ORLANDO, Fla. — Bryant Wright, senior pastor of Johnson Ferry Baptist Church, Marietta, Ga., will be a candidate for president of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) June 15–16 in Orlando, Fla.
The Florida Baptist Witness reported March 12 that David Uth, pastor of First Baptist Church, Orlando, Fla., will make the nomination. He is the first person to announce a candidacy for SBC president this year. Johnny Hunt, pastor of First Baptist Church, Woodstock, Ga., is completing his second term as SBC president.
Wright is the founding pastor of Johnson Ferry Baptist, which began in 1981 and now reports average weekly worship attendance of 4,383 and a resident membership of 6,121. The church reported 459 baptisms in 2009. Wright was president of the SBC Pastors Conference in 2006 in Greensboro, N.C.
The church gave $638,992, or 3.9 percent, of its undesignated receipts through the Cooperative Program (CP) in 2009, according to the Georgia Baptist Convention’s Annual Church Profile, a decrease from 4.9 percent of undesignated giving in 2008 and 5.1 percent in 2007, The Christian Index of Georgia reported March 12.
In a recent meeting with Georgia Baptist Convention leadership, Wright indicated the church’s CP gifts would be 3.5 percent in 2010, with additional funds being allocated directly to the International Mission Board, The Index reported.
Wright, in a Nov. 5, 2009 column in The Index, called for “a radical reprioritizing of [CP] funds through our state conventions,” affirming Hunt’s call “for a resurgent focus on fulfilling Christ’s Great Commission.” Wright proposed that each state convention keep no more than 25 percent to 30 percent of CP funds in-state so that 50 percent can go to international missions.
Share with others: