Dallas | The curtain dropped Wednesday afternoon on the 2025 Southern Baptist Convention in Dallas, after four days of frenetic activity. Sermons were preached. Songs were sung. Missionaries were celebrated. Swag was stuffed in bags. Ballots were hoisted, and decisions were made. Some likely didn’t fare as well as they had hoped, but all left having had a good time.
Here’s a review of the seven top “events” from our “rodeo” in Dallas, SBC 25.
One: Swag
Spin the wheel
From mini tape measures to pickle-ball paddles, vendor and entity giveaways were abounding in the exhibit hall. The moment the doors opened on Sunday, long lines formed for popular t-shirts at the International Mission Board and Midwestern Seminary booths.
Always a delight for the eyes, the exhibit hall had displays galore, including a Lego Lottie and Annie in the WMU area. The expansive trade show had hidden treasures tucked here and there, like the Price is Right-style Showcase Showdown wheel to spin (not sure what service they offered, but they drew a crowd!), and the Chick-fil-A service counter (how Baptist is that?).
Ultimately, the exhibit hall is about helping churches, and messengers had no trouble finding conversations and resources to further their ministries.
Two: Preaching & worship
Preaching isn’t just at the Pastor’s Conference, though messengers on-site Sunday and Monday had the opportunity to hear eight world-class sermons.
South Carolina’s Tony Wolfe delivers the Convention Sermon.
Wednesday morning included the annual Convention Sermon, delivered by South Carolina’s Tony Wolfe, who used Ecclesiastes 11:1-6 to deliver a message about the long reaching impact of the Cooperative Program.
He ended with a plea for this generation of Southern Baptists to cast their bread on the water, urging, “May God be so pleased that innumerable multitudes among our neighbors and the nations downstream from us today will come to know Jesus Christ, the Living Water and the very Bread of Life, through the generous sowing and sending of Southern Baptists right now, in our day.”
As always, worship through song was a highlight of the Convention. With hands raised and eyes closed, messengers sang out along with the worship team and large choir.
Most Southern Baptists worship in churches of less than 100 in Sunday morning attendance, so there is something rare and moving about joining in a chorus of 10,000 other voices, singing “Holy, Holy, Holy.”
Three: Luncheons
It may be a generalization that Baptists love to eat, but the long lines waiting outside every ticketed meal backed up the trope.
Messengers lined up to eat with seminaries, with Baptist colleges, with entities like the ERLC and IMB, and with other fellowships.
The hot ticket was NAMB’s Send luncheon, on Monday, where 7,000 laughed to a short Michael Jr. comedy show and a listened to a mini concert from Christian music legend Steven Curtis Chapman. Church planters who were helped with adoption costs at the 2024 Send luncheon were recognized on stage, including Illinois Baptists Jacob and Makenzie Goble from Rooted Community Church, Lebanon).
Of course, in the “make them cry moment” a Nebraska church planter’s family enduring challenging medical conditions were gifted a donor provided cruise, new truck, and new minivan. There were tears.
Four: Connections
Messengers wait in line to submit motions at SBC 2025 in Dallas.
One of the joys of being Southern Baptist for a long time is the connections made. It was a common experience this week for a single trip across the sprawling convention center to be interrupted four or five times by conversations with old friends.
Even those who don’t have widespread SBC friendships felt that sense of connection at Monday evening’s IBSA dessert reception, where nearly 150 Illinois Baptists laughed, ate ice cream, and (some) tried their hand at steer roping. The surprise of the night was that Ashburn Church pastor Tommy Thompson is no stranger to a lasso!
They also heard about the biblical fidelity and missional purpose that connects them, as each received a commemorative 100th anniversary edition Baptist Faith and Message Study Journal, only available to Illinois Baptists.
Five: Motions & votes
Once the Tuesday business sessions began, it was clear to see who came for the purpose of making motions. Lines immediately formed behind each of the nine microphones placed throughout the 10,000+ seat convention hall.
Motions made, motions spoken to, points of order, parliamentary inquiries. Sometimes called the world’s largest deliberative body, the Southern Baptist Convention in session puts aspects of Baptist ecclesiology on display for the world to see.
Messengers brought 28 motions for consideration. Most were referred to Convention entities for consideration or ruled out of order. A few made it out and were scheduled for votes. The two most significant asked the Convention to (1) add language to the SBC Constitution limiting the pastorate to males only, matching language already in the Baptist Faith and Message, and (2) abolish the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission.
Read Illinois Baptist coverage of the survival of the ERLC at SBC 2025.
Neither received the necessary votes to pass on Wednesday. Both of these motions also failed to garner the favor of the messengers in previous years, though the votes were very close.
Read Illinois Baptist coverage of the failed vote to revive the Law amendment.
Messengers also voted to adopt all eight resolutions presented by committee, with relatively little debate. One of these, Resolution #5: On Restoring Moral Clarity through God’s Design for Gender, Marriage, and the Family, may prove to be controversial, though not with Southern Baptists. The resolution contained reference to the Obergfell v. Hodges Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage in 2015. By Wednesday, the New York Times headline read, “Southern Baptists Call to Overturn Supreme Court Ruling on Same-Sex Marriage.”
Baptists watching the evening news or scrolling social media might be surprised (but maybe shouldn’t be) to read a headline focused on this one issue, contained in only 2 of 63 lines of the resolution.
Six: Celebration
SBC Executive Committee President Jeff Iorg addresses messengers during a celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Cooperative Program.
In many ways, much of each annual Southern Baptist Convention is a celebration. This year, however, had an even larger emphasis on celebration, with the 100th anniversary of the Cooperative Program and Baptist Faith and Message happening in 2025.
Tuesday featured a celebration of the Cooperative Program, with participation from state executive directors, entity presidents, and ethnic fellowship leaders. With over $20 billion given by churches for mission and ministry since CP’s inception, there is much to celebrate.
Read Illinois Baptist coverage of the 100th anniversary CP celebration.
Messengers were also witness to 58 new international missionaries walking across the platform on Tuesday. The IMB Sending Ceremony is a highlight of each annual meeting for many and is often the closest contact churches will have with any of the more than 3,500 fully funded missionaries they send and support collaboratively through IMB.
Seven: Unity
With the fast pace of Tuesday’s motions, some of which held potential to be contentious, it was uncertain how the remainder of time would go. But by the end of Wednesday, over and over it was heard how unified many felt. That clearly does not mean “uniform.” Any time a vote is cast, some win and some lose.
But Southern Baptists commitment to unity for the sake of missions is the driving force behind these same hard, ongoing conversations, Pressly said.
“I think that’s probably what makes some of those conversations worth having. We’re alright having these conversations as long as we continue to keep our focus on why we actually meet together,” he said following the conclusion of the Dallas meeting.
“There’s a real purpose, and that purpose is to know the gospel and share the gospel and fund missions and education.”
That unity continues to push through the noise, through seminary reports, and sharing of the numbers of new missionaries in the pipeline, and new churches planted, Pressley said. These bonds of missional unity and doctrinal fidelity, keep leading Southern Baptists to show up, talk through the disagreements, and keep seeking unity.