When the pastor of a church in Florida withdrew his name from nomination for SBC president, the race shifted in an unexpected way. A three-man race emerged, and while the names may be somewhat familiar, none of the candidates were widely known pastors of megachurches.
Related: Known 2022 SBC presidential candidates submit first-person style essays
Tom Ascol pastors Grace Baptist Church in Cape Coral, Florida. The church averages around 300 in attendance. Ascol is executive director of Founders Ministries, previously known as The Southern Baptist Founders Conference, a Reformed group he created in 1982. He speaks frequently on conservative social and theological issues, including Critical Race Theory and the role of women in the church.
Ascol was called to ministry at age 16. “I was raised by a godly mother and a father who had a lot of problems” he told Baptist Press. “Our home would’ve been called a dysfunctional home, you know, today, but she was a praying mom. I’m the youngest of six kids and we grew up in a rather difficult and hard environment. She had a very hard life. What she lived through, most women wouldn’t put up with, and my parents had multiple reasons to divorce, but they stayed married 63 years by God’s grace.”
Ascol points to spiritual reformation and reevaluation of the SBC trustee system as two concerns.
“I think we’ve assumed the Gospel. We’ve talked about it a lot. We put it on our banners, but what is the Gospel?… We need to be crystal clear on it. And again, we ask that question of everybody who seeks membership in this church, and I’ve had answers all over the map, and it doesn’t mean they’re not saved. They’re just not Gospel literate.” Read BP’s interview with Ascol.
Bart Barber has been on the platform of the SBC as a member of the Resolutions Committee (he will chair it this year) and served a variety of other leadership positions, but the church he pastors in Farmerville, Texas is not really Texas-sized. The church averages 350 in worship. Baptist Press asked Barber if serving a “normative size” church would be an advantage to him as SBC President.
“I think there’s some benefit to it because I think if you pastor a large church, it’s easy to get into a situation in which without many obstacles you’re able to implement whatever it is that you think is the right thing to do. When you’re at a church the size of my church, you know that you have to persuade people and bring them on board in order to accomplish and move forward with anything, more coalition-building. We’re a congregationally governed church.
“To be president of the SBC in a church, like [mine], and it’s not just about size, it’s about being really committed to Baptist polity.”
Barber said he doesn’t come with an extensive plan for change, but he takes seriously the charge that the president should do as the messengers direct. “The president of the SBC has, I think, in some ways, the same cluster of responsibilities that the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention has. I would think all of it can be fit under three headings: to protect the rights of the messengers, to answer the messengers’ questions, and to execute the messengers’ instructions.” Read BP’s interview with Barber.
Robin Hadaway is a missions professor at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, a position he accepted after serving 18 years with the International Mission Board. He is calling for 500 new churches in North America and 2,000 church plants overseas.
When he was a child, Hadaway’s family tried a number of denominations, including Christian Science, until they landed at a Southern Baptist Church when he was 12. He became a Christian in college at Memphis State. Hadaway served in a number of ministry positions, including youth ministry in King Salmon, Alaska. His wedding was performed by W.A. Criswell and his ordination by Adrian Rogers, Hadaway said in a Baptist Press profile.
“Well, being a senior professor of missions, I think I’ve got time for this position, even though it has no pay and no power. Somebody who pastors a church, their time is grounded, limited.
“Having pastored churches, I understand the SBC, and that’s why I feel like I can pastor it…I just love pastoring pastors… I think I can remind Southern Baptists how bad things were and that things aren’t as bad as sometimes we think they are.”
Hadaway doesn’t come with a multi-point plan. “My agenda is just to focus on missions, not saying others haven’t done that because I know the heart of the last three presidents…. They certainly focused on missions, but I think the convention is a bit tired right now. They need some refreshment and joy. And so I hope to bring that.” Read BP’s interview with Hadaway.