At a microphone in Nashville, Southern Baptists got a first look at Ed Litton’s leadership style. It was during the report of Southern Seminary’s Al Mohler that Litton’s voice unexpectedly filled the room during a Q&A. But Litton didn’t have a question. Rather, he rose to express his respect for Mohler, one of the candidates Litton beat out in a hotly contested race for SBC President.
“You’re a statesman,” Litton told Mohler, thanking him for his service to Southern Baptists. Litton’s words inspired applause for Mohler—and likely, for an encouraging moment during a sometimes contentious meeting.
As Baptists left Nashville, some of the decisions they made had been resounding, like the call to make an investigation into sexual abuse independent of the SBC Executive Committee. But more votes were much closer, including the margin between Litton and Mike Stone, the candidate endorsed by the Conservative Baptist Network (CBN) that formed last year.
On Twitter, some pastors disappointed with the meeting’s decisions questioned the SBC’s future and their own churches’ future in it. The CBN committed to continue its fight on social justice issues they consider indicative of theological drift in the SBC.
Peacemaker?
Litton has spent several years working toward racial reconciliation in his city of Mobile. He teamed with Pastor Fred Luter of New Orleans in actions last year to bring new understanding about race in the denomination. Litton quickly reached out to Mohler after his election. Newly elected first vice president Lee Brand ran under the CBN banner, so Litton’s officers will include a range of Baptist perspectives. His first big assignment will be to appoint a committee to oversee the investigation into Executive Committee actions related to the denomination’s response to sexual abuse.
What should help is Litton’s apparent commitment to focus on Jesus and taking the Good News to all who will hear it. Shortly after his election, Litton spoke with reporters from a wide variety of religious and secular media outlets. He spoke to them more like a pastor than a president, sharing his own family’s story from dysfunction to radical transformation after a Baptist pastor shared the gospel with his dad.
He talked about the tragedies he and his wife, Kathy, faced when they both lost their first spouses. He spoke with admiration and affection for past SBC presidents including Luter, who gave Litton’s nomination speech in Nashville.
Litton acknowledged the difficult issues Baptists now face, and he signaled the tone with which he will attempt to lead amid differences of opinion.
“I’m not Superman. I have no magic. But I know this person and his name is Jesus, and they know him too,” he said of people on the other side of the issues. “I think we can find that common ground.”