In what must have shocked many observers Johnny Hunt won the presidential election on the first ballot with nearly 53% of the votes cast. Frank Cox received only 22% and the other candidates considerably less.
This presents an interesting study in influence and prognostication in the SBC. Several bloggers came out with strong endorsements for Cox, one going so far as to announce him as “the next president of the Southern Baptist Convention.” It’s a good thing for this blogger that we are not living in Old Testament days! đŸ˜‰
To my knowledge, only one blogger endorsed Johnny Hunt. Nathan Finn wrote a thoughtful post on why he believed Hunt would make a good president of the SBC.
I am not sure what all of this means, although a couple of observations come immediately to mind. Whereas bloggers were credited with helping elect Frank Page two years ago, this year, they don’t seem to have had much, if any influence (with the possible exception of Nathan Finn). Or maybe the influence of the blogs was simply felt in other ways…perhaps by what was not blogged over the last couple of months. Who knows?
Dr. Page’s President’s address was very good–definitely worth hearing. He spoke on John 4 and stated that repentance is what God requires when we come to see ourselves as we really are.
Dr. David Dockery spoke this afternoon from 3 John and did a wonderful job arguing that, for the sake of truth, we must work to be both cooperative and confessional. This is another message worth hearing.
Tomorrow, I plan to offer an amendment (if necessary) on the resolution related to membership that may come to the floor of the convention. The Resolutions Committee’s first report is scheduled for 9:05 AM (Eastern time) tomorrow. You can catch the live stream here.