Let me briefly introduce myself. My name is Adam Blosser. My wife, Ashley, and I have been married for ten years. We have four children. I am the lead pastor of Goshen Baptist Church in Spotsylvania, Virginia where I have served for almost five years. And Dave Miller is nominating me for recording secretary of the Southern Baptist Convention.
There are three primary reasons why:
1. I want to serve Southern Baptists.
My entire life has been spent in Southern Baptist churches. As a child, my Southern Baptist parents took me to our Southern Baptist church every time the doors were open. My Southern Baptist Sunday School teachers taught me the Bible. My Southern Baptist pastor led me to faith in Christ and baptized me. I first surrendered to God’s call to vocational ministry at a Southern Baptist youth camp. I was licensed to gospel ministry by a Southern Baptist church. I was ordained by another Southern Baptist church. I graduated from a Southern Baptist seminary. And now I serve as the lead pastor of a Southern Baptist church.
I believe in our cooperative work. Our church gives 10% of our undesignated receipts to the Cooperative Program. I have led our church to increase our giving to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, Annie Armstrong Easter Offering, and Vision Virginia state missions offering over the five years that I have been here. We have sought mission partnership overseas. Our church sponsors a NAMB church plant in Fredericksburg, VA. And we are working locally to serve our neighbors and take the gospel to them.
The job of SBC recording secretary is not glamourous. The SBC recording secretary is responsible for the record of the proceedings of the Southern Baptist Convention. He or she trains volunteers for convention business sessions and provides the final edit of the SBC Book of Reports and the SBC Annual. Our annual meeting is an important gathering as we come together once a year for two days to do the business of our convention. If elected, it will be my pleasure to serve Southern Baptists in these important ways.
2. As a matter of principle, no one person should sit on the SBC Executive Committee for over 20 years.
The SBC recording secretary serves as an ex officio member of the SBC Executive Committee. Thus, whoever is elected recording secretary automatically becomes a full voting member of the EC. The current recording secretary, John Yeats, has served as recording secretary for 24 years (23 terms). Because regularly elected members of the EC are limited to two 4-year terms, John Yeats has served as a full voting member of the EC three times longer than any other EC member. That is not a knock against John Yeats. He has been duly elected by the messengers 23 times. But I believe it is time for a change.
If elected as recording secretary in 2021, I commit that I will not seek to serve longer than other EC members are eligible to serve. In addition, I will work within the appropriate channels, as a member of the EC, to pursue an SBC constitutional amendment introducing a term limit for the office of recording secretary.
3. We need change at the SBC Executive Committee.
I am concerned about the direction of the SBC EC in recent years. I want to be a voice of reason, cooperation, and Christlikeness amidst what has been an atmosphere of suspicion, division, and ungodliness. The EC has been entrusted with an important task. But when the EC becomes the focus in Southern Baptist life, as it has been in recent years, there is a problem. For this reason, I am supportive of an independent investigation into the EC’s handling of reports regarding predatory abuse. Shining a light and revealing the truth regarding such matters will help the EC return to faithfully fulfilling the role we as Southern Baptists have given them.
Our focus as Southern Baptists should be on taking the gospel of Jesus Christ to every man, woman, and child across our nation and to the ends of the earth. The EC exists to support our cooperative effort by acting for the Convention in a manner that “encourages the cooperation and confidence of the churches, associations, and state conventions and facilitates maximum support for worldwide missions and ministries.” That is not what has been happening. The EC has fanned the flames of suspicion and division rather than extinguishing them. That needs to change. And if it is to change, new leadership is needed. I intend to use whatever influence this position affords me to advocate for openness, cooperation, and unity.
I love the Southern Baptist Convention. I support our cooperation. I affirm our confession (BF&M2K). And I believe in our mission. Our best days do not have to be behind us. It is time for Southern Baptists of various traditions, backgrounds, and experiences to move forward together for the sake of our neighbors and the nations.
If this resonates with you, I would be honored to receive your vote for SBC recording secretary when we gather very soon in Nashville.
