A runoff election, the withdrawal of a candidate, confusion of illegal ballots — the presidential election of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) annual meeting June 14–15 in St. Louis, Missouri, kept participants on the edge of their seats.
In the end, former Alabama Baptist pastor Steve Gaines was elected by acclamation as SBC president after fellow candidate J.D. Greear withdrew his candidacy June 15 in a display of unity.
Greear’s withdrawal followed a runoff vote that didn’t produce a majority winner June 14. His decision avoided a second runoff and left Gaines elected by acclamation as president of the SBC during the annual meeting.
Greear said he prayed the night before and believed “we need to leave St. Louis united.”
“Only in the Southern Baptist Convention could you have a runoff between two people and still not have a winner,” Greear jokingly said as he announced his withdrawal from the race and then made the motion for Gaines to be elected by acclamation.
Gaines said he too had decided internally Tuesday night to withdraw but agreed to serve as president after a conversation with Greear. “There’s no way God is not doing something in all of this.
“I just wanted Jesus to be lifted high” and the convention to be united, Gaines said.
Gaines, Greear and New Orleans pastor David Crosby originally were nominated for president.
In the first ballot cast by 5,784 messengers, Crosby received 583 votes or 10.08 percent; Gaines received 2,551 votes, or 44.1 percent of the votes; and Greear received 2,601 votes, or 44.97 percent. None of the candidates received 50 percent or more of the votes, forcing a runoff.
Then in the runoff ballot, with 7,237 messengers registered, 4,824 ballots were cast. Gaines received 2,410 votes or 49.96 percent while Greear received 2,306 votes or 47.80 percent. However, 108 votes were considered illegal because the wrong ballot was used or an indistinguishable mark was made.
Roberts Rules of Order require that the 108 illegal votes be counted to determine a majority. To be declared a winner, Gaines or Greear needed to win 50 percent plus 1 of ballots cast, or 2,413 or more votes.
Had the second runoff election taken place, it would have been the first time in SBC history that a second ballot for the same two candidates in the presidential election would have been necessary, said chief parliamentarian Barry McCarty.
Edwin Jenkins, interim director of missions for Morgan Baptist Association, said he had never seen anything like the election itself nor the way it was resolved in the 40-plus years he has been attending SBC annual meetings.
“It was beautiful,” he said, “the self sacrifice for the sake of everyone involved, for the good of the cause. And they both did it, saying, ‘I will allow this to be the way.’”
Randy Pittman of Samford University said, “It was the perfect example of servant leadership. It was extraordinary.”
Gaines is the fourth president from Bellevue Baptist Church, Cordova, Tennessee, following Southern Baptist legends R.G. Lee, Ramsey Pollard and Adrian Rogers.
(BP, Jennifer Rash)
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