Nashville, Tenn. | David Uth, president of the 2020 SBC Pastors’ Conference (SBCPC), has sought and been given an extension to enter into a time of prayer and fasting before responding to the SBC Executive Committee’s (EC) request for a conference line-up program change.
The SBC EC voted at its February 17-18 meeting in Nashville to allocate meeting space for the SBCPC contingent on Uth’s amending the conference’s the program by February 24. The extension gives Uth until March 30 to respond. Currently the SBCPC is scheduled to be held at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando June 7-8, the same venue where the Southern Baptist Convention’s Annual Meeting will take place June 9-10. Under previous arrangements, the SBC EC pays for the meeting space and is partially reimbursed for use of the space by the SBCPC.
SBC EC Chair Mike Stone said the recommendation for the action came from the EC’s Business and Finance Committee. The amendment was requested according to the recommendation, “due to our belief that multiple aspects of its proposed program as of February 18, 2020, are sufficiently beyond the parameters of the faith and practice of Southern Baptists in accordance with The Baptist Faith and Message…”
Controversy has surrounded the SBCPC’s line-up of speakers and musical guests since its announcement February 10. Some are concerned not all the scheduled speakers are Southern Baptists. Those speakers include Jim Cymbala, pastor of the non-denominational Brooklyn Tabernacle in Brooklyn, N.Y, and author Wayne Cordeiro, founding pastor of New Hope Christian Fellowship, in Honolulu, Hawaii, a chartered church of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel.
Others oppose spoken word artist Hosanna Wong performing due to her being listed as a network associate teaching pastor on the non-denominational EastLake Church in Chula Vista, California’s website. First Baptist Church in Orlando. Fla., where Uth serves as senior pastor, has since pledged to pay the appearance fees of all speakers and musical guests.
In a statement released February 20, Uth asked members of First Baptist Orlando to join him and the church’s other pastors on a “40-day season of prayer and fasting.” He stated, “Together we are asking God to guide us through the decisions regarding the SBCPC 2020 so that we will respond in a way that will bring Him the greatest joy and the greatest glory.”
He also shared, “I’m thrilled to report that Ronnie [Floyd, SBC President], Mike [Stone] and the other officers of the Executive Committee have affirmed the plan that God laid on my heart. J.D. [Greear, SBC President] also offered his enthusiastic support.”
Until the end of the period, Uth stated he will not be issuing any further statements or commenting on any SBC actions in an effort to “protect the unity that has been created by our common desire to seek God’s perfect plan for us.”
Read the February 20 update statement from David Uth
Read the full text of the recommendation
Read more about the SBC Executive Committee’s meeting
Related
ERLC leadership objects to pending SBC Executive Committee probe