Mobile pastor, outgoing SBC President Ed Litton announces Unify Project

It’s time for the Church to show a better way forward on racial reconciliation, and a new initiative seeks to equip Southern Baptists for the task.

Outgoing SBC President Ed Litton announced the Unify Project during the June 15 morning session of the convention’s annual meeting in Anaheim. He was joined onstage by members of the initiative’s steering committee, which includes former SBC president Fred Luter, newly elected SBC first vice president Victor Chayasirisobhon and several other church, seminary and denominational leaders.

Tony Evans, pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas, and founder of The Urban Alternative, is also part of the effort and explained the “three As” that are the foundation of the effort:

1. Assemble: Each year, churches will gather for a “solemn assembly,” Evans said, to “reinvite God collectively into the wellbeing of their community.”
2. Address: Churches will “speak with one voice to the issues in their community,” Evans said, providing God’s perspective on those issues.
3. Act: Local church members will be challenged to do acts of kindness for strangers with the goal of pointing those individuals to the gospel, Evans said. “Kindness cards” will be available for churches to use as they make connections with individuals in their communities. The result, Evans said, is that “millions of people in a mean world [will see] the kindness of God.”

Through the Unify Project, in partnership with The Urban Alternative’s Kindness in the Culture initiative, Litton said Southern Baptists can be part of a “grassroots” effort to “cross barriers of race and … offer a Kingdom solution for the divisions that exist in our land.”

“The gospel of Jesus Christ is the solution for the most damaging wounds in our land,” Litton said. “This is the moment for us to begin.”

Luter, pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, added “the Church should be on the front line of bringing hope and healing in our communities” and said he was “honored” to be part of the Unify Project initiative.

The Unify Project is set to begin this fall. More information and updates will be posted at unifysbc.org.

To view more photos from the 2022 Southern Baptist Convention in Anaheim, click here.

EDITOR’S NOTE — For more coverage on the 2022 Southern Baptist Convention in Anaheim, California, visit thebaptistpaper.org/sbc2022.