Yesterday afternoon through Baptist Press, SBC President J.D. Greear announced his appointments for the 2019 Committee on Committees. The demographic makeup of this committee, which is reported in accordance with a 2015 Executive Committee recommendation (adopted by vote of the entire SBC), includes the following details: 34% of the committee is female, 50% of the committee is ethnic minority, and over 50% come from churches of less than 250 in attendance. The average Cooperative Program giving of the churches represented is 7.66% and the average age of committee members is 43.
We are especially grateful to see the intentional pursuit of diversity represented in the 2019 Committee on Committees – something we’ve advocated for in the past and continue to believe is healthy and right for our convention. With our SBC Leadership Diversity Initiative, we say we want the SBC to be “a convention where ethnic minority leaders and members, as well as Southern Baptist women, know they are valued and considered an indispensable, integral part of our denominational life together.” And we believe this committee, just like the Resolutions Committee announced recently, takes good steps forward in accomplishing that goal.
The entire list of the committee is available in the BP article. We at SBC Voices are especially thrilled to see some of our friends from the 2017 SBC Pastors’ Conference: Ryan Rice of New Orleans, Michael Allen of Chicago, and past SBC 2VP José Abella of Miami appointed to serve this year. Our love and respect for these guys and all the speakers from the pastors’ conference has grown even greater in the time since the conference. And Terrence Jones of Mongomery, Alabama is another friend who’s been an SBC Voices contributor in the past.
I’m confident this committee will serve the convention well this summer in Birmingham.
