Orlando | Over the course of the two-day SBC Annual Meeting, messengers adopted a full slate of resolutions ranging from expressing appreciation for the host city to rejecting a societal surge in antisemitism. The 11 resolutions were released June 1 by the SBC Resolutions Committee to give messengers time to review them before the June 9-10 meeting in Orlando.
While messengers passed a constitutional amendment proposed by Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Albert Mohler that would limit the office of pastor to men, they also passed a resolution titled On the Office and Function of Pastor/Elder/Overseer. Like the amendment, the resolution seeks to maintain biblical clarity in leadership nomenclature and reaffirms that the office of pastor is scripturally limited to men.
Messengers reaffirmed the convention’s pro-life stance with the approval of two resolutions. One, On the Church’s Opportunity for Evangelism, Discipleship, and Care for Persons with Disabilities and Their Families, affirmed the value of people with disabilities and called on churches to expand accessibility. The resolution came as the SBC Executive Committee’s presentation featured a report from the Disability Ministry Task Force led by Tom Stolle, executive director of the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware and father of a son with special needs. The task force introduced new resources developed for churches.
A second, On Assisted Suicide and the Sanctity of Life, warned against the current push to frame euthanasia as medical care and expressed opposition to assisted suicide.
The relevance of resolutions passed annually by the SBC endures, said Evan Lenow, new president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. “Of course, we know that resolutions technically are nonbinding as our polity goes, however they do represent what the body of messengers that gathers together at an annual meeting each year believes and wants to promote as, ‘These are important issues to Southern Baptists,’” Lenow said.
Evan Lenow makes his first appearance before messengers as the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission president at the 2026 SBC Annual Meeting in Orlando. BP photo
In-person worship, Charlie Kirk
Three other resolutions have indirect ties to the sanctity of human life. On Immigration, Human Dignity and the Rule of Law calls for just and humane immigration law enforcement, including deportation priorities, while firmly rejecting nativism, racial hostility, and dehumanizing rhetoric.
The resolution On Antisemitism reaffirms Southern Baptists’ commitment to evangelizing Jewish people and rejects rising antisemitic violence and conspiracy theories.
Another, On Political Violence and Speech, urges Southern Baptists to act as peacemakers and denounce political violence and assassination attempts.
Floor discussion included an amendment to add Charlie Kirk’s name to that resolution. The Christian political activist was murdered in July 2025 at rally at Utah State University, Ultimately, the amendment failed.
Resolutions Committee member Ryan Helfenbein, a vice president at Liberty University and close friend of Kirk, said the committee had discussed adding Kirk’s name, but it “came down to precedent.” Previous resolutions, including assassinations back to Martin Luther King Jr. did not mention people by name.
“…We’ve had attempted assassinations of the President, we’ve had a couple of Minnesota lawmakers who were killed. There’s been a variety of different incidents of this sort, and I think that we really wanted to try to capture that broader phenomenon,” committee chair Hunter Baker said.
Outgoing SBC President Clint Pressley honored Steve Gaines, former pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church and former SBC president, who died in March, and Morris Chapman, former president and CEO of the SBC Executive Committee and former SBC president, who died in October 2025, before the introduction of a resolution, On Finishing Well in Life and Ministry. The resolution offered encouragement to pastors and other ministry leaders in long-term ministry through faithful endurance. Bivocational and volunteer pastors were recognized for their dedication and sacrifices.
Another acknowledged the usefulness of digital ministry tools but stressed the necessity of physically gathering as a local church body. Since Covid, many people have opted to watch church online, at least part time.
“We actually think it’s dehumanizing to individuals to be separated from each other,” explained committee member Jeremy Pierre, Southern Seminary evangelism dean. “To take a three-dimensional relationship and flatten it to a two-dimensional image, it just doesn’t work. You can’t carry out the ‘one anothers’ that are meant to build and to form one another.”
Other resolutions marked the 250th anniversary of the United States and the Baptist contribution to religious liberty, honoring the legacy of Baptist forebears who fought for the freedoms enshrined in the First Amendment. Another expressed gratitude for the host city of Orlando.
Resolutions passed by messengers are not binding on churches as SBC churches are autonomous.
–Lisa Misner, with additional reporting by Erin Roach, Baptist Press