Living Fit: Make Your Life Count by Pursuing a Healthy You. He was also the general editor of LifeWay’s Bible Studies for Life curriculum from 2013-17.
Floyd earned degrees from Howard Payne University in Brownwood, Texas, and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. He has been married to his wife, Jeana, for more than 40 years. They have two sons and seven grandchildren. Floyd is also current president of the National Day of Prayer.