Javier Chavez, pastor of Amistad Cristiana Church in Gainesville, Ga., will be a candidate for the recording secretary position at this summer’s Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) annual meeting.

The announcement came March 30 in a statement released by the leadership team of Amistad Cristiana International, Inc., the church’s missions arm of which Chavez is the president.

Chavez is a native of Peru who moved to the United States as a college student and earned masters and doctoral degrees from Wheaton College and Biola University. In 2016 he planted Amistad Cristiana, which reported 68 baptisms while giving $2,250 (7.50%) of $30,000 in undesignated funds through the Cooperative Program in 2021. Through Amistad Cristiana International, churches have been planted in Peru, Mexico and Switzerland.  

Chavez told Baptist Press that numerous individuals have encouraged him to seek the office, with four in particular volunteering to give his nomination speech in Anaheim. An announcement on who will present that nomination should be expected in May, he added.

The Gainesville pastor has served in various denominational roles, including the 2018 SBC Committee on Committees, 2019-20 second vice president for the Georgia Baptist Convention (GBC) and currently as a member of the GBC Executive Committee. He is a visiting professor of Global Studies at Truett-McConnell University (TMU) in Cleveland, Ga., and steering council member of the Conservative Baptist Network alongside TMU President Emir Caner, who also served with Chavez on the 2018 Committee on Committees.

Chavez was nominated for the position of SBC second vice president at the 2021 SBC annual meeting in Nashville, finishing second in a runoff to Texas pastor Ramon Medina by 379 votes.

Chavez has been married to his wife, Noelia, for 20 years. They have four children: Joshua, 19; Abigail, 16; Vania, 12; and Nathanael, 10.

(EDITOR’S NOTE – Scott Barkley is national correspondent for Baptist Press.)